Complaint Review: University of Phoenix

I have attended the UoP for several years and I finally finished my last class. I am not a happy student with the University of Phoenix. Most of my complaints of the University of Phoenix is related to the financial aid.

The classes themselves are short, sweet, and to the point. I did learn a lot from the classes, but I do have to say that the Learning Teams are a joke. Usually, people did not do their portion, but received the group grade.

I received financial aid plus additional funds from a third party. I have had many financial counselors in my stay with the university. Usually my pell came in, a couple weeks later my student loans, and a few weeks after that  the third party would put money on my account. Everytime money got put on my account and they should have given me the excess of the money, I would have to call and inform them that it was time to pay me. Usually, the response was "your account is being recalculated".

My response was always "you haven't billed me, why am I paying for a class that you haven't billed for?" Their response "we don't know if anymore financial aid is coming in to cover the class 5 or 6 months away".

Now, I am done with all my classes and for the last month I have had over $1500 on my account that they owe me. I was suppose to get this money in last August and it's now January. I did not have a full-time job and I really relied on the money coming in.

I thought for a long time that it was because I had the third party money coming in that my financial aid was so messed up; however, now my husband is also having issues with the university.

He applied for a loan to cover his last three classes at the University of Phoenix. He was told he would only get enough to cover one class. Then a few weeks later he was allowed to apply for his last two classes. He received his loan on his account and should have been able to pocket 1/2 of that money. He has another disbursement for his last class. However, they have informed him that they are "recalculating" his account. His next disbursement will most likely come after he has graduated and they are withholding all of this disbursement.

The Apollo Group (The University of Phoenix Financial Department) makes it very difficult and stressful to attend. At one point I thought and look into transferring to another university, but that university wouldn't take all my credits. If you choose to attend the University of Phoenix, please schedule in many hours on the phone to fight for financial aid. The rules they give- changes from day-to-day. If, you change your class- financial aid is recalculated. If, you apply for a loan- it's recalculated. If you question your financial aid-it's recalculated. If, you get a disbursement- it's recalculated.