University Of Phoenix Online OFFERS A SUBSTANDARD EDUCATION PROGRAM AND WHEN I ASKED FOR A CREDIT FOR THE COURSE THEY REFUSED Phoenix Arizona
For everyone who is not familiar with how online education works, I am here to tell you that they are not all created equally. The University of Phoenix offers little more then an over priced chat room for it's students to swap information. They do not have any formal screening program for its students, therefore anyone with the ability to qaulify for a government loan or get there employer to reimburse them, can attend the University of Phoenix online program.
Students are required to post in a Main class thread and also a team thread. You are divided into teams typically after the first week of class. In addition to indvidual assignments you are required to complete team assignments. Here in lyes the problem. Your team mates can sluff off team projects sticking you with the work. There are no repercussions for their lack of participation, therefore if you recieve an "A" for the team paper,because you had to do all the work, so shall they.
After attending numerous classes and enduring months of frustration I had finally reached my limit. While attempting to take a lower division course to satisfy my elective credits, the frustration finally grew to anger and rage. In the Main class thread, the subjects scewed way off base and rarely if ever hit any actual pertinant class subjects.
The facilitator was nowhere to be found and did little, if anything, to keep the class focused on the subject of that week. Also, neither of my other three team mates could form a proper sentence, much less write a research paper in APA or MLA.
Keep in mind that these courses cost on average $1,400.00. I then attempted to contact both my counselor and Instructor to inform them that I would be dropping this course due to the fact that I was not learning anything, and that it was littel more than a glorified chat room for socializing.
I received no respone from either my counselor or instructor. I then wrote a formal letter to the dean of students for the B.S.I.T program. His name is Adam Honea, the letter read as follows:
Dear Mr. Honea,
I am writing you today as an extremely frustrated student of University of Phoenix's B.S.I.T. program. I have exhausted all other avenues in getting my problem resolved, so I hope that you can help me or at least point me in the right direction.
I have been attending University of Phoenix since last May, and my most recent class SOC101 started 1/15/04. I was far less than satisfied with this course pretty much from the start, but I stuck it out none the less. About mid way through I decided that I had had enough and wanted to drop the class.
This class was little more than just a chat room for students to air all of their personal laundry. I pay a lot of money to attend this school and find it completely unacceptable that I am losing out on an education for which I have paid good money.
I notified both my teacher, James Dartt, and my counselor, Brandon Murphy, on 2/3/04 that I would like to drop the class and receive a credit so that I could take another class in its place.
I was told by Brandon that I would have to talk to my financial advisor, Monieca Cupp, and fill out a credit form. I first contacted Monieca by email and did not receive a response, so I contacted her by phone. I filled out the form and faxed it back to Monieca within the hour on 2/5/04.
Monieca informed me that there would be a 24-72 hour review time and that she would get back to me. Keep in mind during this entire period I have discontinued attending my class. One week later I still had not heard from Monieca, so I contacted her by both email and voice mail. I have found that if I do not reach Monieca by phone she does not return my calls or emails.
I finally received an email on 2/12/04 saying that my request had been denied because I was still attending the class. I immediately contacted Monieca by phone, but again she was not available. I left her a message and also wrote her an email stating that this was not the case.
Two days later I received a reply email stating that it was too late to drop the class and that I was pretty much stuck with the grade that I was getting. The class ended on 2/18 and I received an "F" for the class, which has completely shattered my GPA of 3.9. I have asked to speak to Monieca's manager on several occasions but just got the run-a-round. I have to say that Monieca's lack of attention and matter of fact attitude to my problem made this problem that much more frustrating. So due to the lack of movement and complete and utter incompetence of both Brandon and Monieca I am supposed to accept a grade of "F" and still pay for this class?
Sir, I find this completely unacceptable and I intend to fight this as far as I have to. I have emails from my instructor stating that I carried both the class and my teammates during the first 2 weeks of class. This is not my job, I am attending the University of Phoenix to learn, and by making up for everyone else's inadequacies, I am missing out on just that, an education.
I have contacted the Higher Learning Commission, and I intend to lodge aformal complaint if my problem is not reconciled. In addition I willpromote a Website that discourages anyone from attending the University of Phoenix. All I am asking is that my grade of "F" is changed to a withdrawal and that I receive a pecuniary credit for the course.
The University of Phoenix is a business, and your product is education. I am a very dissatisfied with your product. I tried to explain to Monieca that if I received a credit for the $1,400 that I would continue to attend the University of Phoenix and in the end the University of Phoenix would receive over $25,000 of my money for the entire program. If the University of Phoenix did not stand behind their program and credit my money, I fully intended to look elsewhere for my educational needs. Monieca's actions or lack thereof, have made it brutally clear that my concerns and money are not important to your organization. I thank you for your time and if you wish
to contact me to further discuss this issue, please feel free to phone me at *******. Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.
My case was then passed onto the manager of financial aid, Dorothy Smith, who told me that she would be looking into this matter and would get back to me in a couple of days. After 1 week of no replies I called and left a message for Dorothy. I then recieved a call two days after my call from a "Conflict Resolution Managemer", Robert Infante, who stated that he would be taking over my case. Upon talking to Robert, I merely reiterated what I had stated in the letter to Mr. Honea. I was unhappy with the education that I was getting and I wanted my money back. Yet another week passed and I was finally contacted my Robert, but to no avail. He informed me that due to the fact that I posted in the class into the 4th week I was not eligible to recieve a credit, even though I was unhappy with there service, but they would allow me to retake the same class to try and offset the grade. So basically due to the incompetence of there staff and instructors I was stuck with an "F" for the course and there was no other resolution.
I have since found respectable online education and have moved forward. My advice to everyone is to research, in depth, what you are seeking in an online learning environment. There are much better, and more comprehensive online learning environments out there. University of Phoenix uses and antiquated system of learning that is based on typical in class learning and relates the same methods to a online environment. It's not the same and it doesn't work!!!
I have since spoken to several former classmates who I felt had the same work ethic as myself and they agree hole heartedly that the University of Phoenix does not offer the education that they are paying for.
Todd
sandiego, California
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on University Of Phoenix
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Todd
sandiego,California,
U.S.A.
IN RESPONSE TO PAUL OF LAS VEGAS, UoP instructors are given the same line to repeat to all of their students
#4Author of original report
Mon, March 29, 2004
Clearly your Masters degree and 10 years of corporate experience have taught you little about reading comprehension. I noted in my complaint that I wrote a formal letter to both my instructor and counselor that I would like to drop the course. My requests were ignored until it was too late, how convenient... As far as real world and class participation. They are two differnt things all together. I think all UoP instructors are given the same line to repeat to all of their students, "It's just like the real world". It's not, my staff is not rated by what work their fellow employees do. If any of my employees did not do there job, they would be fired, plain and simple. As students we do not have that lattitude. It's too bad that UoP has expanded so much as to lose site of what is really important here, educating adults for the real world. Unfortunately, like any other growing business, what has become more important is making money, not offering a quality product or education in this case.
Elizabeth
Rockford,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Former student of University of Phoenix online program.
#4Consumer Comment
Sun, March 28, 2004
I answered to an email that I received for U of P in 2002. After talking with an entrance advisor I thought the program would be for me. I should have know when I took my first class to just drop out and look for another school. I had never taken classes online and was not familar with how things were done and what some of the terms that was being used. I emailed my "instructor" (I thought I was to have a professor} with questions only to get treated like I was an indiot. I was accused of flaming my instructor. This all happened in the first week. Every time I responded to his emails he would accuse me of being argumentive when all I was trying to do was explain that I did not understand and that this was my first class. The only person that I knew to contact was my entrance advisor. He had me pulled from the class and put in another at a later date. Things seemed to go okay till the end of Dec 2003. The last class that I had the instructor said we could contact her at anytime if we needed help. I was having a problem with one of the assignments so I called her at work. Boy was that a mistake! I thought she would take my head off for calling her there. If she did not want to be called at work then she should had not included that phone number. This was a class that no one got any help from the instructor. Each studet was helping others.
If that was not enough to make me have second thoughts of continuing. I received a leter dated Dec. 22, 2003, that was postmarked Jan 2, 2004 that the next class that started on Jan 8, 2004 I would need to pay for and the cost to me would be $1370. I received the letter on Jan 5, 2004 so this only gave me three days to come up with the money. I called my finacial advisor to find out why I was not told about this long before the date of the class only to be told that it is not their responsablity to inform a student when they have out of pocket expenses.
Well since I do not have a money tree in the back yard to just pick the money off the tree I made the decision to withdrawl from U of P and check out other schools. That is what I did and now I will be getting a better education because I now know that I was not going to get the full classes that I was going to need to complete my degree.
Paul
Las Vegas,Nevada,
U.S.A.
Student Responsibility
#4UPDATE Employee
Sun, March 28, 2004
The University of Phoenix, like ALL universities I have atteneded, make it a common policy for the student to take responsibility to officially drop from a class they no long longer want to attend. This is not an automatic process, simply not showing up for class doesnt mean a student will be dropped.
I teach at the U of P, and I assure you I went through an intensive interview process. It was so tough that if one doesn't really want to teach, thay will not make it through.
I have a Master of Science degree in Mangement, and have 10 years of corporate experience I bring into the classroom. True, many group projects are carried by the more assertive students in the group, but (surprise!) that happens in the real world too.
It is up to the student to participate, get involved, notify the professor to cover subjects that the student wants to learn about, READ the book, and research projects of personal interest into teh homework.
It is too bad the student was so dissatisfied that he/she decided to drop out in the middle of the program, but for ANY university this would be a bad situation. I recommend completing the degree, then focus on the real world workplace for a awhile.