Virginia College @ Birmingham, AL Financial Aid rip-off/ Not being able to drop classes Birmingham Alabama
I started going to Virginia College in December of 2006. I was a single mother (the schools MAIN 'targets' if you will), and Virginia College painted a 'rainbow and butterflies' picture of their programs and payment plans. I started my online classes going for a degree in 'Fraud Investigation'. After completing my first quarter, I was informed that program was being dropped, but my classes could be applied towards a more general 'Criminal Justice' degree. Whatever. Upon entry to my second quarter they were apparently 'upgrading' and 'tweaking' their online program, which made it very difficult to navigate most the time, and after a week I emailed the class instructor that I would be dropping the class......I got NO response. I sent the email again.....no response. I emailed finally the 'physical schools' email address, with a response saying that they really weren't "sure" about online classes and how they worked. etc etc. EXCUSES basically not to help because they were in the middle of eating lunch I guess. After about 2 weeks of waiting, I finally recieve a conformation email that my classes were dropped. Good right? WRONG> only to find out later that I was billed for the entire 3 classes (plus books...that were returned) AND was givin a '0'! That fit in NICELY with my previous 4.0 average. I have since been enrolled by Virginia College without my notice and have had to call and make trips to 'un-enroll'. The school has recently moved and has a constant turn-over of employees, all of which seem to be out in space when I try to get to the bottem of my problems with the school. I (after following the advice of my parents) went back for what was my last quarter at Virginia College before joining the military in January of 2008. I again, was over-charged. Last straw. I now (no joke) have a bill from DIRECT loans for nearly 9,000 AND a mysterious 'debt' with the school itself for about 4,000.00 ......hmmmmm.....lets do the math....5 classes taken total= 13,000??? I think NOT! Even *IF* that amount includes the 3 classes they charged me online for that I withdrew from (but was ignored for 2 weeks in my request in doing so), it STILL doesn't amount to 13,000!! I am going to talk to someone in financial aid soon...then I will update you on this fiasco of a college...
Disgruntled23
alabaster, Alabama
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Joe
Austin,Texas,
U.S.A.
THEY TRIED TO RIP ME OFF TOO
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, September 23, 2010
I ALMOST GOT RIPPED OFF BY THE HARD SELLING SALESPEOPLE ---ADMISSIONS COUNSELORS MY ***!
TOO MANY THINGS DID NOT ADD UP AND TOO MANY QUESTIONS I HAD WENT UN ANSWERED AND THEN THERE WAS THAT TACKY LITTLE MATTER OF THE FINANCIAL AID WOMAN WHO KEPT ADDING NON-EXISTENT FEES TO MY TUITION -- SO IT WAS GOING TO COST ME $80,000 TO GET A PARALEGAL CERTIFICATE WHEN ONE SEMESTER AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL COSTS $38,000!
NO WAY IN HELL.
VIRGINIA COLLEGE IS NOT EVEN A REAL COLLEGE AT ALL.
WELL, I GUESS IN A WAY IT IS SINCE THEY WILL TEACH YOU SOME CREATIVE WAYS TO GET RIPPED OFF IN THE SCHOOL OF REAL LIFE ACADEMY OF HARD KNOCKS.
I THINK THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.
CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON AND CALL YOUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO VOTE AGAINST FOR-PROFIT TRADE SCHOOLS RECEIVING ANY GOVERNMENT AID! THIS INCLUDES THE ON-LINE CROOKS THAT CLAIM TO BE SCHOOLS AS WELL.
YOU CAN ALSO COMPLAIN TO THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ABOUT DECEPTIVE PRACTICES.
AND YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN A BOOK I GOT FROM THE NATIONAL CONSUMER LAW CENTER CONCERNING STUDENT LOANS. YOU MIGHT FIND SOMETHING IN THERE TO HELP.