Complaint Review: AIU Aka American Intercontinental University-Buckhead - Atlanta Georgia

Jillian, As an ex-employee of AIU, I certainly believe that your account is accurate. I, myself have seen all sorts of horrifically unethical behavior on the part of admissions folks at AIU. Let me also make clear that I left AIU as soon as the truth surfaced about how completely unethical the tactics were. I had worked in proprietary education (for profit schools)for years prior to working at AIU, and I have worked in proprietary education since leaving AIU. I have never encountered anything nearly as ridiculous. Let's keep in mind that any for-profit school employs a sales staff. Its the nature of the beast. Its a business, and someone has to sell the product, that's just the way it is. There's nothing wrong with that if you encounter an ethical admissions rep who truly motivates you to enroll in school and improve your life. The problem is that a company like CEC (the parent company of AIU) that is traded on the stock exchange is a whole different animal when it comes to high pressure sales tactics. They make impossible promises and projections in a feeble attept to keep stock prices high (gotta keep those stockholders happy). These unreachable quotas are passed down the line until the buck stops with the lowly admissions reps, who, like I said, live in constant fear of losing their jobs. Let me break down for you how the system works: -There have been many posts about how high pressure sales tactics get students to enroll, so I won't re-hash all of them. I will say that the majority of students don't stand a chance with a good "rep." A good admissions rep is the epitome of a great salesperson. They are getting you to finance $60,000 and giving you nothing in return but the POSSIBILITY of a better life. Talk about an intangible product. These "high achievers," as they are called at AIU are hustlers. They have not only a natural talent for sales, but years of experience and training in all sorts of clever sales techniques. In fact, the reps are often recruited from other schools with the promise of more money at AIU. In all, its a stacked deck. Like I said, if you encounter one of these "high achievers" you won't even know what hit you. Unfortunatley for students interested in AIU, most of the truly ethical admissions reps out there know better than to work for CEC. -The real problem at AIU is desperation. Reps are required to make a "24-hour Buyer's Remorse call" (yes, that's what its called). After that your rep, Carl in this case, was harrassed on a daily basis about your "status" (the probability that you will start class). He had to attend high stress meetings about all of his students to determine whether or not you would be "kept on the books" or not. Reps are constantly reminded of their "run rate" or how many students they need to meet with in order to make their quotas. Its all figured out in percentages and probabilities. If you enroll and don't start class that hurts Carl's "show rate." That's something he'd really get berated about. -There's soooo ,uch more interesting tidbits of information I could share with you. If you are interested, I will divulge them. At this point, I don't wish to run-on too much. The folks at AIU live in constant fear of their jobs. Everything is based on enrollments and "starts" (a student that starts classes and "sits" for at least two weeks). Failure to meet the quotas means you're out of a job. That's just the way it goes. Carl's just an example of how an otherwise decent person can be driven to do just about anything to avoid ridicule and loss of their employment. Make no mistake, there is no excuse for unethical behavior, but there are reasons behind it. Just as an FYI- the most reputable Interior Design and Fashion school in your area is Bauder College (no, I do not work there). I have been there, though, and I think you will find that it is truly a much nicer experience (in terms of dealing with the admissions reps and financial aid anyway). Hope this helped some. Cheers.