Complaint Review: AIU American InterContinental University - Hoffman Estates Illinois

I graduated from AIU in 2006 Jan. Yet they refuse to release my degree and transcrpit. I have been on the phone for hours and yet they do not care. I owe a student cash agreement. But, I feel I was over charged. I am know looking into how much I was charge compared to my sister-in-law who took the same classes. we took them together. Any way your not alone. Please if anyone out there any lawyer thinks or feel we have a lawsuit please post it. Gertie from Elgin, IL

Contact the US Department of Education Office of the Inspector General, the Regulatory Board for Colleges in your State, Fbi.gov and submit a tip...Postal inspectors for fraud and Internal Revenue Service, there maybe a reward for you reporting them..Do NOt Take No for an answer. Keep complainiing as I have done with Bethany College in Scotts Valley California. In retaliation they changed my grades, name address and Student identification number and refuse to send me copies of my transcript that I paid for. Trust me, it is continuing. They even removed their direct webpage. It's just as well Maximo Rossi's webpage as president of Bethany colleges in California is still up. Continue to post updates and good luck!

At the risk of sounding like an AIU-Online apologist I have to say that most of the Advisors in the Hoffman Estates office, where I worked, were educated. I have a BA some post secondary credits as well. On a personal note, I am still friends with a couple of people that work there and I think portraying AIU employees as no-nothing misfits is not only unfair but untrue. You can search careerbuilder.com and a host of other online job sites to see the school's ads. They are seeking quality workers (that's not to say that some bad apples don't fall though the cracks just like other places). It is a sales job but that does not mean that the students that are admitted don't have the opportunity to earn a worth while degree. Honestly, the only bad thing I have to say about AIU-Online is that the pressure placed on the advisors to produce is intense! Some people thrive in that situation. I did not... Furthermore, it wasn't a boiler room situation nor did I fear for my job on a daily basis but I was constantly stressed by the competition and expectations to produce.

Allen, You missed the whole point to this thread. Good for you that you got ALL those degrees and you had a "stay at home mommy" to do all the "housework" including kids for you. I was a single Mom who worked full-time, took care of my three children AND was going to school (with a 3.85 gpa)....all at the same time....but that's not even the point. AIU is deceiving and dishonest and if you check into it, the SACS is investigating them again!!! They were on warning a few years back. And it doesn't happen all the time.....there no way a college would wait until three months before someone graduates to tell them they are short gen. ed. courses. My son is in college and he sees his academic advisor twice a month. He knows exactly where he stands, what classes he needs and how many credits per semester he has to take in order to graduate in four years. Call it what you will but I know the real story with this so-called online school.

I have commented before on AIU so I feel that I must comment again. I graduated July 2004 with a Masters degree in Instructional Technology. My Masters program was a fast track program,48 credits in 10 months. The quality of my education was incredible! The instuctors I had were mostly PhD's and had a vast amount of real-life experience in the classes that were taught. I could find many of my instuctors through looking through the search engines and verified what incredible experience and credentials that they have. I received a first class education. $18,000 for a masters program was very reasonable and will allow me to almost double my salary, and I am continuing my education by getting a PhD in education currently. No university would allow admission to its PhD program unless they had a verifiable and legit Masters degree earned by any applicant. I am sorry that from what I read that some have had problems with transfer credits and the like. Guess what, that happens at any university or college. AIU has thousands of students in different degree seeking programs and sometimes things just happen. I am sure that it happens at UCLA, Harvard, your local community college, and just about everywhere else. I am sorry that the original author of this thread had gone through so much trying to attain her degree. From all of the reports that I have read on this site I have never seen anyone complain about the quality of education that they received. Everything that I have read seems to reflect the methods of admitting students into AIU or other administrative situations. Again, I stand firmly on the quality of education that I received and I investigated other online colleges before choosing AIU and would still recommend AIU for graduate degrees. BTW, I graduated with a 4.0, My spouse was a stay at home mommy, and I have three kids, and continued to work 55-60 hours a week, 6 days a week.

First, I would like to start off by applauding current and ex employees along with consumers for speaking up for what is honest and fair and not letting anyone question your integrity and allowing yourself be demoralized by a questionable institution such as AIU. Now comes the fun... The gentleman that goes by the name of Mark in these posting is a rat. In person he speaks like self book, but he's a rat. He finds that quoting self help books will empower Advisors, but then he will fire 1 or 2, because he says that it keeps people motivated to keep their jobs. If you believe that he truly cares, than I have 20 acres of land that I'd like to sell you. Mark's full name is Matt Verratti he's a Senior Dean of Admissions, he can be reached at (877) 701-3800 Ext. 27353. If he truly cares about the student the way he says he does give him a run for his money and give him a call. If he can't help the pleeeeeaaasse call Robin Palmersheim, National Dean of Admission's (she's also Mark's boss). She can be reached at (877) 701-3800 Ext. 27192. She is a snob and looks down on everyone, she'll be thrilled to talk to you. I have a feeling though that she's going to transfer you to someone she feel is below her. She can't be bothered to speak to the peasants and the hired help. And, my personal favorite the infamous Debbie Love, Senior National Dean of Admissions she can be reached at (877) 701-3800 Ext. 15282. I have a feeling that she may not pick up, but she loves opinions on voice mails. She should appreciate opinions she has plenty of her own. P.S.- None of the people above have college degrees (expect Robin-Mommy and Daddy paid for it) Good Luck to all of you. As Matt Verratti would say "CHEERS" (he thinks it cute, coming from him it's obnoxious) It's moments like these I wish I still worked at AIU, just to see them running around.

Hi Kathy from Texas... I just wanted to check in to see if you have gotten anywhere with your AIU situation or maybe if you are still interested in going after them. I have some scoop that might be of interest to you. Let me know!

Hi Janice, Get out now before it's too late. Once you sign on to your first virtual class you will be stuck. I would be more than happy to discuss this with you further. Don't get me wrong, I think online schooling is great but AIU is a rip off. I am $22,000 in debt and NO degree to show for it. Plus I am still in a back and forth fight for another $2,400 they say I still owe! I started in November 2003 and it was nothing but I nightmare. I was a single mother of three and wanted, just like you, to make a better life for all of us. Instead I got the wool pulled over my eyes. I could go on and on but if you want more info, email me. Thanks!

I researched AIU before registering but I'm just finding this thread. I'm getting scared as to whether or not I should continue with this school. I'm a mother of 3 and in need of getting my education to make a decent living for my family. I don't want to make it worse. I don't know whether to go ahead or back out.

I graduated from AIU last March. I knew what I was getting into before I even started. It was painfully clear to me that the "admissions counseler" was nothing but a salesman. But I wanted an accredited undergraduate degree as quickly as possible, so I signed up. I will be starting law school at Georgetown in two weeks. So AIU's degree is worth something. That said I had a miserable time with there customer service. I couldn't get anybody at AIU to fill out the forms that I needed to apply to a few of the law schools that I was interested in causing me to withdraw my application from those schools. During the process it became apparant to me that the "Dean" wasn't one in any traditional sense, and that AIU will do nothing beyond the minimum required to maintain their accreditation. If you are looking for an accreditied degree fast and money and customer service is not of much importance then AIU may be an acceptable choice. Otherwise I would suggest looking elsewhere.

For starters, Go to the Internal Revenue Service for Criminal Complaints, The U.S. Department of Education Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Education for Post Secondary schools for Your State and report them. These are Federal Funds they are playing with and they can do something about it. The Irs will give you a reward if they find impropieties. Lastly obtain an attorney and sue the daylights out of them. Bethany College did the same thing to me and are now claiming that I owe them more money and are continually adding more classses that are not in the catalogue for my dual degree program. Good luck and keep complaining!

For starters, Go to the Internal Revenue Service for Criminal Complaints, The U.S. Department of Education Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Education for Post Secondary schools for Your State and report them. These are Federal Funds they are playing with and they can do something about it. The Irs will give you a reward if they find impropieties. Lastly obtain an attorney and sue the daylights out of them. Bethany College did the same thing to me and are now claiming that I owe them more money and are continually adding more classses that are not in the catalogue for my dual degree program. Good luck and keep complaining!

For starters, Go to the Internal Revenue Service for Criminal Complaints, The U.S. Department of Education Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Education for Post Secondary schools for Your State and report them. These are Federal Funds they are playing with and they can do something about it. The Irs will give you a reward if they find impropieties. Lastly obtain an attorney and sue the daylights out of them. Bethany College did the same thing to me and are now claiming that I owe them more money and are continually adding more classses that are not in the catalogue for my dual degree program. Good luck and keep complaining!

First of all, my response to your complaint was just that: a response. In no way was it a justification of anything that occurred in your particular situation. How can I justify it? I don't know the details. I only know what you tell me. Telling me that I "live under a rock" doesn't help your situation. What I was trying to do was help you, and clearly you missed the entire point of my post. If you go back and read -=CAREFULLY=- (I.E. without skipping over the important parts), you will see that I offered you what I would hope to be helpful advice. My point was that it is DETRIMENTAL TO THE UNIVERSITY TO ADD CREDITS AT THE VERY END OF YOUR DEGREE PROGRAM. If this happened, then clearly there was a lack of communication somewhere. Either you failed to respond to phone calls and/or emails, or your academic advisor failed to leave messages. The latter being the fault of the university, obviously. Regardless, nothing positive somes from that situation. It does NOT benefit the university to add credits at the last moment. It can only cause harm. If you actually read that part, maybe then you would be proactive about it, and pick up the phone and call your advisor, instead of sitting at your computer, complaining incessantly and attempting to insult someone you've never met who is ONLY trying to help you. Giggles and Cheers, -Mark

This is what is so frustrating for me.....comments made by people such as Mark and a few others who have no idea what they are talking about!!! But seeing that you are an ex-employee of AIU, it makes sense why you said what you did. For the last time.....I was NOT told anything about a CLEP exam until two weeks before the next session started but by then there wasn't any availability....all dates were full. I had never even heard of a CLEP exam until that point. Second, Mark writes.... The only other possible reason that classes were added would be because the transcripts (which by the way is the student's responsibilty to send to the school) were never received, or came from an institution that was not regionally accredited....AIU had ALL of my trascripts 18 months before my scheduled graduation date. They came from one of the top private universities in the country. (My son will be attending there in the fall.) There is no reason that AIU couldn't have look at my transcripts, matched it to the program I was in and seen that I was short some gen. ed. classes....That's their job!!! I'm done writing because trying to explain this again is a waste of my time....especially to individuals such as Mark who don't have a clue !!!

Mark says: The only other possible reason that classes were added would be because the transcripts (which by the way is the student's responsibilty to send to the school) were never received, or came from an institution that was not regionally accredited. Response: Actually, that's not entirely true. I'm not an AIU student or employee, but I do know that AIU also accepts credits from nationally accredited institutions. Visit the official Council for Higher Education Accreditation Transfer Alliance database to verify. See http://www.chea.org/HETA/legal.asp Mark says: Also, complaining to SACS is only hurting you. If AIU loses its accreditation, then all those credits you worked so hard for are thrown out the window. Response: This is completely false. Even if this student's complaint actually led to AIU's SACS accreditation being revoked, all of the credits earned prior to the revocation date would be still be valid. Don't try to scare this student into withdrawing a complaint. And you worked there, Mark? No wonder AIU is an annual leader in the complaints department!

I completely understand your frustration, and I can understand why you feel you were deceived. Unfortunately, the ONLY possible reason that classes were added late in your degree plan was because you failed to take CLEP/ELP exams to satisfy those credits. You were sent information within the first 3 weeks of your enrollment on CLEP exams, and you were given a set time to take those exams. If a student does not complete and pass his scheduled exams within 30 days of his grad. date, then those classes will be added to his degree plan, which would subsequently increase the tuition cost. The only other possible reason that classes were added would be because the transcripts (which by the way is the student's responsibilty to send to the school) were never received, or came from an institution that was not regionally accredited. Trust me when I say that it is not in the school's best interest to add classes at the last minute to "get more money" out of you. This only creates more problems, like forcing students to withdraw because they can't pay the remaining balance out of pocket, which subsequently hurts our graduation rate, which then makes the school look bad. If AIU has lousy graduation rates, then fewer people will enroll in the school. Obviously AIU is a for-profit institution, and they don't hide that fact at all. But the student DOES come first, and the school does everything they can to make sure the student will be successful. Also, complaining to SACS is only hurting you. If AIU loses its accreditation, then all those credits you worked so hard for are thrown out the window. My advice to you is to talk to your academic advisor and see if you can still take a CLEP or ELP to satisfy any general ed. requirement. Ultimately they don't want to lose the student, so in most cases they will work with you.

Kathy, Read the entry above ours on May 14, 2005 titles "Here's what you do...." Do what that entry says and it will work. I did it and not only has my tuition bill suddently disappreared, AIU is being investigated again by their accreditation. They could get put on suspension because this would be there third warning in less that five years. Whatever you do, DO NOT pay AIU another penny. I realize we are stuck with our student loans, but AIU isn't getting anymore money out of me. Hope this helps!

As stupid as it sounds, both my husband and myself are into AIU for well over $15,000 (not to mention Federal Aid and Sally Mae money). I refused to take out student loans because I did not want to have that debt later so I paid them $666.00 a month for almost 2 years and got Pell Grants. I just received a bill for an additional $8,000 for classes that I never took. I withdrew due to spinal surgery in January - but the withdrawal never took place and I guess I am still enrolled - even though I have not logged into the school since December of 2004. My husband (who did get Sally Mae loans) has 3 weeks left to go and was told that without an additional $8,200 he will not get his degree. I cannot fathom how they would not have figured out that he was $8,200 short before now. He is getting frantic phone calls at work and at home telling him to "find the money", borrow from anyone you can but you have to pay us. AS IF... For some reason, they always seem to find two more classes that need to be taken then more money is tacked on. Not one more cent will be paid to that school and Sally Mae should just write a check to AIU every month because they are funding this telemarketing scam. No one can contact anyone from this board because e-mail addresses are removed. I have scoured the internet trying to find someone who has either filed a suit or is willing to get involved with a lawsuit but can't find anyone. I understad why the e-mail addresses and contact info are removed, we just need to find a common place to exchange information (any suggestions will be appreciated). Mattie, I feel for you and I am putting my foot down, there will be no more money from this fool. I want an investigation and am determined to get one. I have sent communication to AIU and copied in Sally May and everyone else that I could find that is affiliated with educational practices and intend to see this to the end. People's credit has been ruined, lives have been turned upside down and all for nothing. Keep dragnetting the internet and hopefully some site will come up were info on help for AIU victims will be posted.

James, First of all I did not take the EASY way out as you put it. I could not go to a tadtional college for many reasons but they main one is that I was a single Mom with three kids to take care of and a full-time job which started many days at 3:30AM! It was suggested to my when I graduated from the local junior college with my AA that maybe online schooling would be benficial for my situation. I never even knew that was an option for me and when I looked into it, I thought it would work well with my schedule and allow me the flexibility to be a Mom, work and go to school at the same time. I was very committed to my schooling and worked very hard. It was NOT a cake-walk as you imply. After my kids went to sleep I would spend about two to four hours at least four days a week on my assignments. Maybe you look at it as a joke, but I gave it the same respect as if I was on a traditional campus. Maybe that's why this whole situation is more bothersome to me than most of the people who have responded. I wanted to do a good job and make a difference in my life and basically AIU took advantage of that. However, I won in the long run and I would highly recommend to anyone who may walk this situation to keep fighting. AIU is in some serious trouble! And James, for what it's worth, I was able to transfer most of my credits from AIU to the college I attend now (tradtional) to finish my degree.

First of all I am going to say that I have no idea if all of this is true and correct, whether or not people are told to lie or if they add classes at the end of your degree to milk more money out of you. So with that out of the way, let's just say that its all true and they do do these kinds of things. Teh fact of the matter is that its AIU, an online college and not a "real" university. I did attend AIU and I did finish, and I did it for the same reason that all of you did it or are in the process of doing it. I made a few mistakes and now I have to work and I have no time to go to a traditional campus. So I went to the easy AIU, pretty much give them money and they give you a degree. As long as you turn in assignments, they won't fail you. They want your money and you want your degree. On top of all that they basically give you a degree with a very little amount of work. So its all about money. You people are the ones that wanted to take the easy way out and go to AIU and now you complain because you have to pay the price for their walk-in-the-park degree. If any of you thought it was anything else you are seriously disturbed. Bottome line, it's an easy degree that you give them money for. You don't earn it, you pay for it. What's the problem, you're not doing any real work. Try a major University if you think you have it tough, then you'll see that you have it easy at AIU. And if you still think that it's a real degree and it will be accepted by valuable employers, try to go to Law School eith your 4.0 GPA from AIU.

To start let me tell you that the best way to get anything done at AIU with regard to transfer credits is to talk to the Registrar. For some reason AIU lets the Registrar weid the power that the Dean should have with regard to transfer credits. Please understand that the "Dean" and "Assistant Dean" of any AIU school is completely useless and just a figurehead position. In fact, a lot of these folks graduated from AIU themselves! in order to get things done at AIU you have to deal with the real players. If anyone has a complaint againt AIU, call the Director of Compliance and Campus President of the Campus that they were attending. You should be able to get their direct number by asking the receptionist. Inform them that you have planned on filing a lawsuit against the school for the dishonest business practices that they employed with regard to your experience. Let them know that you will be cc'ing all correspondances to your attorney and Jack Larson, the CEO of CEC. I PROMISE that you will get their attention. CEC (Career Education Coorporation, the partent company of AIU) is terrified of litigation. I have personally seen students get full refunds when bringing up the threat of a lawsuit. If you are unable to get the attention of someone at the campus, simply get in touch with the CEC coorporate offices. Simply tell the receptionist that you want to speak to someone "regarding a lawsuit that you will be filing." Trust me when I tell you that she will get you to the right person. Just as an FYI- if you do hire an attorney it should be a snap. I always wondered why these legions of unhappy students didn't ban together again CEC. A lawyer would jump at the opportunity to sink his teeth in a part of that billion dollar enterprise! Hope that helped!

To start let me tell you that the best way to get anything done at AIU with regard to transfer credits is to talk to the Registrar. For some reason AIU lets the Registrar weid the power that the Dean should have with regard to transfer credits. Please understand that the "Dean" and "Assistant Dean" of any AIU school is completely useless and just a figurehead position. In fact, a lot of these folks graduated from AIU themselves! in order to get things done at AIU you have to deal with the real players. If anyone has a complaint againt AIU, call the Director of Compliance and Campus President of the Campus that they were attending. You should be able to get their direct number by asking the receptionist. Inform them that you have planned on filing a lawsuit against the school for the dishonest business practices that they employed with regard to your experience. Let them know that you will be cc'ing all correspondances to your attorney and Jack Larson, the CEO of CEC. I PROMISE that you will get their attention. CEC (Career Education Coorporation, the partent company of AIU) is terrified of litigation. I have personally seen students get full refunds when bringing up the threat of a lawsuit. If you are unable to get the attention of someone at the campus, simply get in touch with the CEC coorporate offices. Simply tell the receptionist that you want to speak to someone "regarding a lawsuit that you will be filing." Trust me when I tell you that she will get you to the right person. Just as an FYI- if you do hire an attorney it should be a snap. I always wondered why these legions of unhappy students didn't ban together again CEC. A lawyer would jump at the opportunity to sink his teeth in a part of that billion dollar enterprise! Hope that helped!

To start let me tell you that the best way to get anything done at AIU with regard to transfer credits is to talk to the Registrar. For some reason AIU lets the Registrar weid the power that the Dean should have with regard to transfer credits. Please understand that the "Dean" and "Assistant Dean" of any AIU school is completely useless and just a figurehead position. In fact, a lot of these folks graduated from AIU themselves! in order to get things done at AIU you have to deal with the real players. If anyone has a complaint againt AIU, call the Director of Compliance and Campus President of the Campus that they were attending. You should be able to get their direct number by asking the receptionist. Inform them that you have planned on filing a lawsuit against the school for the dishonest business practices that they employed with regard to your experience. Let them know that you will be cc'ing all correspondances to your attorney and Jack Larson, the CEO of CEC. I PROMISE that you will get their attention. CEC (Career Education Coorporation, the partent company of AIU) is terrified of litigation. I have personally seen students get full refunds when bringing up the threat of a lawsuit. If you are unable to get the attention of someone at the campus, simply get in touch with the CEC coorporate offices. Simply tell the receptionist that you want to speak to someone "regarding a lawsuit that you will be filing." Trust me when I tell you that she will get you to the right person. Just as an FYI- if you do hire an attorney it should be a snap. I always wondered why these legions of unhappy students didn't ban together again CEC. A lawyer would jump at the opportunity to sink his teeth in a part of that billion dollar enterprise! Hope that helped!

To start let me tell you that the best way to get anything done at AIU with regard to transfer credits is to talk to the Registrar. For some reason AIU lets the Registrar weid the power that the Dean should have with regard to transfer credits. Please understand that the "Dean" and "Assistant Dean" of any AIU school is completely useless and just a figurehead position. In fact, a lot of these folks graduated from AIU themselves! in order to get things done at AIU you have to deal with the real players. If anyone has a complaint againt AIU, call the Director of Compliance and Campus President of the Campus that they were attending. You should be able to get their direct number by asking the receptionist. Inform them that you have planned on filing a lawsuit against the school for the dishonest business practices that they employed with regard to your experience. Let them know that you will be cc'ing all correspondances to your attorney and Jack Larson, the CEO of CEC. I PROMISE that you will get their attention. CEC (Career Education Coorporation, the partent company of AIU) is terrified of litigation. I have personally seen students get full refunds when bringing up the threat of a lawsuit. If you are unable to get the attention of someone at the campus, simply get in touch with the CEC coorporate offices. Simply tell the receptionist that you want to speak to someone "regarding a lawsuit that you will be filing." Trust me when I tell you that she will get you to the right person. Just as an FYI- if you do hire an attorney it should be a snap. I always wondered why these legions of unhappy students didn't ban together again CEC. A lawyer would jump at the opportunity to sink his teeth in a part of that billion dollar enterprise! Hope that helped!

Mattie, I am currently attending AIU to complete my BS in IT. I have less than 3wks to graduate and so far my experience has been great. The online delivery and content is excellent, the subject matter appropriate, and the teachers knowledgable. That being said, I did initially run into some of the same issues you encountered. However, I am not sure if this is your first online college experience, but I am here to tell you your experiences are pretty typical of colleges in general. I attended the University of Phoenix for a single class and dropped the degree plan because my experience was so horrible. The layout was aweful, the content was not relevant to any degree I was taking, and the class came with an exorbitant price. I had similar experiences with ITT, and CCAF to name a few.But anyway, back to AIU. I have filed my own rip-off report detailing my problems with AIU, but overall I don't have any major complaints. What I suggest for your problem is to take a CLEP to satisfy your gen ed requirements. If it is a class for which there is no CLEP, then do an ELP. I got into this huge run-around with my advisor over my ELP...had to go all the way to the Dean, but it got approved and I stayed on track for my degree plan. An ELP is free, and CLEP's only cost $55.00

Mattie- I feel for all of you who are having problems. I am an ex employee of the horrible company you are describing. Just like the rebuttal the other ex employee made, i have the same comments. "Well Mattie, Im not a lawyer so I can't help you in that department but I am an ex employee of AIU online. Mind you, I had no idea when I was starting there that this was such a horrible company, I thought I was going there to change peoples lives for the better but quickly learned the opposite. Knowing what I know now I dont recommend ANY online university to anyone, especially AIU online. This company like other ex-employees have said is a total for-profit organization. They could care less about the person going to school and their education. I wish you the best of luck in trying to beat AIU online because I honestly believe that company is run by the devil himself. Johnny - Downers Grove, Illinois U.S.A." I honestly could not have said it better myself. Every advisor that you are dealing with are highly uneducated "temps" from a temp agency that makes tons of money for AIU. They are told to lie, and thier jobs are threatened on a daily basis if they don't. It's horrible.

Mattie- I feel for all of you who are having problems. I am an ex employee of the horrible company you are describing. Just like the rebuttal the other ex employee made, i have the same comments. "Well Mattie, Im not a lawyer so I can't help you in that department but I am an ex employee of AIU online. Mind you, I had no idea when I was starting there that this was such a horrible company, I thought I was going there to change peoples lives for the better but quickly learned the opposite. Knowing what I know now I dont recommend ANY online university to anyone, especially AIU online. This company like other ex-employees have said is a total for-profit organization. They could care less about the person going to school and their education. I wish you the best of luck in trying to beat AIU online because I honestly believe that company is run by the devil himself. Johnny - Downers Grove, Illinois U.S.A." I honestly could not have said it better myself. Every advisor that you are dealing with are highly uneducated "temps" from a temp agency that makes tons of money for AIU. They are told to lie, and thier jobs are threatened on a daily basis if they don't. It's horrible.

Mattie- I feel for all of you who are having problems. I am an ex employee of the horrible company you are describing. Just like the rebuttal the other ex employee made, i have the same comments. "Well Mattie, Im not a lawyer so I can't help you in that department but I am an ex employee of AIU online. Mind you, I had no idea when I was starting there that this was such a horrible company, I thought I was going there to change peoples lives for the better but quickly learned the opposite. Knowing what I know now I dont recommend ANY online university to anyone, especially AIU online. This company like other ex-employees have said is a total for-profit organization. They could care less about the person going to school and their education. I wish you the best of luck in trying to beat AIU online because I honestly believe that company is run by the devil himself. Johnny - Downers Grove, Illinois U.S.A." I honestly could not have said it better myself. Every advisor that you are dealing with are highly uneducated "temps" from a temp agency that makes tons of money for AIU. They are told to lie, and thier jobs are threatened on a daily basis if they don't. It's horrible.

Mattie- I feel for all of you who are having problems. I am an ex employee of the horrible company you are describing. Just like the rebuttal the other ex employee made, i have the same comments. "Well Mattie, Im not a lawyer so I can't help you in that department but I am an ex employee of AIU online. Mind you, I had no idea when I was starting there that this was such a horrible company, I thought I was going there to change peoples lives for the better but quickly learned the opposite. Knowing what I know now I dont recommend ANY online university to anyone, especially AIU online. This company like other ex-employees have said is a total for-profit organization. They could care less about the person going to school and their education. I wish you the best of luck in trying to beat AIU online because I honestly believe that company is run by the devil himself. Johnny - Downers Grove, Illinois U.S.A." I honestly could not have said it better myself. Every advisor that you are dealing with are highly uneducated "temps" from a temp agency that makes tons of money for AIU. They are told to lie, and thier jobs are threatened on a daily basis if they don't. It's horrible.

I too had a bad experience with AIUs financial services. They were cagey and refused to give me anything in writing. They added $12,000+ in costs after my initial loans (for what they said was the entire course) had all gone through and then automatically signed me up for more financial aid "for my convenience." (I'm pretty sure this is illegal). I, myself, had a 4.0 and worked very hard on my classes, working 30+ hours a week, and still kept my family happy and healthy(husband and 3 children ages 8, 6, and 1). After I was unable to continue the classes, AIU refused my last financial aid payment and sent me a bill for the difference. There is too much more to go into here, but I have found them to be very dishonest when it comes to money. The classes, teachers and students are great, but don't trust them! AIU has found an easy way to get more money out of people and they are employing it - illegal or not. I just hope we will be able to help prevent this from happening to others by sharing our stories and letting the truth be known. Let the crusade continue!!!

Charles, You obviously are not aware of how college financial and admission departments operate. As a transfer student it was AIU's responsibility to inform me of what classes were being transferred in and what was not. How am I to know what classes AIU will accept? That's not my job, not to mention how was I to know what classes I needed to get my Bachelor's....I've never done it before. The point is, it doesn't take a school 16 months to realize that my transfer credits were going to fall short in the general education area. I am NOT arguing that I was short those credits, what I am arguing is that had they told me right off the bat what I was short I could have taken the three classes over the past 16 months at my local junior college for a total of about $500!! What they did was on purpose so that I would have NO other choice but enter the next session and pay an additional $5000!! Do you get it now? As far as keeping up with my classes, not that I owe you any kind of explanation but I have taken and completed every class I have been scheduled for, I have never turned in an assignment late and I have been on the Dean's List since my first session in November 2003! The problem is I held up to everything on my side I was responsible for, AIU did not. For future reference, don't talk about issues you know NOTHING about it only makes you look naive....which is a polite word for STUPID!

AIU Online has done nothing but help me throughout my experience. They have always been proactive in resolving any situation that has come up. If you have not kept up with the classes you needed or the credits that have been transferred that is your own fault.

I wish I could give you the name of someone who could help you. I to am going through 'it' also with AIU right now. I just want to let you know that you are not alone, sometimes it just helps to know that. I am currently being charged over $2,400.00 that they want me to pay out of my pocket. Long story -big mess They were reviewing my case and have not heard anything yet. I did read in the student handbook about an appeals process - maybe you can look in to that. I certainly will if the ruling is not favorable to me. Again, I am so sorry - you have worked so hard - congratulations on you GPA of 3.85 that is something to be so proud of! The work is NOT a piece of cake. Hold your head up!

I wish I could give you the name of someone who could help you. I to am going through 'it' also with AIU right now. I just want to let you know that you are not alone, sometimes it just helps to know that. I am currently being charged over $2,400.00 that they want me to pay out of my pocket. Long story -big mess They were reviewing my case and have not heard anything yet. I did read in the student handbook about an appeals process - maybe you can look in to that. I certainly will if the ruling is not favorable to me. Again, I am so sorry - you have worked so hard - congratulations on you GPA of 3.85 that is something to be so proud of! The work is NOT a piece of cake. Hold your head up!

I wish I could give you the name of someone who could help you. I to am going through 'it' also with AIU right now. I just want to let you know that you are not alone, sometimes it just helps to know that. I am currently being charged over $2,400.00 that they want me to pay out of my pocket. Long story -big mess They were reviewing my case and have not heard anything yet. I did read in the student handbook about an appeals process - maybe you can look in to that. I certainly will if the ruling is not favorable to me. Again, I am so sorry - you have worked so hard - congratulations on you GPA of 3.85 that is something to be so proud of! The work is NOT a piece of cake. Hold your head up!

I wish I could give you the name of someone who could help you. I to am going through 'it' also with AIU right now. I just want to let you know that you are not alone, sometimes it just helps to know that. I am currently being charged over $2,400.00 that they want me to pay out of my pocket. Long story -big mess They were reviewing my case and have not heard anything yet. I did read in the student handbook about an appeals process - maybe you can look in to that. I certainly will if the ruling is not favorable to me. Again, I am so sorry - you have worked so hard - congratulations on you GPA of 3.85 that is something to be so proud of! The work is NOT a piece of cake. Hold your head up!

Well Mattie, Im not a lawyer so I can't help you in that department but I am an ex employee of AIU online. Mind you, I had no idea when I was starting there that this was such a horrible company, I thought I was going there to change peoples lives for the better but quickly learned the opposite. Knowing what I know now I dont recommend ANY online university to anyone, especially AIU online. This company like other ex-employees have said is a total for-profit organization. They could care less about the person going to school and their education. I wish you the best of luck in trying to beat AIU online because I honestly believe that company is run by the devil himself.