Complaint Review: AIU Online - Schaumburg Illinois

I am a graduate of AIU online in 2006. I took the Project Management Bachelors program and I was very satisfied with it. The curriculum I encountered was very indepth, the instructors professional and knowledgeable, and the multimedia presentations were very helpful. I took the 13 month program, which meant I took a 9 credit course every 5 weeks, immediately followed the next day by another 5 week/9 credit course until my degree was completed with a week break in between every two months. Is this tough? Yes, I was about burned out at this point, but it was very good to get used to the time management practices that I put in place to ensure I completed all courses in a timely manner. Lastly, I never had any overt problems from AIU. I do believe the cost is a bit high for the program, but it was the best way for me to learn at an accelerated pace while still working full time in the Military. I retired last year and now work for a military contractor working for NATO practicing my skills in Project Management. AIU was the best thing I have done in years. Thanks AIU. CEC? I have no knowledge or dealings with them within my recollection. But, AIU is worthwhile to this graduate/consumer. Thanks for hearing me out.

In response to the comments made by "Truly Blessed." One would think that the facts you are speaking of apply to your campus only and since you are not in management, your knowledge is quite limited to say the very least. Most CEC schools are accredited and having accreditation does NOT imply educational quality - it is simply a process whereby the school policies and curriculums are reviewed to ensure that it meets accreditation standards. Your statement "Most of the negative feedback from so called 'employees' on this site, are comments from disgruntled employees who lost their jobs simply because they werent doing them!" is a generalized statement and based on pure speculation. You do not know whether people lost their jobs, resigned, or were forced to resign while taking the blame for another's 'wrong doing.' At any rate, you should not speak for others by making generalized assumptions one of the core principles of research. So, if your boss directs you to cover up fraudulent activities you would gladly do that to stay in line with having done your job? CEC is truly blessed with an employee like you and I pray that you won't be blessed with the consequences that follow, if any. It could be that your school is not nearly as bad as the schools I have seen and maybe it is even a great school to work for (this is not for me to assess because I have not been to your school). Your advice to others about researching the facts is great and I think you should follow it too by sharing your own experience accounting for one school and one school only!

I have been employed with AIU Online for over 2 years. I am a student as well. Number one...AIU Campuses...all of them including the online branch are regionally accredited by SACS, which you can see for yourself by visiting sacs.org. As far as there are no multimedia presentations in classes...NOT TRUE!! When you enter your virtual classroom, on the left hand side there is a link that says "course materials" that is where a student will find mutlimedia for each unit as well as the archived chat sessions. AIU is also listed with military.com. Anyone who knows about military benefits, they're very picky where soldiers attend school. I have 3 students in Iraq currently. Most of the negative feedback from so called "employees" on this site, are comments from disgruntled employees who lost their jobs simply because they werent doing them! Probation has been a wonderful thing, and there has been sooo many positive changes! I've re-enrolled 6 students this week who originaly cancelled because of probation, and sites like this, but after doing actual research they were impressed! In 2 years all but 5 of my students have gone from associates all the way to Bachelors, and some to MBA's, all with AIU Online. I have a Stanford graduate who just enrolled or an MBA. Do your homework and don't listen to bitter employees or former students who couldn't follow time management, which they designate themselves. APA formatting and all inclusive course information is found on the website as well as the virtual campus

CEC and its various schools are so deeply entwined into their unethical business practices that change appears to be highly unlikely. The training that is provided to their staff (most of which is in written format) are not the actual practices seen in many schools. It is very clever and it is convincing until you begin to realize the inability to implement the aspects learned at the campus you work for. I am surprised that no one has taken a closer look at their "turn-around" of staffs (faculty, managers, admissions reps, etc). What would be an acceptable answer when asking why almost all managers (school presidents, admissions directors, deans, etc.) are fairly new? The written directives are superseded by verbal directives which are to meet the enrollment numbers "by all means necessary." There are many former employees including myself that are not disgruntled, but disappointed and often forced to hide having worked for this company as its reputation has finally traveled nationwide. When recruiters read that you've been employed there, you receive raised eyebrows, some joke as a result of a 60 Minute presentation they saw, and even pity remarks (i.e., I am sure you are glad that you are not working there anymore). For an environment to change, the mentality of its leaders must be retrained. You can hide or eliminate the CEO (J. Larson) and exchange a few key players, yet it does not take away the overall greedy business mentality. Those who think that a long term unethical business practice changes suddenly as a result of a few lawsuits (incl. class action suits) or a drop of the stock market are in for a rude awakening. It is a temporary fix to calm the storm while regaining energy for new hideous strategies to bring back the dollars lost. It is the "little" guy that pays the price because when the fraud issues and deceptive practice come to light they are the one's that are either fired or (if smart enough) resign. Retaliation and "black balling" techniques are a very common strategy they use and before you know it, YOU are the "bad" guy. Upon review of their website, the corporate managers are still there and so you can be sure that the "verbal" pressures will continue. There is no need to go into further details because there are many articles clearly outlining their strategies used (perhaps with the exception of using fraudulent high school diplomas in order to gain federal funding. This was even promoted among corporate managers until the Dept. of Education looked into it and suddenly it was "unknown" to corporate members). My advice for anyone (prospective students and staff) is to truly research the school before making a commitment and to remain cautious at all times. For those who are still employed there and follow the orders given - make sure you comply with the "do not document or e-mail" any serious concerns directive. Otherwise, you will learn about the true corporate face and the consequences are yours to keep.

While I am a graduate of AIU and agree with a lot of what has been said about the school and had some of the same issues (am waiting for my BIT degree due to balance owing of a cash agreement); I wish to explain a little more about accreditation of AIU based on my own research conducted. Sanctions were placed on the main campus (Atlanta) and affected the following: "The Commission's accreditation includes all components of the institution all programs, branch campuses, offcampus sites, and distance learning programs as reported to the Commission; thus, the Probation status applies to the entire institution." see: sacscoc.org/disclosure/dec2006/American%20InterContinental%20U.pdf Therefore, what applies to the main campus applies to all campuses; none of the campus are exempt from the accreditation probation that was placed on AIU including the online campus (which is under the Atlanta campus for any loan applications and accreditation). Their accreditation is still standing, but they are on probation until a December 2007 review. This information is per the Public Disclosure Statement that is publicly available to anyone on the SACS site under Accreditation Actions & Disclosure Statements, then go to the December 2006 actions. While I do not agree with a lot of the high pressure and some of the things that went on while I attended school; I wanted to be sure everyone has the correct facts about the accreditation at this time (whether you agree or disagree with all the posts).

Per the SACS webiste, "The accreditation granted encompasses the entire institution including reported branch campuses, other instructional sites, and distance learning modalities." SO, if AIU in Atlanta, GA is accredited, for now, than so is AIU -Online in Hoffman Estates. I just wanted to metion that.

Per the SACS webiste, "The accreditation granted encompasses the entire institution including reported branch campuses, other instructional sites, and distance learning modalities." SO, if AIU in Atlanta, GA is accredited, for now, than so is AIU -Online in Hoffman Estates. I just wanted to metion that.

Per the SACS webiste, "The accreditation granted encompasses the entire institution including reported branch campuses, other instructional sites, and distance learning modalities." SO, if AIU in Atlanta, GA is accredited, for now, than so is AIU -Online in Hoffman Estates. I just wanted to metion that.

In the original posting Andrea said, "So really all you need to have is a greedy attitude to get the students in check; which is a horrible idea of people in the first place. If I applied at AIU Online and found out the admissions advisor was trained to view me and other 'prospective students' as professional procrastinators; YES that is what each training class calls all prospective students; then I would be very offended." --- (Andrea,11/21/2005) Andrea, you are evidently a former employee at AIU Online. I really do not think many AIU online students should care that the admission advisors are conformed to think like each other and view "prospective students" as "professional procrastinators." Why? 'Procastination' is not viewed as bad habit by everyone. As a matter of fact, personally I work better under pressure and that works for many other people also. There are many professional or impressive people that have procrastinated in certain situations and procrastinate from time to time. Anyways, procrastination does not always determine a negative or failing outcome of the goal or situation. Like I said, I along with many other people work better under pressure, and I have achieved many goals despite the fact that I procrastinated at times. What matters is that people at least accomplish their intended goals rather not accomplishing them. Not accomplishing their goals at all would be the 'bad' procrastination rather than the 'good' procrastination.

Hello, I am currently a student of CTU Online. I have read the comments in several sections, and though I would state my situation as a non-biased view of what is happening. First some background: My school is paid for by my employer, GE. GE steered me to CTU, (or actually AIU first since they are "education partners"). I ran away from AIU because of the horror stories I heard from AIU, so I can not comment on that school. The CTU online school though, I am currently 45% finished with my BS degree. The classes are difficult in that you have to understand the subject matter, but there are no tests performed... only posting of documents, spreadsheets, and powerpoint files. These all have to be in APA format (was not told about this before starting this course work.. research about APA and how to use it before signing up!) I noticed that the student manual talks about testing, and the multimedia online information talks about tests too... There are none. There are a series of 10 assignments with one being a group project. I have passed 8 of my 20 classes so far with all A's in the classes. Most of the classes, the subject matter is vaguely relevant in relation to the actual subject matter. My impression is that the classwork is a way to "get your paper", and have an introduction to the actual subjects since each class is only 5 weeks long, and you have two at a time. The major emphasis seems to be on the APA formating more than the actual information, HMM. My resulting opinion is that the school is not a good environment to learn from, but good to get your paper of completion (degree certificate). This school is supported by GE again, so the idea of employers not accepting their degree is not true. The quality of learning is minimal at best because of the short time and vagueness of the classes to the subject matter. At first the price seems high, but on investigation of traditional schools and even their online programs, they all fall in the same range of price basically. CTU provides books, windows operating system, Office, but no APA software or much in the line of souce materials (they do have a 'cybrary' research center, but it is mainly just shortcuts to public articles on the internet, and nothing of physical substance) If you are in an industry and need a degree that is legitimate quickly, this is your ticket. If you want to learn about the materials covered, look somewhere else. I do supposed that you could learn as you progress in your schooling, but the retension after an intense 5 weeks is not so good, and besides there is another 5 week period immediately following the end of your set you are in. You simply learn to stop trying to remember that stuff from last session to focus on the new stuff for this month! I hope that gives you guys an idea of the situation that is truely in CTU. I think a lot of the complaints are from people that thought it was a quick blow-off diploma thing, and found out that they have to actually work (I have spent MANY times past midnight nursing a sick project!). These people want to know the materials after completion or want to just pass through with little effort and work. The school work is tedious, not very retainable, and very stressful in the fast paced environment (not to speak of the shock of having to immediately know about APA formating - Worst part of the school). Remember that most of the real students are refered to CTU for getting their degree for the job (I asked many of my fellow students and found this to be the rule..) Government retraining grants or military retraining stuff does not work very well as the school is geared to this employer sponsored type of student, where the paper needs to be in hand in 15 months. I thank GE for paying for my school so far, My associate degree is through a community college, so the rest is CTU so far. You are very welcome to ask me amy questions and I will answer the best that I can, and I swear that this information is true and very accurate as of 12/22/06. Stan **** (CTU Student currently)

I deal with accreditation processes and an online school such as AIU online has to meet the accreditation standards even if it is out AIU Buckhead. That's like saying my piece of crap Ford at the Lexus dealership and telling everyone my car is a luxury vehicle. Trust me I am in the know.

I had to leave AIU temporarily for personal reasons, since I was gone for awhile, I had to go through training again. You must have been sleeping through yours, in the training class, and it is common knowledge that our accreditation is out of the Buckhead campus, as well as the Dunwoody and Dallas locations. I'm sure you read that on the SACS website, but for some obtuse reason chose to block it out.