Complaint Review: Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division - Internet

June 12, 2015

Navient

via facsimile

 

Re: Account # xxxxxxxxxx

 

It is without question, I have a strong case for a defense to repayment and hereby request that Navient

immediately discharge and forgive the entire amount of both the principal balance and any accrued

interest, as well as returning to me the sum of all payments I have made to date, on the following

student loans:

 

Signature Student Loan - 5711 $x,xxx.xx

Stafford 1-05 $x,xxx.xx

DL Consolidated Subsidized Loan 1-06 $x,xxx.xx

DL Consolidated Unsubsidized Loan 1-07 $x,xxx.xx

Total: $xx,xxx.xx + sum of payments made to date

 

My defense to repayment of this debt is made pursuant to the U.S. Higher Education Act whereby the

law states “Notwithstanding any other provision of State or Federal law, the Secretary shall specify in

regulations which acts or omissions of an institution of higher education a borrower may assert as a

defense to repayment of a loan.” Clearly, fraud and misrepresentation would be incorporated into such

acts or omissions.

 

Federal law is clear about giving students redress when they’ve been defrauded.

The student loans referenced above were incurred as a result of my enrollment in the Art Institute of

Pittsburg Online Division. These loans were the direct result of fraud, misrepresentation and deceit

including, but not limited to, false claims about career placement, false claims regarding job placement

statistics, predatory and high-pressure sales tactics, misrepresentations about the cost of a degree, and

misrepresentations about the value of an online degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburg.

I was lured into enrolling in the Art Institute of Pittsburg with unrealistic promises of gainful employment

and was then saddled with massive debt, a sub-par education and a useless degree. I was flat-out lied

to every step of the way. For five years, I have been seeking gainful employment. I’ve been told by

nearly every prospective employer, the degree I received from the Art Institute is not a “real” degree

and/or that the Art Institute is not a “real” school. Sadly, I must agree with them.

 

I originally became aware of the Art Institute through an aggressive email marketing campaign. I

responded to one email in mid-March of 2008 inquiring about their program. Beginning that same day, I

began to receive sales calls from their recruiters at least three times a day. The recruiters used high

pressure sales tactics, such as asking about my father and how I should want to prove him wrong that I

could never get into college, that student loans were easy to get, telling me that I would be able to get a

high-paying job when I graduated, that I would easily pay off student loans, that over 90% of their

graduates get jobs right away, etc. They also told me that getting an Associates Degree would be easy

and that it would only take one year instead of two. I was confused as to how a degree could take only

one year. They responded by telling me an online education was faster and just as credible as a

traditional education. Once they coerced me into filling out an application, I thought is was weird that I

had gotten accepted so fast. It only took days to be admitted to the Art Institute. In contrast, the

university in my home town, Montana State, took months.

 

Teachers were rarely, if ever, available to answer questions. Instead, they would just send me a link to a

website. It felt like I could have gotten the same education myself by just searching online. Part of the

course involved students critiquing each other’s work. I was stunned to see the poor performance by

most of the students. Some could not even draw a stick figure in an art course, yet they were passing

with the same grades as myself. Also, the teachers were not even able to perform the work. They would

take the work of the better students and then use that work to teach other students. They actually had

me sign an agreement whereby I would allow the teachers to use my work. I tired to transfer the credits

from the Art Institute to MSU so that I could get a real education, but I was told that credits from the Art

Institute are not transferrable.

 

After years of being denied employment and being told the degree I have from the Art Institute is

worthless, I have come to the realization that I have been scammed. The teachers are not real

teachers, they are a fraud. The credits I earned are not real credits, they are a fraud. The degree is not

a real degree, it is a fraud. The school, and everything about it, is a complete fraud.

In support of my case, the federal government, as well as a dozen states, have pursued legal action

against the parent company of the Art Institute (EDMC) for fraud and misrepresentation. The complaint

states the company had a “boiler-room style sales culture” in which recruiters were instructed to use

high-pressure sales techniques and inflated claims about career placement to increase student

enrollment, regardless of the applicants’ qualifications. Recruiters were encouraged to enroll even

applicants who were unable to write coherently, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs or

who sought to enroll in an online course but had no computer. In addition, the lawsuit states that

recruiters were led to exploit applicants’ psychological vulnerabilities. I can verify each and every one of

these claims through my own personal experience with the Art Institute of Pittsburg.

 

Not surprising, Goldman Sachs bought EDMC in 2006 and turned this for-profit college into a predatory

money-making enterprise that devastated so many young and disadvantaged, pirating our futures by

delivering nothing and saddling us with debt that is nearly impossible to discharge. This is the same

Goldman Sachs that created the subprime debacle that collapsed in 2007 and ruined the lives of

countless hard-working people in this country. They made billions at the expense of ordinary American’s

pensions and retirement accounts, robbing them of their life savings. Rest assured, I will not pay one

more cent into this fraudulent scam created by the criminal enterprise, Goldman Sachs.

The facts I have presented here are more than sufficient basis for me to assert a defense to repayment.

On June 8, 2015, Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, stated the department plans to develop a

process to allow any student to be forgiven their loans if they had been defrauded by their colleges.

Accordingly, I will await the announcement of that process and proceed with having this debt forgiven

and forever discharged.

 

In the meantime, I demand that Navient immediately suspend all payment obligations and interest

accrual on these loans until such time as this matter is resolved.