im a 25 year old male who moved to mesa hoping to escape the drab existance i used to dwell in while residing in montana. having just spent 6 months living with an old friend turned heroin addict, i figured i would focus on getting an education and straighten my own life out.

it didnt take long for me to realize what a horrible mistake i had made by enrolling at collins college. my admissions representative (Nathan Wade) basically "sold" me on the school, despite the fact that two of my highschool buddies had attended and graphically depicted the school and its bullshit to me, i thought why not take the risk? especially when you have no further to sink, only way to go is up.

how wrong i was.

wednesday the 21st of june i was suspended from the school because of something that happened the day prior. ill give some background so you can get an idea of what to expect from the staff at this establishment. i apologize in advance if this gets a bit drawn out, but you honestly wouldnt believe how much s**t i had to go through.

lets start at the beginning.

i signed a contract for a laptop. i was operating under the impression that it would cost 2500, which i had to secure in a loan on my own. which i did. it took me 3 months to get the school to give me the money. i did not want the laptop they had to offer, because i could get the exact same one online for 1700. in fact i could customize another laptop from another company, and walk out with a better piece of hardware than what they were offering, for significantly less cost.

in april, one of their tech people (Nick something, dont know his last name; sunglasses wearing arrogant a*s blonde guy) came into class on the last day of that session because a computer i was trying to print on had so badly backed up that it took over an hour to print 2 pages of TEXT (maybe a grand total of 9 sentences). this project was my storyboard for computer graphics for video (photoshop and illustrator, both, in 5 weeks). the teacher had simply been using the 45.00$ books tutorials as assignments. i digress. anyway, when the tech showed up, i was noticeable frustrated. i mean i had been made to wait for 3 hours to get a response from them, and when they did show up, i had been out of class for 45 minutes. i made a comment to the tech along the lines of "your network sucks", and in turn the tech guy said "maybe you don't know what the hell you are talking about". an employee of the school said i didn't know what i was talking about, yet i have been working with computers and networking since 1992. puzzling.

the next 2 weeks were "spring break", and when i returned to class when class again resumed, i was promptly suspended for 2 days. funny.

in that same computer graphics for video class, i had a 97% overall grade. i aced every assignment without studying, i aced every quiz and test, even the final i didn't get 1 answer wrong. yet somehow, i got a B.

for the next 15 weeks i talked to the dean of students (Kip Sudduth), the vice president of student services (George Fitzpatrick), as well as the teacher involved, the department head (Steve Bradford) in trying to rectify this error.

in the beginning of the month of july, when i had finally exhausted all my efforts trying to get this problem fixed, the dean of student slammed his door on my face when i came to him looking for resolution of this seemingly simple mix-up. the VP of student services told me later that day that Kip had just quit smoking and he was aggitated. is this any excuse for slamming doors in paying customers faces? certainly not.

this is only the tip of the iceberg.

i basically had the same thing happen in field production class. we got stuck into groups of 4, i showed up for the others in my group so they could do their 30 second commercials, and when it was my turn to shoot, nobody in my group showed up to help me. yet, they got better grades than i did at the end of the session.

when i talked to that teacher (Scott Hayes), he kept putting me off, when all i was asking for was a breakdown of all my assignments, to show me how he got to the grade i had recieved.

so tuesday rolls around, and im still upset about this. in class i get angry about the grade, and said a few swear words, which got me drug down to the department chairs office for an hour long discussion on how we can fix this situation.

we scheduled an appointment for the next day at 5:40pm. when i arrived for class at 3:45pm on wednesday, prepared to do some work, i was met by Tracy who took me to the deans office, where i was suspended and told that if i didn't leave the property, i would be arrested.

2 weeks prior i had taken out 2 loans, 1 for about 3,000 dollars, and the other for 4,000 even. they have denied me access to these funds, they have denied me access to my student file, and then they schedule a meeting on friday at 10am, yet thursday they have a police officer from the tempe police call me to tell me not to enter the property or else be arrested.

i am not being allowed to finish and get my degree. no action was taken against these teachers for their mistakes. i'm desperately trying to get my money, without it i will be homeless in 8 days.

im currently seeking legal council against the school for discrimination, negligance, violation of my civil rights and right to freedom of speech.

i acknowledge that i am at least in part responsible. but know this, if you stand up to the system, they will dismiss you in an instant. if you are a thorn in their side, as i was, it is only in their best interest to find a way to get you out of their face. they only care about the money. your education means nothing to them.

i cannot even put into words the poor education i recieved from most of the teachers that i dealt with. when you have a teacher using the help files for a piece of software as an instructional tool, you know that something is wrong. you could just as easily buy the software and read the help files, and for significantly less cost.

dont waste your time with collins college. take this from someone who just lost everything. including a home.

if you are a lawyer, and feel like helping me out, please contact Rip-off Report..

Eric

Mesa, Arizona
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Al Collins Graphic Design School

Click Here to read other Ripoff Reports on Collins College

6 Updates & Rebuttals

John

Whitehall,
Michigan,
U.S.A.

Suprised they even did it

#2UPDATE EX-employee responds

Wed, February 08, 2006

Eric, years ago, we had a student kick in the front window of the front office. They let him back. later, a drunk driver came in the side entrance where the video buildings were and hit a number of student's cars. the president 'Joan' let him back and protected him from disclosure. we had taggers get caught who were no arrested. Vandals got a free pass and there are dozens of fools who were given better grades by the administration (without instructor consent). Can we proove fraud? Not easliy. there are too many loopholes and pay-offs. Everything looks god on paper. You would have to enroll and pretend to be a whiner in order to have evidence. They always asked us to change grades and pass students who had no reason. They wanted to send some of us to anger management and put the rest of us on probation. Some of us were asked to sign a document saying we were happy there. One department chair was such a failure, they fired him (only to bring him back as the grounds keeper). If you go to the west valley campus, you will see every administrator you hate running the show. these admins have commited so much fraud to keep their jobs that is is truly sick. I am very suprised they let you go. Normally, they would buy you off and stay quiet. you are the kind of victim they are very prepared to crush and no lawyer will touch this. You might get a pay-off... we had an instructor marry a student. they later sue the school and rumor is they got good money to shut up. The bald guy in the corner office married a student, so they could not really go to court. oh well, man. good luck.

Cindy

Decatur,
Alabama,
U.S.A.

desperate for the opportunity to better our lives and finally get on our feet and fueled by soooo many promises and claims of inevitable success

#3Consumer Comment

Sat, January 28, 2006

Thank you, Eric! Eric, we are a family of five who have had a lot of hardship and trials. December of 2004, my husband responded to a Collins College commercial and hooked up with a representative from there (who later turned hatefully and unexpectedly against us for reasons that were NOT founded) and were trying to move our entire family (3 small children included) from Alabama to Tempe for finally "a better life". Jerry Lemai (Collins rep)"sold", like your rep, us on the college, the town, the nightlife and the trees and lake, too! We never could straighten out the financial aide problem that was blocking my husband's entrance and after it became clear that we would not be able to get a loan for him to start, we were dumped like garbage and nastily told by our rep to "Have a nice life!" Believe it or not, desperate for the opportunity to better our lives and finally get on our feet and fueled by soooo many promises and claims of inevitable success in my husband's career because of his obtained education at Collins (we were told that their graduates are extremely sought after by all the top companies), we were actually looking into trying to attend school there again this year--with him already having been accepted last year. It's like you said, after you've been so low, you figure the only way you could possibly go now is up. We are determined to rise and be successful, financially independent people. I just wanted to write and thank you for sharing your in-depth story. It confirmed some things we had already been hearing and explained why so many things that happened in almost every interaction with Collins felt so suspicious. Because you shared your experience with us, Eric,we know now that we definitely DO NOT want any part of Collins College. I am sorry that you had to endure all of that(we've had things similar to that happen to us in other areas and are not looking for any repeats), but I am glad that you cared enough to warn other folks.

Eric

Mesa,
Arizona,
U.S.A.

some clarification of facts regarding the rip off at collins college ..collins college is in violation of its own policies and procedures.

#4Author of original report

Mon, August 23, 2004

not to engage in much conjecture...

1: i paid $3000.00 for a 5 week class, get a 97%, which is documented, and then subsequently am issued a B by the instructor. in the same class, i was "taught" from a $45.00 book openly availbe via the internet or any common bookstore. it took me 15 weeks and at least 8 seperate attempts in visiting with the administration, as well as the teacher involved, before i managed to get this grade correction made. in the process, i had the dean of students slam the door in my face, when i had finally finished waiting for them to do something about it.

2: maybe i was angry, but i paid a lot of money to go to this school, and they are in breech of contract with me. they told me i would recieve education from "industry professionals" with "industry experience", not to mention the "industry standard equipment and software", including a plasma system that, until i was 6 months in, wasn't there.

3: collins college is in violation of its own policies and procedures. for one, i was never notified of my right to appeal, which is oulined in the school policies book, which i also never recieved until the day i was thrown out. beyond that, they flat out denied me access to my own student file and financial aid information, when i requested, which is also oulined in the policies and procedures book. furthermore, upon completing the requirements for dispute resolution, again, outlined in the book, rather than remedy the situation with me, the paying customer, and since of course, the teacher in question cannot prove that i earned the B- grade he gave me (because he also can't prove it to several other students), they terminated me, because i was now a liability.

i intend to make bringing negative publicity to collins college my personal mission in life, so that if for nothing else, nobody else has to endure the horror that i had to suffer through while i was enrolled as a student at this "school".

so, tim from indiana, while you are entitled to your opinion, it is just that, and not facts. so i appreciate your not patronizing me with your uninformed opinions. thanks.

Tim

Valparaiso,
Indiana,
U.S.A.

How does the other side to this story go?

#5Consumer Comment

Sun, July 25, 2004

Eric, I sure hope that someone else involved with this fiasco does take the time to rebut, because I'm quite sure that the other side of this story is a far cry from your report. Not too engage in too much conjecture, but I'm guessing you have a little trouble controlling your temper, and this time it cost you big.

You should definitely make sure that any loan funds that were supposed to be disbursed to you don't end up being charged to you, and if you need to get a lawyer to help you out with that then I would certainly reccomend it.

You would certainly be well advised to consult a lawyer about any other issues you may have as well, but I wouldn't hold out much hope or shell out much money for your discrimination, negligence, civil rights and free speech violations.

To sum it up quick: discrimination won't fly unless you are a member of a protected category (i.e. not white); negligence concerns injury to persons or their property; only state agents can violate your civil rights; and, finally, private institutions may regulate your speech as they please (even if that weren't the case, angry profanity is not protected speech).

Good luck to you, and I hope you are able to continue your education at an institution more suited to your tastes.

Eric

mesa,
Arizona,
U.S.A.

update

#6Author of original report

Fri, July 23, 2004

i said june when i meant july, sorry for the mix up.

here are email addresses for the administration officials involved.

[email protected] - tracy coleman
[email protected] - steve bradford

please feel free to email them and ask that they rebutt this report.