Complaint Review: Collins College - Tempe Arizona

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

i said i was suspended/terminated in june, i meant july. sorry about the typo.