Complaint Review: Full Sail University - Winter Park Minnesota

Financial Aid Fraud per S.A.P (Satisfactory Academic Progress) and Program Fraud.

I started at Full Sail University on September 28, 2015 and was enrolled in the Online Mobile Development Bachelor’s Degree program (32 consecutive months). Rather than having a semester full of classes, I was enrolled in one class per month, with no breaks. I started a class called ‘Advanced Scalable Data Infrastructures’ on May 30, 2016 (advanced programming class). It was very tough and I ended up having to withdraw for the months of June and July. I then failed the class 3 consecutive months straight after that (August, September, and October) and had to withdraw again in November. During those 6 months, nobody reached out to me offering help nor did they raise any concerns that I had failed a class. Per S.A.P (Satisfactory Academic Progress), I should have been put on some sort of discipline, and gotten my federal funding revoked due to not meeting Satisfactory Progress.

I requested a tutor and was denied within 2 hours, with no explanation behind the denial (via email). I called the school asking for help; I even cried on the phone letting them know I felt like I was at a loss and nobody cared to help me- they told me to find another resource for a tutor. During this conversation, my student liaison *accidentally* told me that the school had a “Town Hall meeting” regarding this class back in May of 2016 due to so many students failing repetitively and that they had to “re-work” the course. She then told me, “one bad class shouldn’t hinder the reputation of Full Sail as a school”.

Every time I withdrew / failed the class, they automatically re-enrolled me for the next month - I essentially have been stuck in this class for the last 6 months. Each class would end at 11:59pm on a Sunday, and the “new month” would start at 12:01am on Monday (3 minutes later). Not only did they keep using my financial aid to cover the course, but they also charged me 2 pay-to-retake fees ($1800 each), and took that out of my financial aid without my consent. I finally got in contact with my online advising manager, after months of going to the school, on November 4, 2016, and after a long conversation, she decided to ‘do me a favor’ by waiving the pay-to-retake fees. What I later discovered, was that she was actually covering herself due to me never giving consent to use my financial aid to pay those fees, which is illegal.

I applied at Dunwoody College of Technology here in Minneapolis October 2016 and was accepted into the Web Programming and Database Development Associates Degree program. They sent me a financial aid award letter and when I went to accept it a few days later, the money was drained out of my financial aid account, leaving me with $0. In addition, Full Sail dispersed all of my financial aid for the whole year of 2017 on October 5, 2016, leaving me unable to start at Dunwoody on January 9, 2017 as initially expected.

I quit my job so I could go to school full time and really focus on my studies as I struggle with A.D.H.D and literally haven't had any income in over a year. With that said, Full Sail offered me a ‘Student Support Scholarship’ totaling $4,812.00 (I actually had to find this scholarship on their website myself and ask if I qualified - and it's basically for poor students who don't have any resources to get that money themselves). Due to not graduating, this scholarship has now become a debt. I now owe this money to Full Sail because it is only paid upon graduation from their University.

I am hungry for an education and my grades reflect that. The financial burden and emotional distress this situation has caused is beyond words at this point. None of my classes will even transfer to Dunwoody, so I basically have to start all over again, as this last year at Full Sail has been a waste of time. I essentially am paying them $10,000 for one class I have been stuck in. I not only want my federal funding discharged, my scholarship to no longer be a debt, but at this point, I want their accredidation taken from underneath them and restitution for my troubles.

Every staff member screens my phone call every single time now; I tried reaching the Director of Student Affairs and was told "she was out of the office temporarily" - I left a voicemail and emailed her directly 3 days ago and have heard nothing. The staff is rude every single time I call. I printed out my phone records for the last 6 months and they have called me literally twice - to "see how things are going", not mentioning one thing about me failing 3 months in row. What a joke of a school.

I have now been in contact with the Office of Inspector General, Ombudsman Group, ACCSC (Commission who accredits the University), and have recently submitted my case to Rasansky Law Firm. My complaints to both the Minnesota Attorney General and the Florida Attorney General will be mailed out on Monday.