After a long a frustrating search for online colleges I thought that I had found one that was honest and forthright. How wrong I truley was! When they realized I was close to making a choice on schools, well that's when they start the hard close. They told me that if I would pay a $70 application fee, that I would be able to keep the lower tuition rates for the next quarter coming up. Of course what they don't tell you is that by going with a college who works on the quarter system and not the semester system, you will end up paying twice as much money for a degree!
Then after they got my fee, I changed my mind when I did the math, well, that was the start of my fight with this school over $70.00! In fact that was February 1, 2010, almost 6 weeks ago, I still have not recieved my refund. In fact they told me last week that it would be another 5 or 6 weeks more. Does this school not have $70.00? Are they really this hard up? Why does it take 3 months to get a refund of $70.00, nothing takes this long. They pressure you into doing something and then when you change your mind they hope you will forget so they can keep your money.
Well, to everyone out there who is considering going back to school, please read all the fine print and don't go to school with a college on the QUARTER system!
Elizabeth
Jolon,#2General Comment
Wed, April 14, 2010
Hello you are right Kaplan is a rip off. I have been dealing with them for almost a year now. Everything was taken care and fixed for me until February when this lady went behind and rejected all of my docuements that were required and sent in September and accepted. Point is although I's still fighting with them to get this fixed and will be withdrawing after these classes are over with in a few weeks. There system is to pocket more money and I would have never realized this if I was not having to deal with the mess. Their system is for my Bachelors is 5-6 credit hours per class well I looked into a couple of other online schools that are accredited and they only charge 3-4 credit hours a class. There classes are set up just like Kaplan's some may be done in 5 weeks instead of the 10 that Kaplan's are done in. It's the credit hours that they are overcharging and ripping people off if I was to stay with Kaplan I would be paying $60,000 with a military discount for that degree, if I was to go to on to the other two online schools I would only be paying $30,000 for the same degree, big difference uh? I hope you get your refund back and they will probably give you the run around I've been trying to get a hold of a guy that left a voice mail for me, supposedly a manager in FA to help me with my docuements and funny thing is he will not return any of my messages I've been trying to get a hold of him for almost a week. Be glad you didn't actually take classes from this dirty rip off school. Best of luck.
Jeanski
Hamburg,#3Consumer Suggestion
Wed, April 14, 2010
Your math is correct, but off-point. You are comparing apples and oranges. Our local community college charges about $75.00 per semester hour, and the 4-year university charges about $300 per semester hour. Schools can charge whatever they they want. That isn't the point. The point I was trying to make is that in an argument of quarters versus semesters, quality isn't the issue. The length of the program will remain the same. About ten years ago our community college switched from a quarter-based system to a semester-based system. The tuition was adjusted so that the end cost remained the same. That's the point I was trying to make.
John the baptist
Orlando,#4Author of original report
Wed, April 14, 2010
Although what you said is true from a timeing standpoint, in real dollars and sense it's huge differance.
Kaplan charges roughly $350 per quarter hour, multiply this times 180 hours for a four year degree and you get $63,000.00
The school I plan to go to charges roughly $300.00 per semester hour and there is 120 hours which equals $36,000.00.
Unless my remedial math is incorrect I would say the differance is HUGE!!!!!!
Jeanski
Hamburg,#5Consumer Comment
Tue, April 13, 2010
There are numerous reports about Kaplan and other for-profit schools. I don't think anyone in their right mind would consider one after reading through ROR. However, I would like to point out to any interested reader that there is absolutely no difference between quarters and semesters as calendar systems when determining the quality of a school. It's all about the number of clock hours a course meets in a given time period. Quarters are usually 14 weeks, and semesters are about 18. The cost doesn't go up just because there are 4 quarters (versus 2, maybe 3 semesters) in an academic year. Full time enrollment under either calendar system still equates to two years of college for an Associates Degree, or four years for a Bachelors.