Complaint Review: Kaplan University - Fort Lauderdale Florida

This is a reply to pretty much everyone... I am not a fan of Kaplan. I have never worked for them, nor would I encourage anyone to attend their school. But I have worked and taught in several colleges and universities and have a lot of experience with the kinds of complaints I read on ROR about Kaplan, Univ of Pheonix, and other online schools. In regards to students loans....if you signed for the loan, it's your responsibility, regardless of the academic outcome. If you drop or withdraw from your classes after the school has collected the loan, you owe the bank. It's that simple. If the school was able to return the loan (or hadn't collected it yet), you owe the school. ALL schools are pretty strict about requiring a student to pay off their account prior to registering for another semester, and before releasing their transcripts. That poicy is not exclusive to online schools. As for accreditation, Kaplan is, in fact, accredited. Whether or not their credits transfer to another school is up to the receiving school. Again, that is standard policy among ALL colleges and universities. Many schools (particularly state-run) have articulation agreements already set up so that you know if you go to State community college, the State university will accept x amount of credits from your Associate degree. Absent an articulation agreement, it is not up to Kaplan (or any other school) to tell you who will or will not accept their credits. It seems to be the general consensus among those who post on ROR that the admissions "counselors" (salesmen!) are the most unscrupulous of all. I would agree. But it is ultimately the student's responsibility to check things out.

I was enrolled with Kaplan for several semesters. After two semesters with extremely poor professors in a row, I left them. As usual, they always find a way that one owes them money. Both times that I had problems involved rogue professors that did anything they wished, without any control from the university. Because of their actions and inactions, I had to pay the price. In the last semester that finally influenced my decision to drop this worthless school, classes started on Wednesday. This particular class didn't meet until Tuesday, 6 days after the semester started. After the first lecture, it was announced that the instructor would not provide any feedback about the grade given for any assignments or tests, except for the midterm. On the very first assignment, I received a 70% with no explanation and no indication of what I missed. When I asked the professor for more details, I received a curt "read your syllabus". I ended up having to drop this Business Law class as I could not afford to fail and not even know why. But, that's where they got me!!!! Kaplan only gives you one week to drop/add a course and my advisor was conveniently not available. I left messages, but another advisor never returned my call. By the time I was able to talk to someone, the week was gone, I could not add another class, and because I wasn't carrying 2 classes, my student loan would not pay. I had to pay for the class out of my own pocket!!! On top of that, because I still owe them from their problems, they won't release my transcript that would allow me to enroll in another school. Avoid Kaplan at all costs....because it will cost you plenty!

I am writing to Ripoff Report in the hope that you can help me. Today is one of the worst days that I've experienced! I was laid off and I decided that I wanted to take a few classes at the local community college in my area. To my dismay, I could not receive a FSA (Federal Loan) until I pay an unauthorized loan that I owe Kaplan. On numerous occasions I have written to Kaplan, Citibank (gave unauthorized loan), and the Better Business Bureau in Florida to discuss the situation with the way Kaplan has ruin my credit, lied about me attending a full term and has left me holding the bag owing a school loan ($2, 400.00), that should of never been! In short, I cannot solve the problem myself, and I am asking for help! I do not understand why "Kaplan" is getting away with stealing from innocent people!

I am writing to Ripoff Report in the hope that you can help me. Today is one of the worst days that I've experienced! I was laid off and I decided that I wanted to take a few classes at the local community college in my area. To my dismay, I could not receive a FSA (Federal Loan) until I pay an unauthorized loan that I owe Kaplan. On numerous occasions I have written to Kaplan, Citibank (gave unauthorized loan), and the Better Business Bureau in Florida to discuss the situation with the way Kaplan has ruin my credit, lied about me attending a full term and has left me holding the bag owing a school loan ($2, 400.00), that should of never been! In short, I cannot solve the problem myself, and I am asking for help! I do not understand why "Kaplan" is getting away with stealing from innocent people!

I am writing to Ripoff Report in the hope that you can help me. Today is one of the worst days that I've experienced! I was laid off and I decided that I wanted to take a few classes at the local community college in my area. To my dismay, I could not receive a FSA (Federal Loan) until I pay an unauthorized loan that I owe Kaplan. On numerous occasions I have written to Kaplan, Citibank (gave unauthorized loan), and the Better Business Bureau in Florida to discuss the situation with the way Kaplan has ruin my credit, lied about me attending a full term and has left me holding the bag owing a school loan ($2, 400.00), that should of never been! In short, I cannot solve the problem myself, and I am asking for help! I do not understand why "Kaplan" is getting away with stealing from innocent people!

I am a victim in the exact same way. What do we do? I have been going to Kaplan forever. I withdrew 2 years ago for a peroid of time due to health reasons. I was ready to restart and was allowed to do so. I have worked my butt off attending classes faithfully. I work full time deal with a bipolar spouse who screams and hollers every time I open my computer. I was determined to achieve my goals. Now I too am locked out of class due to a supposed unpaid balance. I called my lender who states there should be no money owed. Now I am left owing a balance, have no degree and feel totally humilated and violated. Lets do something about this. We can go to the news Dateline or someone to get this resolved.

please contact me via email so that hwe can talk. i have went through the same thing and they have not refunded me i think trhat we sholud all get to gether and make our voices heard i went 4 2 years and transfer and recieve no @ $$$ but quickly found myself owinfg my bank

This reply is directed at Imnotdumbru. I hate to break the news to you, but the education you are receiving at Kaplan University appears to be of fairly low quality. Your grammar, spelling, and word usage are absolutely terrible. I do not know that Kaplan University would want you replying on their behalf! I was considering attending Kaplan University, but if your intelect is any indication of the education, I think I will pass.

I'm sorry to hear about the problem you have had. I have been a student at Kaplan for a year now, and I haven't had any signifigant problems. I do admit their financial aid department is not totaly on their game. It took me a long time to get them to send me the left over money from my financial aid. I also had a small probelm recently when Chase Bank stoped using them (keep in mind this is when the "bail out" and the problem with student loans was all over the news). However, it was as simple as applying with a different bank. They said I owed money, but as soon as I got a loan from another bank, it covered it. I feel that I must say, the problems your having are probably ligitimate, but as someone that has been attending this university for a while, it bothers me when someone that has not fallowed through with it bashes it. I probably work harder than a lot of students in traditional schools, because a lot of online learing is self teaching. The professors are excellent considering that there isn't much one-on-one time. The courses are not a joke. They are not easy, trust me. For anyone that want's to acctually learn, you will not be disapointed. I guess what i'm trying to say is, there isn't too many accredited or lagitimate online universities (I looked, there is about 12). I think people think because you are doing something online, the same rules don't apply as a traditional university, The truth is, as expensive as Kaplan is, it's less than or equal to most private schools. I was going to go to Columbia University (a private university), which would have cost me $40,0000 a year (why I didn't go). I'm paying about $15,000 a year now (still alot, but noone ever said collage was cheap). Something tells me the problems you are experiencing is common with any school. I've read stories about people that failed and just expect their money back. No "real" school would do that. Why does the rules change because it's online. Why would the Federal Government be giveing money to a school that was a "rip-off." If you look online there is hundreds of online school, and the government only gives money to 12 of them. I don't know how to fix the problem you had, maybe you dealt with the wrong person that day, I dunno. My advice is keep calling, ask to speak to supervisor, do what ever you have to do. Trust me, if you keep calling and arguing, someone will do something (this applies to most companies, unless their complete jerks). Good luck to you, and I mean it.