- Report: #1236250
Complaint Review: The Art Institute Online Div. EDMC - Internet
Reported By:
MS -
Houston, Texas, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
The Art Institute Online Div. EDMC
Internet, USA
Web:
www.aionline.edu
Categories:
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The Art Institute Online Div. EDMC The Art Institutes of Pittsburgh, EDMC , Education Management Corporation For Profit Colleges Pittsburgh Nationwide
Since I started at AIOP on MAY 2012 (graphic design) and I switch over (WEB DESIGN) after 6 months. NONE of my 17 credits that I have already taken were transferable to the new program. Classes are 5.5. week length and I had been complaining with my multiple Academic Counselors about the classes have nothing to do with Web Design. even that many of the core classes are basically the same between 2 mayors. During all that, I was facing major personal problems, I divorced, I moved to 3 diffent places, while taking care of my son and taking him to therapy, Dr. Appointments etc. I tried to get a job but with my son busy schedule I gave up the idea of working until complete my Degree.After my first year into the program. I started to realize that the classes were basically the same.
I have also complaining about the schedule, you don't get to choose the classes and since the beginning I haven't had breaks between classes. In a whole academic year Online students only have 5 days break (of not being on the computer) During the holidays but always on return you have to submit ridiculous assignments. So there is no mental break for the students, No family time, no friends time, no creativity time. that is the reason why many students drop out. Any student should be at least have 3 days off between classes. But not with AIOP. Artistic minds need to get out in the real world, but no weekends of holidays are allow for us. Is only a schedule thing, "Instructors " and Counselors don't care if you are sick or have an emergency.
The "online classroom" always requires me to post on feedback for other students work, but when a student has a question that was not covered in the online lecture, the student has to send an email to the "instructor" that is more like a monitor of the class. The instructor sometimes would not really explain much or would just provide external links from other articles or websites to answer the student question. The lack of interaction with the "instructors" would make the class even harder. The online lectures were just a brief summary of the theme we were covering and the e-books sometimes had nothing to do with the class. The online classroom does not have their own online tutorials. All the technical skills I have learned from The Art Institute Online Division is from external websites that offer tutorials for any type of topic, such a lynda.com or adobe.com. The help from Google and youtube .These websites provide tutorials for their software. Many of these websites allow anyone to purchase a one year membership for the price of one credit at the Ai per credit, which is $470. I don't think the price I am paying is the education I am getting, since I could just buy a membership of any other tutorial site. The school also is charging me for lab-fees.
My entire schooling has been from my home computer. The computer was not included in my tuition, nor my internet connection. The tuition this institution is charging is outrageous, and I think it is complete fraud. Students who enroll in this institution are expecting a much higher quality of education from well-trained instructors and professionals. The main page hasn't even been updated, and all the classes are just links to external websites that anyone can google for free. I am about to graduate, and I feel that what I have learned what I could have done on my own for a fraction of a price. Now I am in debt with the student loans, and my education is not top quality to get a good job to pay those loans. This institution and its mother company, EDMC, is committing complete fraud and should be considered a criminal act for what they are doing to me and many other students who have a low income. I am a single mother of a special needs child and I was not able to attend regular school, so I thought an online education would be convenient and affordable. I was completely wrong. Please contact me soon, so I can provide evidence that what I am saying is true. Also, the financial advisors and the institution never sent the real charges to me. The statements that I received every quarter only show half of my loans. When I asked Ai to refund me the money that hasn't been used, they sent me a completely different breakdown of charges than I have received. All of the charges seem excessive and the descriptions and accounting codes associated with each charge are unclear for what they are for. How is it possible that an Associate program for a part time student could cost 47,000 dollars when I haven't even put my foot on any of the campuses, and all of my tutorials are not even property of the school itself. Most likely, my credits are not valid to transfer to any other institution.
During my research about this problem I discovered that there is thousands of students from this schools managed by EDMC who had been in financial troubles after graduation of this school. Thousands claim that The school did not help them to place them in a job related with their career of field and almost all of them are still in the minimal wage with the same job they had previous enrolled in this school.
LOOK UP ONLINE EDMC+ under federal investigation. You will see all the reports and what congress is doing about this.
