Complaint Review: The Bryman School - Phoenix Arizona

As of November 8, 2007 I had a meeting at The Bryman School about the externship required for me to graduate from the surgical technology program the school offers. During the meeting, I was informed by the director of education in order to complete the required externship, I would have to accept a certificate to graduate or be dropped from the surgical technology program when the applied science degree was already included within the cost of tuition I paid to attend The Bryman School.

The reasoning for this is because the school ran out of time to graduate me from the surgical technology program with an applied science degree. To soften the blow, the director of education offered a refund of $2,400 back to an alternative student loan I have to make the transfer over to the certificate more desirable. I did not accept this ultimatum because any surgical technician job description mentions an applied science degree as a requirement in order to be considered for employment. I do not already have an AAS degree, so a certificate is not going to qualify me for employment to work as a surgical technician.

Not only is the ultimatum completely unreasonable, but the director of education agreed with me that the position I am in with the school is a direct result of the school over-enrolling the surgical technology program with too many students- I recorded the entire meeting on a mini-cassette recorder and the statement I am referring to is captured on tape. Since the The Bryman School did not put a cap on the number of students entering the surgical technology program for the graduating year of 2006, this flooded the instructors with too many students and backed up the extern process to a snails pace.

Towards the end of the meeting the director of education did apologize, mentioning this situation has never happened since she has been working for The Bryman School. I find this exceptionally hard to believe- when I was attending the Senior Review Lab twice a week for nearly a year after I completed the last surgical technology class I needed to qualify to begin the required externship, there were numerous students I spoke with personally who were indeed in the same position I was in with the school. The files on these students could be subpoenaed from the school archives for class of 2006.

It was also puzzling to me students who finished the surgical technology program after I did were given externships before I was given mine. I did bring this up to the last program manager who was working at The Bryman School during this time, (the school has gone through at least four since I began going to the school) and she could not supply me with an answer.

The Bryman School failed to comply with the time frame put in place by the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education in order for me to be awarded an AAS in Surgical Technology. According to The Bryman Schools curriculum for surgical technology, an externship provided by the school must be completed after all classes have been passed within this prescribed time frame. As a direct result of The Bryman Schools negligence to comply with time frame put in place by the ASBPPE, I was not able to complete the externship and was dropped from the Surgical Technology program when I had successfully passed all the classes that lead up to the required externship. Now I have $24,400.25 in student loans with no degree awarded to me because The Bryman School failed to follow through with their own guidelines and the guidelines put in place by ASBPPE.

Since the school did not uphold their own requirements rightfully owed to me within the surgical technology curriculum, the $24,400.25 I paid to attend The Bryman School should be refunded to me. If The Bryman School will not fulfill their own bargain and comply to their own inherent responsibilities to me as a student, there is no ethical reason why The Bryman School should rightfully keep the $24,400.25 paid to them.

Jessica

Scottsdale, Arizona

U.S.A.