Complaint Review: University Of Phoenix - Internet Internet

My intention in filing this report is to provide information on my enrollment experience with University  of Phoenix and why I suspect the organization is intentionally involved in deceptive enrollment processes.  If you are interested in enrolling in this school I would advise you to be very careful, proceed with caution and make sure you understand everything very clear.

My Experience
Given the economic meltdown of 2008 I decided I would go back to school to get my teaching credentials. I enrolled at the Colorado Springs, CO University of Phoenix campus in June of 2008 because of the convenience of completing my requirements online.

The enrollment clerk told me UOP would apply for the funding on my behalf and that if for some reason I did not complete the course, the funding would be returned and I would be responsible for the cost of courses taken.  She also told me UOP would order my transcripts from other schools I attended and would let me know the results when these activities were completed. I accepted these terms and waited to hear from them.

Sometime in the middle of summer I believe, I received a call that the needed funding had been secured but they were having trouble getting the transcripts from the other schools and would try again.

I attended, I think seven, sessions of the first required class, which was about the University of Phoenix online system and how to work in teams.  It was extremely elementary but was a required course.  It was around this time that I was informed my transcripts had arrived and that most of my credits would not be transferable as they were IT related.  That being the case I dropped out of the program.  I had only intended to go for two years not four. 

I was informed that the secured funding had to be returned and that I was responsible to pay for the one class I took.  Silly me, I guess I didn't inquire as to the cost of each class when I enrolled.  This was consistent with the information I had been told on registration but our finances were in a sad state of affairs so I was unable to resolve the matter until June of 2009.  I made payments totaling $1,260.00 and was told that I had paid in full.

In 2011 I started receiving collection statements from an organization called ACS and another organization called Educational Credit Management.  They said I owed them a bit more than $400.00 to bring my educational loan current. 

I sent letters and talked to a couple people on the phone asking for an explanation as I was led to believe that I had paid my debt in full.  I was told if I wanted to dispute the charge I needed to get on the ECM website, fill out a particular form and send it to them, which I did along with a letter detailing what I knew, what I had paid and requesting information from them as to why they thought I owed this additional amount.  Meanwhile I continued to get a steady flow of these bills in the mail and robocalls on the phone. 

In November of 2011 I asked to speak to a superviser at ECM when I could get no information from the collector on the phone.  The supervisor said I needed to send a different form and all my documentation again as they only look at the form and if it is not the right one the request is denied.

I became very ill in late 2011 and most of 2012 due to many stressors from the prior four years.  I could not manage making dinner much less trying to get information from these people.  So I waited until I regained some strength to start again.  This time I sent the same letter to ECM that I had been sending and copied the Department of Education.  I got no explanation from ECM but did receive a letter from Matthew Carney with the Department of Education on Oct 12th.  He reported that while I had paid the University of Phoenix I still had a student loan that was in default.  After a discussion on the phone, he agreed to look into it further to find out what this other loan was for. 

I received a call from him on Nov 19th.  He had obtained some information that he would send, which stated that apparently the total for the single class was $1,700.00 and while I had paid University of Phoenix I still had a debt with the guarantor of the loan, Educational Credit Management for the balance and that because so much time had elapsed the amount was now over $800.00 due to added interest.  I recently received a bill from a collection company that is now trying to collect the debt for ECM.  The gentlemen from the Department of Education told me that this isn't the first time he had heard of difficulties with ECM but that he would not be able to help me further as it was not a Federal loan.  Buyer Beware