AIU calls itself a University, when in fact, it's nothing more that a sub-standard enteprise, driven by profits and preying on innocent hard working individuals who are desparate to impove their education with the hope of acquiring a better higher paying job and impoving the quality of life for themselves,
their families and loved ones.
In many cases their dreams of a better education and lifestyle end up being their worst nightmare resultng in the embarassment of being unceremoniously kicked out of a program for a multitude of reasons, save acedemic performance which in most reputable uiversities would be the only reason and resulting in the devastation of a good credit history by the greed of AIU.
I emigrated to america three years ago thinking that america could provide me with an unlimited opportunity to realize my dreams. I possess a degree in English language and Literature and a post graduate degree in mass communications.
At the time i left my native country I was the host of a daily television show that was broadcast nationally in my country. I had just started hosting and Producing my own show that focussed on improving the environment and educating people on the right attitude towards ensuring a safe environment for us to live in. This led to an invitation to America by the United Nations. I fell in love with the U. S and decided to stay and work my way back up.
Life was not easy. I had to accept lower paying jobs in the service sector, which were quite physically demanding. Additionally I found these jobs quite demeaning, degrading and boring considering i was a university graduate of an "Ivy League University " in my native country. No businesses in America would recognize my degree even though the educational system is based on the education model of the U.K., hence, I was blocked from attaining a position that I was acclimatized to.
Determined to realize my dreams I began to search the internet for an educational institution that would allow me to complete courses that fit my schedule and would allow me ot finish a degree as soon as possible. I sent AIU a request for more information on courses. From that day on I was continually hounded and pressured into registering, calling day and night even on sundays. They hound and coaxed me into signing the student Handbook online without reading its content while on the phone with me and pressure me into accepting the conditions of the Sallie Mae Loan at an interst rate (13.5%) substantially higher than a conventional lending institution.
Once they have the loan porcessed you never her form them. There is no communication with the school or the institution as to how the loan was disbursed. Even though this information was requested numerous times.in fact i have never to this day received any document from the Lending Institution for me to sign and return.
However this was not the reason I was unceremoniously kicked out of the progam.
Two to three weeks after I had started taking classes I received an e-mail form the Records Office requesting that they needed original transcripts from the Educational Institution in my native country, even though prior to registering they accepted a copy of an evalution of my transcripts from World Educational Services whom I had paid a fee for them to peform their evaluation.
I informed them that it would take four to six weeks to acquire the transcripts and requested that they wait in due course for this information.
I telephoned the University in my native country and paid for them to send the transcripts to the me. They informed me that it is their policy not to forward transcripts to graduates but rather directly to the instution that is requesting them, through regular mail. I furnished them with the name and address of AIU. Till tody AIU has not contacted me to let me know if they got it or not.
I continued on with their program and on the first week of my second class, I was blocked form logging into my class. I treid to contact them by phohe and e-mail which was met with no response from AIU. Then one morning I received an e-mail from the Academic Dean stating categorically that I had been withdrawn from the program leaving a phoney, run around number for which to call. That was the last communication with AIU until I received a letter from them demanding approximately $3600, part of which they took from the Sallie Mae loan they got me to sign for under duress. I say that because the ledger sheet they included is constructed in such a way that i cannot ascertain what i exactly owe. I am owing AIU and am also owing Sallie Mae for a course i did not finish. They withdrew me from school for dubious reasons. Who pays that kind of amount for a 4 weeks couse? This is fraud if you ask me!
In addition this was the first and final demand for payment and they are threatening to take me to a collection agency for the balance even without a rebuttal from me.
To me this is quite disturbing. Upon my acceptance to the program I changed jobs which would allow me to devote more time to the program. This new job also pays substantially less money. And now i am in a positon where i am barely surviving, have been removed from the program and now have AIU threatening to sue me and ruin my personal credit history.
In the short period of time I have been in the U. S, I have worked very hard to establish a good credit history which is being threatened by a Business that had promised me of how much i would benefit financially from an AIU-MBA. This has turned into my worst nightemare.
In my opionion, AIU is nothing more than a bunch of blood sucking charlatans preying on the disadvanged and dispossessed who are trying to make a better life for themselves.
They are your worst nightmare and caveat emptor (buyer beware).
I need help desperately. Anyone who knows how to wake me up from this nightmare should please come to my rescue. I am helpless in a foreign land and do not know the proper legal procedures to take. I surely cannot afford an attorney as am barely surviving on my low income and do not know how I got myself into all this mess! The entire opposite of what I ever envisaged education to be.
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