I was an AIU student from 1999 until 2002 at their physical location in Dunwoody, Ga.in the beginning the school was what I would consider excellent. There was excellent faculty, they actually had a screening procedure (so that people who would not be able to cut it were not allowed into the program), they had a great placement program that was placing graduates into really good positions and the fees that they charged were reasonable for the education.
But in 2001 it all changed. CEC bought the school and wrecked it. They immediately fired all of the best staff members, raised tuition, and instead of trying to lure the best students they started marketing it and trying to lure in anyone who they could set up with federal student aid, and then they preceded to charge the maximum amount possible. I know a guy who owed them $75,000.00 when he finished his BIT and MIT degrees. Their accounting practices are atrocious. They keep poor records and if the students are not careful and watch their accounts, they will be overcharged.
I along with a group of students who were concerned about the direction of the school actually scheduled a meeting with the president of the school. We expressed our feelings about the change in the recruiting methods and the general decline of the institution, and his response to us was this is a business first. I was speechless! I would have never attended a school whose president had that attitude. But they had me captive at that point. Once you are there, you will not be able to get another school to take their credits so I was forced to finish the program. I finished in June Cum Laude. Needless to say, by this time the career services department was non-existent for all intents and purposes, so I took my degree and vowed never to return.
In October I was contacted by student accounts and informed that I owed AIU $4000.00. The thing is that when you graduate, you have to check out through student accounts before they allow you to leave, and when I left, my accounts were at $0. So I asked for proof and what they sent me was a copy of my ledger, and on the ledger they had gone back and added $4000.00 after I left. Naturally, I refused to pay. They threatened to take me to court so I dared them to, because I was confident I would win. They offered to drop the amount down to $1000.00 and I told them I would not pay them another dime. Then they punked out and referred it to a collection agency. Now I have a ding on my credit report that I can't get off.
All of this stuff is systematic. I have spoken with former employees that I befriended there that told me of staff meetings where they discussed recruiting goals and how they were going to get the students approved for the loans. Using sales strategies instead of University recruiting.
I have not heard a lot of happy stories from the people I know who went to AIU.in fact I don't know any. I would never recommend anyone attend this school, based on my experience.
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