What can I tell you, but that AIU online (American Intercontinental University) and CTU (Colorado Technical University) are both online schools owned by the parent company Career Education Corporation (CECO is the ticker symbol for this company, which is traded on the NASDAQ).
Career Education Corporation (and hide those whom you love whenever they receive a sales/marketing call from ANY of CECO's schools, as they own many) has been under investigation by the Justice Department and the SEC. These folks are operating under a black cloud of unethical behavior in which the whole purpose is to get students into online degree programs so that they can get the federal dollars from the Department of Education. That is money for financial aid that COULD be going to students at real, bricks-and-mortar colleges and universities!
Some of the losers who enroll in degree programs with AIU online or CTU online couldn't even make it into a "real" college or university, and every reputable HR department in America is aware of that fact. So, guess what? While the rest of us are getting real degrees that are marketable, the schmucks in an AIU/CTU online program are facing an uphill battle once they try to shop that degree around town. With the scandal surrounding the parent company, who knows if this degree mill will even be in business 10 years, maybe even 5 years, down the road?
Another creepy thing that this company does is to utilize temporary staffing agencies to lure lots of people into these huge, cattle calls where the temp/staffing agencies send job-seekers to a group meeting with the University people. It is there at the group meeting that a Senior Admissions Advisor (translation: spinmeister) informs everyone that they may be candidates for a degree program with the school. Not everyone is hired to be an Admissions Advisor! This is all mostly a cattle call to get potential new students enrolled in online programs. One such temp agency is PDQ Staffing of Glendale Heights, Illinois and another firm called Mentor 4.
IF you get a call from anyone at Career Education Corporation, or you respond to an ad on Career Builder for an Admissions Advisor job through a temp-to-hire ad through PDQ Staffing or Mentor 4, then be warned that what is going on is highly unethical. Do you really want to be involved with a company that is under SEC investigation or with a staffing firm that knows that their client is under such a black cloud?
CECO's stock has also plummeted due to the scandal, so if you see a lot of ads looking for new Admissions Advisors, it is because they are having a lot of trouble once everyone gets hip to the whole scam, so that's why they are hiring new advisors in addition to just trying to get people to show up for the interview to try to turn them into students of the online university.
Scandal scandal scandal! Beware.
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