I attended AIU Buckhead for 6 months back in October March. The classes were excellent and the staff/employees are very friendly for the most part. I did think it strange at first when I had requested information online from their site and after speaking on the phone and arranging what as far as I knew was just a tour of the school to find out if I would be interested in applying, turned out to be an interview instead. I also thought it odd that the admissions rep was so sure I would be accepted (if not already as sure as she made it sound) after having just spoken with me, I mean it takes more evaluation than that, doesn't it? (She basically gave me the same speel I have read elsewhere on this site) I understood how costly and expensive the school would be and it did scare me to death being 18 at the time but I was assured by the staff and my family that it would be okay so that is my own problem there.
However, I had a mixture of two loans, a grant or two, and out of pocket expenses somewhere in the range of $150-$200 a month. Each time I went to make my monthly payment in the financial office, I saw someone different (whether that is normal or not I do not know or particularly care if they do it right), and it seemed like every time I turned around the status of my balance had changed somehow. It would go from being up to date and even, to being told I was supposed to get money back from financial aid to being told there was a negative balance and I owed them more money and it kept cycling amongst those three states. My older sister works for Sallie May and has told me that she gets a lot of calls from AIU students who have complained about the same thing happening to them and that AIU's financial office won't be upfront and give show them how they came to those conclusions and that their financial aid is going straight to the school instead of through them.
Shortly before I withdrew from AIU Buckhead, I recieved a letter from the school that was addressed to all students attending. This letter stated that if the student enrolls for summer quarter that their tuition rate will be locked in instead of rising. Good deal huh? Well, if you read further it went on to say that if you did NOT enroll for summer quarter or took even one quarter off between the present summer quarter mentioned and graduation, you would be subject not only to the rise in tuition rates but the school also required the student to pay a $500 reprocessing fee. Now when I read that I knew doing some paperwork (especially for a student already on file) does NOT cost $500. It sounded like blackmail to me to manipulate students, plain and simple. Last but not least, I have met two different people who have said that they recieved a call from AIU offering to sell them a degree for $500.
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