There are several reasons for PC/LAN program being fraudulent and I will just give some instances of this. The program PC/LAN was represented to me as a program that was new but it was around for a couple of years at the Chicago, IL International Academy of Design & Technology per representative. I was originally going to go into Computer Graphics but when I went to open house I spoke with a representative who was a teacher for the PC/LAN Program and he stated that because I liked to tear apart things and fix them he stated that the PC/LAN Associates Program would be ideal for me.
When I had asked if the program had night classes and day classes the answer was yes. I was under pressure due to a career change and not able to do physical labor anymore so I chose IT as another option for a new career change.
After choosing the PC/LAN program and going thru orientation I received my classes for a full-time student. I figured that I can go to school at night and then work during the day or vise versa. I found out that due to the lack of staff for this program I was forced to take night and day classes which in turn kept me from establishing a full time job to pay for my books & rent. I found out that if I dropped a class then I would be charged $150 and if I dropped the class after the due date then I was charged a full amount for the class. I was forced to take the classes whether they were days or nights.
Financial Aid stated that I was approved for my Pell Grant but that this was the only Grant that the school accepted. Later on within 4-5 months of being told that I was approved they then told me that I wasn't. This issue carried over into the next semester that forced me to apply for four additional loans through the school term in order to pay for my books and apartment rent. The checks that I applied for went to my school tuition in which I was forced to take out again additional loans for rent because I couldn't get a job due to my classes changing from days to night classes every semester. I was told that my loan interest rates were going to be between 11% - 12%. I later found out after I was finished through school that my interest rates were at 15% - 16% and further exceeded.
The program PC/LAN did not have a Lab nor did it have enough Laboratory equipment to work on along with only having approximately 4hrs of Lab Time when we were suppose to have 20hrs for our Hardware Lab Class. Several months after I had graduated I further found out that the teacher who taught us for our Hardware class was not qualified and was forced to resign from his position. I also found out that the program director was not qualified for the position and was going to school to get her credentials specifically for this program while I was going to school.
I now have 8 loans that were acquired: 4 Student Loans [Subsidized & Unsubsidized] = $25,000.00 & 4 additional personal loans that I acquired that total were only suppose to total $11,000.00 but are now $27,000.00. I am in default on all of them and increasing principle interest is racking up and I don't have a lucrative income in the field of study that I worked so hard for. I will not answer my phone from the loan department anymore because they want to tack on the amount of my loan to the already overbearing loan and then charge me for it after the agreement was that they wouldn't. Rather of fact I don't even have job still that was stated from the start that there would be Career Placement. Every job that I have acquired was from my own job search. At the time there was only 1 Career Placement Staff Member for the whole school when I had graduated.
I feel that I have been misled, misrepresented, lied to and a breach of contract on IADT part for not having qualified staff members.
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