Firstly, this is not a UOP review or criticism by a person who spent a month or two taking a few classes at UOP. I spent over two years at this self-proclaimed educational institution and completed 19 classes totaling 57 credit hours.
The first question you might want to ask me is why would I have stayed so long after realizing what a disgrace this institution is to our educational system? The answer is the same one you will get from many UOP students. Once you have finished a few classes, which will run up a bill of thousands of dollars, you feel locked into finishing because no other university will accept credits from UOP, or at least none in my area. This means you cut your losses and move on or stick it out. I chose, due to my financial circumstances, to stick it out. Here is my story.
I realized after taking 3-4 classes at UOP that one thing was blatantly apparent. That is that you are rewarded for one thing and one thing only, showing up one night a week, and PAYING UOP THEIR MONEY. The education simply isn't there. I walked away after 19 classes and 57 credit hours with nothing more than a huge bill and a feeling of accomplishing nothing. About the only thing I have to be proud of is that I was able to show up every Monday night for over two years, which when working full time is challenging at times.
Many who know that you have to complete 20 classes at UOP to graduate will be wondering why I stopped at 19 classes. Well that is the disgraceful part of the story that I will tell shortly. First I want to urge anyone reading this who is considering attending the University of Phoenix to please carefully consider his or her decision.
If all you want is a piece of paper for showing up, then by all means, this college is for you. However, if you truly want a degree and education you can be proud of, then don't let UOP's counselors, or sales people as I prefer to call them, lure you in to enrolling at their school. You will spend two years of your life, and a substantial amount of money, doing other peoples work and watching underachievers walk away from a class you worked hard in with the same grade as you.
Why would you do other peoples work you ask? At UOP you don't spend enough hours in an actual classroom for the college to maintain their accreditation. They make up for this by forcing people into doing Team Projects each class. You are SUPPOSED to spend at least 4 hours a week doing team meetings and out-of-class work. But I am yet to speak with a single student who actually does this.
My team consisted of five students, only one or two of which would ever show for a team meeting. The result, the few people who actually put forth an effort do the work of the lazy underachievers who are just there for a degree to hang on their wall. And don't fool yourself into thinking you will report them to the teacher or campus and their grade will suffer. UOP will do nothing about team members who do not participate. These students will get the same team grade you do, regardless of who did the work. But they have to do this because if they actually documented that some of their students were not spending the out-of-class hours required then they wouldn't be fulfilling the requirements needed to keep their accreditation. That means they couldn't rip off thousands of students for outrageous tuition fees, and UOP can't have that. They didn't become the biggest Fast Food degree granting institution by being stupid!
So why did I end up with only 19 classes completed when I only needed one more for my degree?
I attended the Metairie campus of UOP, which was destroyed during hurricane Katrina. I had already started my 20th and final class when this happened. I was going into my third of five classroom sessions when this all happened, and had an A in the course. Not that having an A is anything to be proud of, but at least I was showing up and trying to get something out of the class.
The hurricane not only claimed the UOP campus I was attending, it also destroyed virtually everything I owned and worked for.in the aftermath I was a 34 year old man, who had worked every day of his life since the age of 17, and was now jobless, homeless and owned little more than the cloths I took when I evacuated. I evacuated to Lafayette to stay with my parents during the storm, but quickly realized in the aftermath that I would be staying with them much longer than a day or two.
A week following the storm, despite everything that had happened, I went to the Lafayette campus of the University of Phoenix and told them my situation and asked to be enrolled in a class so I could finish. Remember, I only had 3 weeks left to graduate when the storm hit. I was told that they didn't have a class for me and a counselor (sales person) would call me.
I waited a week and never got a call, so I went back up to the campus but this time I was a little upset. I told the guy working the front desk I wanted to see somebody and wouldn't leave until I did. I explained that I had lost my job and needed this degree to find work and provide for my family.
The person was obviously less than worried about my problems, but did call a counselor to the front to speak with me. I spoke to a lady who told me they were having a meeting about the displaced students and she would take care of everything and let me know the next day. I left feeling better, which lasted until the end of the second day following that conversation, at which time I still hadn't gotten a phone call.
I waited a full week and still never heard from the UOP Lafayette campus. Now I was down right angry, and I went back up to the campus yet again. I was told again by a counselor they didn't have a class for me, but this time I was told they would enroll me in a online course, but the two classes I had taken wouldn't count and I would have to start my final class all over again.
I should mention here that evacuated students from colleges all over the New Orleans area had long since been admitted into colleges around the country who were trying to help these displaced students. It didn't matter if they had the exact same classes or curriculums, they just got students enrolled and bent whatever rules they needed to in order to get these students back on track.
I found myself not at some college I had never attended, I was at a UOP campus, a college I had paid almost $20,000 dollars to and they were telling me they couldn't enroll me in their school because they didn't have the exact class available I had started, which was an elective by the way. Not to mention I had to start the class all over anyway so why did it matter if it was that exact class or not? But, I was tired, mentally drained and depressed so I reluctantly agreed to take the online class.
Keep in mind that you are required to have access to a computer to do the online class, which I did on a sporadic basis. I was living with friends, family and in hotels at this time but figured I would go to the library if necessary just to finish this final class. Something I informed the counselor about when I was told this was my only option to finishing school, but like the guy at the front desk, she seemed unconcerned with my problems.
Without going into a lot of detail, I finished the class but did have trouble getting to a computer all the time. A fact I informed my teacher of at the beginning of the class. I still managed to always fulfill my teamwork obligations and weekly discussion questions.
In the end though I was given a big fat F for the class. I got this grade without ever hearing a word back from my teacher about my situation being unacceptable, or even getting a heads up that I was failing. The instructor, Lester Reams, told me NOTHING. I guess he wanted the F to be a surprise. I have pleaded with my online counselor, Erin Wittkopf, but got zero help. Actually, I left two voicemails and sent an email before ever hearing back, which took about a week after my first attempt at contacting her.
To make matters worse she didn't even have the decency to call. She emailed me and basically said, too bad so sad. I emailed back explaining everything that had happened and she replied providing me with a procedure for filing a grievance. It has been a couple of weeks since filing that and I have heard NOTHING. Apparently ignoring paying students is a skill UOP employees have perfected.
So I ask you, the prospective student of UOP, does this sound like the school from which you want a degree to hang proudly on your wall?
12/16/05 — UPDATE
After only 6 weeks I was told the F remains on my record. State colleges take a max of 10 days to resolve grievances. Guess I shouldn't be surprised it took them 6.
Stan
Broussard, Louisiana
U.S.A.
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