I am coming to you all as a former employee of the University of Phoenix and Axia College to tell you how much of a rip off this place truly is.
The quality of education and accrediation, at least on the associates and bachelor level, is fine. What troubles me more is the way that the school pursues getting students.
What will happen first, when you are contacted by the University for an online enrollment, is what is called a "RAMOPSR" conversation. This is a conversation that is created to attempt to make you tell the Enrollment Advisior (Sales Associate) all about yourself, as well as get comfortable. Basically, they don't want you to think of this as a business relationship but rather a friend relationship.
R stands for Rapport. This is when your Sales Associate will ask you about your kids, your life, what you do. They don't actually want to get to know you—they just want your money.
A is admissibility—not terrible, they just want to know if they can get you enrolled. Most counselors will lie to you and say that they have to meet with a "Board of Academics" and "Finance Department" to admit you to the school. News flash—the admission requirement is a GED/Diploma and a pulse. What REAL university doesn't measure your SAT/ACT scores? It's all about money, so in order to "create urgency", they will make sure and lie to you about the admissions process. I was told blatently to do this by my manager.
M-motivation. What makes you want to go to school... If you don't want to go now, it's the EC's job to motivate you to tell you why what's going on in your life is not important enough to put off school. I've been pressured to enroll individuals coming off surgerys, who are a month from being due, etc.
O-online. Why the online format is so great. Fine.
P-payment. This is where we'll try to sell you on financial aid in about 5 minutes, and avoid any questions about how much getting an associates degree (16,000 dollars), will cost you, because it's about 5 times as expensive as a normal community college. Before enrolling, make sure and know about your FINANCIAL AID. What we'll tell you is blah blah, 100% coverage, etc, just so enrollment can happen.
S-Start date. Know how you wanted to start college when you were comfortable to start? Doesn't matter. They'll make sure and lie and tell you that ONLY IF YOU START NEXT WEEK will the application fee be waived, even though for the last 8 months the application fee has been waived.
R-referral... Self-explanitory.
Don't let the University of Phoenix fool you, they are not "counselors", because legitimate counselors have to have bachelors degrees, etc, and actually want you to take the best path for your education. No, these are sales people. Legit university don't have high pressure sales tactics, calling you 10 times per week, trying to close you on every call, or having enrollment goals for you to meet.
The reason why you get so many calls is because the University has a requirment that you must have 120 outbound calls per day. Sound like a telemarkter to you?
Also, after your enrollment, your "counselor" will attempt to guide you through class. Unfortunatley, don't count on them actually knowing anything about the classes. All they have is the syllabus, just what you have, sometimes less.
Would you trust a used car salesman to help you through college? Ask yourself that question before enrolling at the University of Phoenix.
0 comments