I started at Keiser in August, 1994. When I met with the admissions counselor she offered me a A.A.in Medical Assisting and it was featured in the catalog they were passing out.
I didn't know the difference between an A.A. And an A.S. At the time and asked her to explain. She said, "If you want to transfer to a 4-year university, you should go for the A.A." Since this was my original plan, I decided to go for the A.A. My husband (not married then) started in September, 1994 for the Medical Assisting, getting an A.S.
When I went in to speak with the Financial Aid person I was given a $1,000 Keiser College Scholarship, a Pell Grant, and the rest was done in student loans. My husband was not given any scholarships or grants, strictly student loans.
Close to the end of our time at Keiser, the administration had a meeting with those of us who were currently enrolled in the "A.A. Medical Assisting" program. They said that the catalog had a misprint and that you can't actually get an A.A.in Medical Assisting and that our credits were not transferable to a 4-year university.
I was livid but they insisted that it was an honest mistake and they were going to correct it. We both graduated in 1996. When it came time for us to start paying on our student loans (we were living together at that point) we noticed a tremendous difference in the amount of his student loans and mine. His total came to roughly $15,000 - mine came in at a whopping $23,000!
Keep in mind that I had a scholarship and a grant to offset some of my tuition and he had none. I immediately called Keiser and questioned what the difference was and they said that they couldn't give me that information without a written request. So I wrote them a letter requesting all of our financial documentation.
We never received it. Several phone calls later we are told that the information we requested is not available. We went round and round with them. We even called the US Department of Education and explained and they said we had to get the information from Keiser. For those that don't know, when you get financial aid through Keiser, you don't get the checks that come in, Keiser does and you just sign them over to them. Long story short, I was completely ripped off.
Not only because of the cost differences but also because my "degree" isn't worth the paper its written on. Regardless of the accreditations Keiser has gotten, medical personnel still look at it as a poor form of "medical education."
If you go on a job interview with that degree you can forget working anywhere reputable or getting a decent salary. Speaking of job placement, there was none. They send you on an externship and you, hopefully, get placed there full time after the externship is over. Horrible!
0 comments