As an employee of Westwood College, I held the position of Financial Aid Advisor for newly enrolled students. During my time there, I was in contact with over 1,000 students; I assisted them with and processed their funding for school. While employed at Westwood College, I grew to understand the basic processes of Federal Financial Aid and overall administration of this school. I was witness the manipulation of students' hopes and dreams for a better future, while the administration lied with flagrant disregard of our educational system and the facts about the school being misrepresented. I fulfilled my role as Financial Aid Advisor to the best of my abilities (and moral conscience), as I watched student after student being herded through an inadequate system that charges exorbitant tuition and does not fulfill the promises it makes. At an average cost of $30,000 for a swift 17-20 month program, it seems that the pressure of Westwood's accelerated design allows for stressed and under-qualified faculty/staff, unresolved interdepartmental conflicts, rushed and overlooked processes/procedures, and a general lack of concern for it's students or the quality of education being provided. Consequently, Westwood's school structure along with an ineffective administration (directed from a corporate level), has led to high attrition rates for students, faculty, and staff; and this attrition (sure to be above the national average) helps perpetuate the poor quality of the school overall. Through my experiences as a Financial Aid Advisor and as witness to their disregard of the rules involved, I know that Westwood is in the business of education for only one reason, to make lots of money. And, when considering that 60-75% of a student's tuition is guaranteed to be paid to Westwood by the Federal Government, I have come to summarize their business practices simply as: a racquet to obtain Federal funds.
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