Let's all sit down for a moment and hear a tale of woe and misery. This is America, after all and we do so love a tale of woe and misery.
In November I filled out an online interest form from Axia college. Just to look into things. I hadn't even gotten off the web page yet when they were on the phone selling their revolutionary education plan to me. It had always been a dream and desire to go to college but life had had other plans and I figured it was time now. That and the snazzy new deal they were offering for free books for the first class made it seem like a great deal.
The nice admissions lady sat on the phone with me while I filled out the federal loan information and the entire time I couldn't help but think that it was like a used car salesman trying to pawn off that sweet 1974 Pinto he'd just gotten and was willing to part with for a song. You know, the one that explodes in a fireball if you back into a tree too hard? Anyway, I filled out the information and was given a crash course in how to go online and get mail and the entire thing. You know, Outlook for dummies. As I own my own computer company it was a little on the stupid side but I figured what the hell. Dumb myself down for a bit. I was also told before we hung up for the night that it would take some two to three weeks to get my grant money settled and financing complete but that I started class on Monday.
I Should have known something was a bit odd when my first assignments were all about extolling the virtues of an online education over a traditional one. And I got a very nasty vibe when my instructions were to write a paper like I was telling my friend about Axia college. Sort of a recuit a friend and get a $5 off coupon and was marked off by my instructor for using language that was, apparently, inappropriate to use when talking to a friend. That language would be "wanna". Apparently it is not a word.
All was going well for awhile until a month had gone by and still I heard nothing about my financial aid. I called my financial aid advisor and left several messages on his machine which he never responded to.
Finally I called my admissions councelor and told her that I was a bit concerned about the lack of information regarding financial aid. It was only then that my financial aid advisor got back to me and said that I had been selected to be one of the lucky ones to have to provide a tax return. Bear in mind that this is a month after I had applied.
I called the IRS the very next day and they said they would send a copy out to me. I had filed my returns online and my computer was still in California as I had just moved to the midwest. It was at this juncture I called my financial aid advisor back and, once again, got no return call. So, utilizing the same tactic as before i called my admissions councelor to find she had quit. I went through the story and was once more placed in contact with my financial aid advisor who, when i had spoken to him a month earlier my grant money was anywhere from 4 to 5000 dollars. That number had changed to 8-900 dollars which he didn't seem particularly worried about as it was such a piddling amount. Fast forward another three weeks. I had still not heard from the IRS so I called again and got them to send the copy immediately as it had, apparently, been lost somewhere. I got the paper and called my financial aid advisor. Still no return to my messages. Finally I went through the admissions councelor again and my financial aid officer told me that I had to fax the paper in. I did so. Two days later I was blocked from my classes for nonparticipation. A day following I recieved a bill in the mail for $900 from Axia.
I had participated regularly and turned my assignments in regularly and was a bit confused by this. I, once again, attempted to contact my financial advisor and, once again, met with no return communication (are you beginning to see the pattern?) I requested information from the admissions councelor and, instead, recieved 6 bills in one day from them. All the same. All saying nothing more than I owe them money.
Then, to top it all off I was sent into a collections firm based out of Arizona who has harrassed me on the phone four or five times a day using a number which comes up as a cell phone number and was told that I am too ignorant, obviously, to send a certified letter.
Axia is a scam. Their classes, to my experience, are the biggest load of tripe I have ever seen. The instructors do not get paid to do anything more than follow a course syllabus that is both ignorant and geared to the very lowest of intellects to make it palateable to the widest range of people.
Their financial scams are the worst kind imaginable. They are a second rate company and a second rate "university" (and I use that term lightly) who's sole purpose is to bilk the government and it's students out of money to further pad their bottom line. There are those, I'm sure, who have wonderful experiences with UOPO and they're the very lucky few. For the rest of us who wanted an education and still try to maintain a real life we were scammed by greasy car salesmen masquerading as educators.
Jesse
Quincy, Illinois
U.S.A.
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