I am a recent graduate of Westwood College (Denver South). I started school there in 2004. I went to school for Criminal Justice and was one of the first to graduate with that degree from Westwood. I DO NOT feel like I have learned anything new. I feel like I went into debt for no reason.
I am now in debt nearly $70,000 and am very afraid for the future. I should have quit when I had the chance. I will regret going to that school for the rest of my life. I'm going to break this up so that it's easier.
First: The instructors were bad. For most of the classes, we had the same "teacher." We (the students) never had to do any type of homework, there were no test, we never did any work in the class at all. Most of the class was filled with war stories from our teacher. The other half was filled with gossip and story telling by the students.
Sometimes the teacher would just put the computer on and find videos online to show everyone (like people getting shot, shooting themselves, getting run over, police chases etc). One class hour was filled by our teacher reading all the phone numbers out of his cell phone to the class to prove that he wasn't cheating on his wife. I learned absolutely nothing!
The way we got our final grade was by telling him what we thought we had earned in the class. Of course everyone would say "A" and that would be what you got. We didn't have to work for anything... And we didn't have to learn anything.
Second: Financial aid was horrible here. I still want to see where all my money went (I have NO idea where it all went). They never provided any proof of where my money went and how much I owed. They would always ask me for more money. They were always trying to make me switch the banks that I was getting my loans through. I went through Key Bank for beginning of my college year and after a few months Westwood college denied me the right to use that bank. When I asked why they wouldn't let me get my loan money through Key Bank they told me that Key Bank doesn't do loans for Westwood college anymore.
However, whenever I talked to Key Bank myself they would tell me that they would give me the loan money but Westwood college wouldn't let me use them. So, I had to switch banks. (They kept trying to get me to use Sallie Mae but I didn't want to).
Third: Career services is no help at all. They don't help people find jobs. All they do is send links through emails to jobs that you are either 1. Over-qualified for (I.E. Security guard... They want me to be a security guard for $9.00 an hour when I have a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice... Okay) or 2. Under-qualified for (I.E. Chief of police, detective, or basically any other job out there since I went to Westwood). I need a job!!! I am in debt and I got no help so I told the school not to contact me anymore.
Which brings me to my current situation and the reason why I am reporting them. They never took any of my past complaints seriously. I wrote my program director and others complaining about class sizes, lack of training/skills, how bad I thought the learning experiences were, etc but no one really took me seriously. They would always make excuses. This time I am really angry and I want my money back!!!
I got an email 2 days ago from someone who works at the college. It stated that I am in danger of going into default on my student loans. My heart started pounding and I got really scared. I quickly looked up my loans and saw that I am in the 6 month grace period and owe nothing yet. So, I wrote the original person back who wrote the email and I wrote to financial aid and asked them what was going on. They said "oops." The one who wrote me stated that I needed to call to get the situation cleared up.
I was really angry that they would harass me like that and act like I was in danger of going into default. Keep in mind this happened after I've told them to stop emailing me! I consider this harassment.
All in all I just wanted to say that I wish I had the option of NOT getting my degree from them and giving all the money back to the banks (they can keep the degree). The degree is worthless. I don't want it. It won't get me a job. I paid money to get an education that will give me the skills to get into a career in criminal justice.
I didn't recieve any skills/training that will help me, therefore, I shouldn't have to pay for anything. This school was such a fraud. I hope no one has to ever go through what I've gone through. I feel like I've ruined my life.
Please contact me if there is any possibility of a lawsuit. I don't feel like I should have to pay for a service that I never recieved. Help me!
I paid for an education and I didn't get one. I seriously want my money back!
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