Kaplan University
Kaplan Screws Mother of Five Out of Four Year Degree

Let me first state that Kaplan University is a subsidary of the Washington Post newspaper - thought that might be some handy information for someone to use. My ordeal began with Kaplan four years ago when I enrolled in the school. My fourth child had just been born (a son after three girls). During the pregnancy I went into category four congestive heart failure and nearly died. I had to spend the first week of my newborns son in the ICU because a doctor neglected to catch the condition during pregnancy (that in itself is another story all together!).

I decided that after my near brush with death, I wanted to do something more with my life. I'd been a housewife and mother for almost 20 years at that point. My oldest daughter was getting ready to graduate from high school and has asked me why she needed to go to college because I never had. I knew that it was time to make a change.

The first problem that I had with Kaplan was trying to get my living expenses loans - that was a nightmare in itself. I got good grades - very good greades, for the most part nearly a perfect 4.0 gpa and let me tell you, with five children, that's pretty tough.

Everytime I'd call about my LEL, I got some run around story, something hadn't been filed right or I hadn't faxed something in. At one point, I was calling them every single week to check on it. Then two weeks before Christmas, they tell me that I don't even have a LEL on file. I came unglued! Probably not the most porfessional way to handle the situation but I had absolutly had it.

Over all, throughout the first two years, I may have actually gotten 4 living expenses loans out of the 8 that I requested so what happened to the rest of them? Was I billed for them and they ended up in someone eles's pocket? I have no idea.

After I finally completed my degree, I got a phone call from the dreaded student services who said that I owed them a couple thousand dollars. I was/am totally finanacially aid dependant so I asked them how I could have a balance? No one could explain it to me so I told them to bite me, I wasn't paying it.

Then I decided to play their own game. I told them that I was interested in continuing my education and wanted to enroll in the Bach's degree program. Suddenly, the balance disappeared and I got my diploma and transcripts in the mail. I was going to change schools during my bach's and I really should have, but I didn't. I don't think that I recieved one single living expenses loan during the time it took me to obtain my Bachelors degree. Not one even though I applied on coutnless occassions.

At one point, I was told that my account wasn't set up for a living expenses loan. Again, I came unglued because I had called every other day and every other day it was supposduly fixed or taken care of and the loan was in process. I filed for the loan in Sept. Well in advance of Christmas because I knew that I would need it in order to give my children a christmas.

During this same period, I was actually blocked from my classes because they said that I had not faxed in a 06/07 verification worksheet. I had proof that I had not only faxed the document once, but three times and yet I was still blocked.

So I sent them an email, not a very nice one I might add, and told them that they were incompitent and that I had already faxed that document in three times. I also told them that not only was I going to leave the school to obtain my Masters at a school were the employees were not idiots and I was taking my daughter with me (my oldest daughter choose to attend Kaplan as well and has nothing but trouble just like me)

Finally I called and got a decent woman on the phone who gave me the private fax number to her supervisor so that when I faxed the verification worksheet it would go right to her desk. I had to drive back into town for the fourth time and pay 4.00 (now for a total of 16.00) for their screw up. This woman informed me that when you fax a document to Kaplan it's faxed directly to a computer - a COMPUTER. This computer determines what to keep and what to trash so it's entiraly possibly that all three faxes I had previously sent were trashed by the computer! So, here I am thinking that everything is ok right? Wrong!

I finish that term and get ready to start my last term which was in Jan or 07. Mind you, I never did get my living expenses loan. Christmas was sparse to say the least, the poor kids. When the Jan term began, guess what? I was blocked out of classes yet again. And would you like to guess why? Because they hadn't recieved my 06/07 verification worksheet! The same thing I was blocked for the previous term.

I came unglued and this time sent an email to the Dean of the Criminal Justice program, to Bridget McGuire (the head of the financial aid department) and to the finanacial aid dpeartment themselves. Apparently, they made sure that I paid in the end. I still had to refax the document but even worse, at the end of the term not only did I not ever get my living expenses loan that I applied for 7 months before, but I they were holding my degree because they said that I had a balance of almost 7,000.00. I said what??? How can I have a balance?

First they tried to say it was because of the living expenses loans that I'd gotten, I said... Oh no it's not because I haven't gotten any. You provide to me one single check in the last two years that had my signature. After that, they couldn't explain to me where the balance had come from. To top it all off, the very next day, the balance went up to almost $13,000.00!

So, I called the returning students office and told them I'd like to get my Masters. Since someone else started looking into this specific situtation, the balance has went down to 1600.00 of which they are telling me now that I only need to pay half and Kaplan will pay the other half - they should pay it all since I don't owe them anything! In the end, they were trying to say that I went 10,000 over what the goverment limits are in school loans. I said. No way and I fought them every step of the way and I can see that I'm not done fighting them yet.

My husband, myself and our five children survive on $1550.00 a month. I don't have 1500.00 and I have no way to get it. We had to fine for bankruptcy four years ago. With that on my file, I'm automatically denied a Citiassist loan and I ahve no cosigners. So, we'll see what happend.

I decided on an education for several reasons one of which was to try to provide a better life for my family. I've been an at home mom since I was 16 years old. We have struggled, cried, gotten angry, and loved each other through everything. I had a dream, the American dream that we all dream and if Kaplan has their way, that dream will never exist for me or my family - that's just not right.

Jill
Willow Springs, Missouri
U.S.A.

Company: Kaplan University
Country: USA
Address: kaplan. edu
Phone: 8882527895

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