I am a collins college student on my second year in the interior design program. When I started my initial search for schools Collins looked like a decent institution that offered every thing I needed to full fill my dreams of being a designer. The initial interview and visit were great. The rep that informed me about the program was enthusiastic and determined to demonstrate why this was the school for me. He told me that there was schedule flexibility so I could continue working while I received a high quality education He also told me that every instructor had experience in the field and they were qualified to teach Also they currently have to campuses one in Tempe and one in Phoenix and that I could choose which campus was most convenient for me. When he described the program to me he let me know that every class I was going to take applied to my field so there would be no waste of time to reaching graduation, also that the school was certified and accredited to teach interior design, and finally he told me that credits were transferable.
It all sounded great but in fact none of the things he sold to me are true. For one since the first day of class it turned out to be a let down. I had asked for night classes so I could work in the mornings, when I was told to pick up the class schedule the day before classes I was devastated. All my classes were scheduled in the morning! Because I had signed my life away with the student loans I had no choice but to quit my job. That's lie number one. Their flexibility is lie number two. Gen Eds. None of my previous courses I took as general education were transferable, so this meant that I had to take them over. Some of the classes they started me in were a joke. I could literally B.S. My way through the course. As for the core class that I had the Instructor didn't know what he was doing, spent most of class time talking about himself, was highly judgmental, he expected us to know some of the information on the course even though he knew we had never been introduced to it in the past, he insulted some of the students including myself making us feel incompetent, and inapt to be a designer, if we had a question on something instead of explaining it he did it for us, so you learned nothing the class.
What was worse is that we had him for both of the introductory courses; we never read the book so I don't basic information that I should know. First semester total waste, I also found out that the school was not FIDER accredited, and doing research for future job placement most design firms require graduating from a FIDER accredited school. This is going to affect my future drastically because I won't be looked as a designer but as a simple decorator. After that course I was starting to feel lied to and cheated on but I couldn't just quit or transfer because none of the core classes I have taken are accepted by any other school in the state of Arizona unless it's the Tempe campus. The courses that followed were decent.
For one course we did receive a great instructor, but for our the second course we got an instructor who was outdated on his information, again did not open the book once, and talked about soap operas, American idol, and his depression problem. So once again I didnt learn anything. The third semester was great, I have no complaints; both instructors were dedicated and made sure we knew the information well. I feel that that was the one time I truly learned what I was supposed to. The only downside was that one instructor quit at the end of the program because she too said they were unprofessional and she was the instructor we had scheduled for the next course so we were going to receive a class that had no instructor and the other was transferred to Tempe so we had no one at our location.
By then it was already the end of the school year and it was time for financial aid again. When first enrolling they were attentive and cared about the process of your financial aid, but as a returning student there was never any one to help or ask a question to, and if you tried to get in touch with someone at the other campus to help you couldn't get through or they would say well return your call and you would never hear from them again. So I ran the risk of not being able to attend because no one would be around to answer my questions. Also they miss informed me about the status of my loans, so I ran the risk of not being able to return to their crappy school for my second year. So because of their screw ups they were going to further ruin my future filling it with debt to a school that isn't even worth the money.
The following course after the financial drama was an eye opener, the instructor was unprepared didn't really teach much, showed up late, he got frustrated when we had a question and made some of the other students feel inferior, he also didn't follow his course syllabus and ended up confusing me when the projects were due. Lie three: Now here's the best part, this semester that I am currently in has created so many problems with me and I am sick of it. We found out that we are the last interior design group at our Phoenix campus so if we happen to fail we would have to continue in Tempe, If we decide that we need to take a break from school for any reason we can't return to the same campus it would have to be Tempe, knowing this I have not failed any courses but because of the Incompetence of the person who sets up the schedules I am now required to commute to Tempe for a course for the next five weeks because they don't have an instructor available for our campus. I feel that that's not my problem, I think that if they are offering a program at a specific location and they tell you that it's not going to change. It should stay that way because they know they're going to be prepared with someone to teach it.instead of doing that now I have to travel all the way to Tempe, get up three hours earlier to be on time and from where I live. It's virtually impossible for me to be on time or to come up with the gas money to be able to drive the distance to attend class. It's also a course that is supposed to be two days out of the week is only one because of the instructor situation. The other girls were only flexible to do it one day a week, and in five weeks the Tempe girls will have to do the same.
In this case that shows that all the students are lied to when they first inquire any information. The instructor that I have is great that's the only reason I'm willing to drive the distance. Aside from that they failed to mention all the changes with time so we could prepare or argue the situation. They didn't let us know until last minute that this was going to happen so there was a clash once again with my work schedule.
Our second instructor is also great and shows dedication and interest in the students so there is no other complaint, except for my general ed. Class. When I registered for the semester there was no instructor information or class time information for that course. When I asked the person in charge of schedules they couldn't give me an answer. Finally they posted the times and dates the day before the class started. I was scheduled for an evening course because its not offered in the morning anymore! Once again their failure to let me know of the drastic change is affecting me because it now interferes with my new work schedule, and if I can't work I can't drive to Tempe. Classes in the mornings that last till one and then another at six there's no room for a decent job. I brought this issue up with the dean of students who is also dean of both campuses, I had a one on one meeting with him (which he was late for by the way) he told me he could fix it within one day, it's been three weeks. I'm almost half way through the semester he has not even attempted to fix anything, all he says is I'm working on it.By the time he decides to work on my issue I'll be done with the course. He obviously doesn't care enough about our concerns to take affirmative action or to even be on time to a scheduled meeting with the students. The person we had as a dean in our campus got demoted so talking to him is pointless too, the new dean rarely comes by to our campus, he's hard to reach, and the emails he asked us to send are empty hopes. He also told me he would help with the commute to Tempe because I can't afford it and again he's done nothing. They are planning on getting a shuttle which is only an idea and ideas won't replace the gas and time wasted.
It's ridiculous that I have to go through this to receive an education I was promised was supposed to be at my campus to begin with. Not to mention the head of our department and core class scheduling quit so now there's no one in charge. Even the I. T person at our school doesn't know what he's doing. All he knows how to fix is Mac computers. Every one at both campuses were provided with dell's or gateway's that mess up every time you have something important to do, or when installing new programs. If they break there's no help there. Ironically enough the tech guy graduated from our school. That says a lot about our school. If I had known all of this upon requesting information for the school, and if someone would have informed me on the lies they feed you, I could have invested my time and money somewhere where the actually care about the students and full fill what they promise instead of throwing it away on an education that is not going to do me any good.
I'm buying the school name on a piece of paper its costing me 67,000 dollars and all its going to be good for is hanging it on a wall because I'm going to be laughed at during interviews when they realize what school I graduated from. Convenience, flexibility, and a high grade education. Lies piled upon lies, all they want is your money, they don't care about the concerns of the students or the education they offer, they don't even care about keeping the good instructors. Although there are instructors that shine, excel, and actually care there isn't enough of them to say that at least we have good instructors. I seriously believe they pick some of our instructors out of the phone book or out of a hat. All in all I hate the school and any one that even shows interest in it I let them know the truth. I hope who ever thinks about attending this institution does enough research before wasting their time enrolling. If you are currently enrolled and have complaints let me know together we can find a way to stop the scam that is Collins College.
Julieta
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
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