I was only looking to take a few classes to obtain a professional certification. When speaking with the admissions officer, I was assured that the faculty would provide the support I would need to achieve my goals. I withdrew this institution after a few weeks because this was not the case.
I signed up for very technical courses that are not something that can be self-taught. The professors for both courses I signed up for were non-responsive. One eventually answered my technical question email with the answer and no further elaboration. (Great I have an answer but no idea how to achieve that answer) Another didn't respond to emails at all and in the online classrooms posted an analogy to a child's movie in response to questions from students struggling with the homework. These are the worst online classes I have ever taken in my life.
From my experience, the most successful online learning involves teachers logging into the classroom everyday and effectively communicating with students. I don't know what the deal is with these professors, but this is not what I was promised when I enrolled.
If I wanted to teach myself this stuff (and forget about the certification), I would have just paid for the books and read them. Speaking of books, the books are proprietary to Strayer so you have no choice but to overpay their supplier for low quality books. The Website told me multiple books were required for a class and it turns out that only one book was required per class, but they're all bundled into an expensive shrink-wrapped package so you have no choice but to overpay for the package.
In the short time I attended Strayer it became abundantly clear that the only thing they cared about was the money. I was barely into the second week of these online courses and was already being contacted to sign up for the the next semester.
A few days later, disgusted with being ignored by the Professors, I decided it was in my best interest to withdraw and even that was not easy. Before the administration would send me the necessary forms, they tried to strong arm me into staying or signing up for the next semester. It did not matter that I was not getting the education that I contracted for and was promised by admissions, it only mattered that they were losing a live body.
Now I'm stuck footing the bill for a percentage of the tuition because I didn't withdraw in week one. Yet I don't feel this is fair due to the way I was treated by both the faculty and the administration. As far as I'm concerned, they've breeched their contract to me. I enrolled with Strayer based on false information provided by the Admission Officer. I signed up to be taught, and was taught nothing.
I also went on the Middles States Commission for Higher Education Website and saw that certain requirements need to be met in order for Strayer to reaffirm its accreditation. A little further research yielded the fact that this Strayer University is a subsidiary of Strayer Education, which is listed on Nasdaq. If you look it up on Nasdaq and look at whose listed as the competition, the competition aren't what one would consider the most reputable schools, just more diploma mills.
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