UoP treats military students like cash pinatas. When I first spoke with my financial advisor as part of the initial enrollment process, I was told that I could not attend without financial aid. She explained that I could just apply for grants since I would qualify, but she suggested that I also apply for loans just in case something happened and the military could not cover my courses. So, being young and naive, I applied for everything.
Once my FAFSA was processed, I received a letter asking for verification from the Department of Education. I asked my financial advisor for assistance, and she mysteriously disappeared, so the school gave me a new advisor, and when I say new, I mean brand new to the job. She had no idea what I was supposed to do with a verification letter. I ended up losing my first disbursement and had to get a private loan to cover my fees.
My first few courses went smoothly, until I got the order to deploy. I had to withdraw from a course that I was 3 weeks into. My original advisor had quit for reasons unknown to me until now, (she had been threatened to increase enrollment or lose her job), so I had to explain my situation to a new advisor. She said that I could take online courses, but I mentioned that there was not an adequate internet connection in my destination. I was enrolled in an email course, since email was sent and received just fine. My first course was Psychology.
Well, I would have loved the course, but I did not receive any reading material or resources since the internet connection was so unstable. I told the instructor and he said that I will have to do what I can. Well, I passed the course, but with a grade too low for the military tuition assistance to cover. I asked to not be enrolled in any more email courses because I would not be able to pay for any more until I returned home. I was dropped from my classes, and I was billed for the psychology class AND the class I had to withdraw from due to deployment.
I was also put into repayment status on my student loans because my financial advisor said that a copy of my orders would be forwarded to my lender, which did not happen. I came home to a judgement on my account from UoP and wounded credit from not paying my student loans. I fought the judgement, but I have still not been able to recover my credit.
I once applied for a job at the local newspaper to be a part-time website administrator. When I told the interviewer that I was attending UoP for a bachelor's in IT, he said, "University of Phoenix?" and started laughing. Immediately after, he stood up, shook my hand, and said, "Good luck. We'll call you when we make a decision." I didn't even receive a phone call saying I didn't get the job.
If anyone can offer some legal advice as to what I can do to recover wasted time and money, please let me know. Their inadequacies as an institution have cost me thousands, and I am soon to be in irreversable debt.
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