My story begins with me at a crossroads, trying to decide what I'm going to do with my life. I had purposed Phoenix online after a friend recently begun taking classes. She had described to me how Phoenix worked and I was intrigued by her information. I called a few days later and was assigned a enrollment counselor. At first, I decided a four degree would be beneficial to my education needs. After filling out the required applications and FAFSA forms (I am eligible for a grant based on my mothers income), I figured out I would be in school for three years. I do have prior credits, almost twenty-six, so this cut my finish time short. The time frame being around October, I had decided my start date would be January 1st. My enrollment counselor was extremely pushy and would call almost three times a day. She kept trying to talk me into taking classes starting in December but I stuck to my original date. After completing the FAFSA forms, I got a call from her telling me they could not pull up my information.
Basically, they could not find any of my FAFSA information and I was blamed for this problem. My enrollment counselor told me I made a huge mistake and that I needed to fix this problem. I called the US Department of Education and told them about the problem. The representative told there was not problem and the error was on Phoenix's behave. I came to the conclusion my enrollment counselor had entered the mistake. She then called and expressed her discontent with me and told me to print/fax a form to her. I felt like my counselor was incompetent and would bring me down with her mistakes. Her next mistake had to do with my transfer credits. For some reason she screwed up with actually receiving my transcript. She called me when I was visiting some friends and told me again to print/fax a form to her. I told her I could not do it that day because I was busy. She actually got an attitude with me and told me I would not be able to take classes if I didn't do this. I caved and had to take time out of that day, to go out find a copy shop and send her the form. I was really annoyed at this point but after all this enrollment I can settle into classes.
I decided in December, a two year degree would be something I would be interested in. I called my enrollment counselor and told her my change of heart. She sounded upset that I chose this route. I guess this is because there is more paperwork on her end. She made the new application process seem long and arduous. Everything took me literally twenty minutes and in no time I was enrolled in classes. Since I was downgrading to a two year degree my tuition sharply decreased. I was quoted at $1250 per nine week block, which I found reasonable. My walk to class was a joke since all they do is tell you about the links.
I found classes to be extremely easy, all the assignments are common sense. I tell them what they want to hear in the assignments and of course, I make a perfect grade. What really made me do some research is when I received my tax statement.in the statement, I noticed my tuition was $1900 per block. That's $650 per block more than I was quoted for. Also my academic counselor told me I would be taking four blocks this semester. Two were paid by grants but two were paid out of pocket from my dad. Although he could pay it, I really find $3800 out of pocket to be a hefty expense. I will finish up this block, so that I may keep my grants. I emailed my enrollment counselor and she said "where did you get the 1200 number from? I never said it would be 1200." I will inform my enrollment counselor I want out of this program after this.
To be honest, this is my fault and not Phoenix's. I did not get the original quote in writing and I am paying the price. I trusted the University of Phoenix but this is my fatal flaw. I was able to catch on quickly and end the system before I got too involved. If i had everything in writing there would be no miscommunications or deceptions. Lessons learned for me are, never trust any organization no matter how accredited they are. Also, if it's too good to be true, it is. Phoenix does need to learn professionalism especially when someone is about to open their checkbook for X years.
So a year wasted pursuing this and again I find myself at a crossroads.
Chris in nc
chapel hill, North Carolina
U.S.A.
0 comments