I enrolled into the Psychology Program at Axia College, attended 4 weeks, did some research and withdrew immediately.
Prior to enrolling, I had what I thought was an in depth conversation with the Enrollment Counselor as far as what I wanted to achieve with my degree. He was a senior representative having almost completed his masters in the school himself and was more than friendly, helpful and encouraging.
I foolishly mistook his title and "expertise" as credential enough to help me make any kind of educational or career decision and enrolled as soon as I could.
The staff is more than accessible in the early stages, calling you every other day to make sure you are doing well and have no questions. The curriculum in the first 2 classes is more reminiscent of brainwashing and turning the student into a walking billboard than anything else.
Right away I questioned if most of my classmates spoke English as their first language since they were astonishingly illiterate. Some I could not even guess the interpretation of what they were typing, so it blew me away that they were actually born and raised as English speaking Americans. Grammar wasn't their only problem, but they were virtually unable to follow simple posting guidelines and some even had no previous computer experience.
This and the ease of admission, low content of class assignments, unresponsive instructors, typos in the syllabus (assignment instructions), more and more obvious focus on retention by the staff, and the fact that I began having to teach my own classmates caused me to finally research the school from unrelated resources.
I'm not proud of my ignorance in not doing more research prior to signing my life away, but I honestly didn't think that education could be illegitimate.
My advising conversation with the Enrollment Counselor was nothing more than him telling me what I wanted to hear. I mentioned that I wanted to be able to have the ability to work as a marriage counselor in a private practice setting and he told me that the psychology program was perfect for me and my goals.
Doing my own research, I came across the requirements for licensing after graduation in my state. They clearly state that in order to pursue licensing, I need to attend an APA (American Psychological Association) approved Masters Program. Also, if I wanted to be able to do marriage counseling, it would also have to be AAMFT (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy) approved.interesting.
There are only a small number of APA approved courses in my state, and one, if I'm not mistaken, that is AAMFT approved. When I called my counselor about this, he had never heard of these associations before. He just kept repeating "We're fully accredited... Fully accredited." Uh, turns out there are different kinds of accreditation, and you'd better be sure what you are in the right program for what you are working towards.
After he admitted that I knew more about this than him, he then tried the angle of getting me to stay and get the bachelors. Uh, what confidence could I have that I won't have admission problems with the Maters Program I'll need to attend? There have been way too many reports of people in similar situations and that have an enormous amount of unequivocal debt to deal with on top of that.
If employers are questioning the quality of a UOP education, why wouldn't admission boards at ACTUAL Universities? If it is an at all competitive field, (which psychology is) they will look for any reason to rule you out. Not to be negative, but the same thing is going to happen when applying for employment positions with an online degree. Call around and ask what employers think of online degrees in your field to be sure.
My experience with withdrawing has been less than unprofessional. I've been told that if I finish 5 more weeks of my classes (of which I had 100% grades in both) it would be cheaper for me as far as what I will owe the school.
When I faxed in my official withdrawal form, (being within my time frame to do so) I was unable to reach my Financial Aide Counselor (whom I've never spoken to before). I left numerous messages over the course of 2 weeks. I tried email, contacting other people in the department, and even left multiple messages with her supervisor requesting a call regarding an important, time sensitive matter. Nothing.
It went on and on... I won't bore you with the details. When I did finally get a hold of someone, they went on to tell me they had never had a student leave only a month into their classes (obviously not the case) and didn't know how to proceed or give me my balance due. On and on...
Please do your research on any school you apply for and spend some time reading the reports of those before you. Also, look into the actual cost of this school compared to others. You will be shocked.
I'm currently on a mission to expose this corporation, as many others are, and hope to keep others from making such potentially disastrous mistakes... See below for updates on my progress.
Psychgirl
Bend, Oregon
U.S.A.
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