In November of I was a 50 year old student attempting to complete my degree at Baker College in Jackson, MI. I heard an enticing commercial on WKHM, Jackson, MI about entering "an Adult Studies Bachelor of Arts degree program at Spring Arbor University, and earn your degree in as little as eighteen months!" I was 50 years old and wanted a quick education. So I bit...
The key words I overlooked were..."in as little as eighteen months." In most cases, it was MUCH LONGER. Why? Because they used a technique called "course modules". The student had to complete a subject "module" before going on to the next module. (For instance, you had to complete a business module before moving on to a math module...)
One young lady in my "module" classroom had repeated our particular "module" over ONE DOZEN TIMES! This technique is ripe for abuse, especially if you get an instructor who dislikes you and fails you accordingly. This feeds more tuition into their already expensive system.
Secondly, the financial aid office sets up a scenario so that you are totally unaware of what your financial aid package is until you were well past the point of no return. That is, the point at which you would start to owe SAU money if you withdrew from your module (or this program) early. They give you an "estimate" of aid to which you are suppose to sign a promissory note.
The third issue was the class withdraw schedule. They lay out the schedule so that the night of orientation counts as the first class. Your last assignment/class also overlaps into the next module on the schedule, which they will not count as a class! This is a form of trickery used to make students fall into a trap of being misled on where the "safe period to withdraw without penalty" date actually occurs.
It seems that Spring Arbor University has set up a system of signing up as many students as possible, to get as many "delinquencies" as possible. Sure, they have "success" stories. However, they have been quite deviant in coming up with a way to make money off of those who see through their elaborate scam and want to back out before they have to sell off all of their assets to pay for this so-called education.
Mind you, I've fought and disputed them at every term... From their so-called "Christian based" education system to their cheating and deception of students.
I wish I could reveal my "Ace in the Hole", but just in case we do go to litigation... I want this to be my little secret. However, they have one hideous, deceptive trick that FORCES YOU into a point of no return into their BA program. It goes well beyond ethics and equates to "the hard sell"... Only on steroids! It's somewhat hard to prove, but I was able to go back and print copies of my records from my previous college. I'm sure it raises potential legal issues and I KNOW it is unethical, immoral and probably against the rules and regs set down by SAU's accreditation organization.
Just a warning! Stay away from SAU and other schools that promise you the moon for a quick BA! Not all schools are like Spring Arbor University. I have three classes to go before receiving my BA at Davenport University, Grand Rapids, MI and they are a class act... Every step of the way. No trickery, up front conformation of transfers, financial aid and an Academic Advisor that sticks with you until you graduate. Yes, you can accelerate. However, acceleration is done with hard work and with you "wheels to the grind stone". Not with false promises, "career related credits", term paper "test outs" and "bait and switch" techniques.
Buyer Beware applies to college, too! (Especially in this bad economy when people are trying to make themselves a little more "marketable"...)
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