@ Ed - I could probably guess your education based on your personal attacks. I don't question my education at AIU as it was and still is a regionally accredited school as is Argosy University. Can you please explain your 'wingnut' comment as I feel it only fair to defend myself against your brash words which are lacking substance or evidence. I also no longer work in admissions, I work in financial aid for another for-profit college. You obviously have an issue with for-profits, so please explain and stop making general statements. What's your real issue? Are you like Mike and don't have a degree and got 'duped' by a/multiple for-profits? I would invite you to friend me on my facebook page so we can talk about it as you seem to make a lot of assumptions about my stance and experiences.
@TruthTeller, your rant is way too easy to rebut; as soon as EDMC schools stop graduating students, then you can say that admissions representatives are not changing lives or fighting the good fight, plain and simple.
@ Mike, you never answered my question about whether or not you had a degree and how long you spent attending the CEC school or EDMC school which plays a big part in your situation, especially since you have $83k in student loan debt. You obviously don’t have to answer, but I am curious.
I’m not doubting that happened to you with promises and misleading information. I could however argue about the instructor credentials at AIU, not so much EDMC if you did not attend Argosy; that however we’ll save for another time. You never answered my earlier question, you eluded to earning an Associates degree from a CEC school; do you have a degree and if so what is it? When did you attend the CEC school and for how long? When did you attend the EDMC school and for how long? This is precisely the problem, you can’t lump everyone into one big pool and say that for-profits are bad. There is accountability on both parts and everyone’s situation is different.
I worked for both EDMC’s Argosy University for which I am currently a doctoral student, and American InterContinental University (AIU) Online where I earned both my Bachelors and Masters degrees, a CEC school. I can tell you from experience that back in 2004 at AIU when I started working in for-profit higher education that things were a bit shady. Admissions was talking about financial aid which they shouldn’t have been doing and things of that nature. AIU eventually paid the price however, they were placed on probation from their accrediting agency the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Their probation was lifted a couple years later after fixing their wrongdoings. What people don’t realize is that for-profit schools have come a long way since then. More informed students by the schools helps to create better business and more responsible student loan borrowers. There are a vast amount of circumstances that contribute to a bad student experience or large student loan debt like you seem to have. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else and demonize for-profits but harder to concede that they actually provide an alternative for students who cannot/do not want to attend a public college or university. With $83K in student debt, were you able to graduate with at least a Bachelors degree? If not, what happened along the way? What were you told or not told that you have so much student debt and frustration?
There are many other reasons student enrollments could be down other than people just being ‘informed’, as you put it. Have you also contemplated the fact that students could also be ‘misinformed’ by the very people who seem to be informing them; aka the news, the GAO who falsified data on for-profits in their investigation, the Department of Education who recently got caught omitting data in regards to borrowing/repayment trends among students? You seem to talk a good game but only have speculation and misguided logic to back it up. In regards to the lawsuit against EDMC; EDMC is the second largest for-profit school in the U.S., the government and Obama administration are looking to cripple the for-profit industry and are looking for someone to make an example out of, EDMC it so happens is currently in their crosshairs. When you have the federal government looking to dismantle an industry, you will have students that are ‘misinformed’ as to what for-profit schools are all about. Additionally, there have been some 30 other cases in relation to the lawsuit against EDMC; not one of the Courts sided with the plaintiffs if the case wasn’t thrown out beforehand.
Moreover, how is student lending and financial aid not fair? When students sign up for school, they are presented with and have to sign and enrollment agreement which shows tuition charges and their rights and responsibilities as an enrolled student. When going through financial aid, they have to complete entrance counseling and a master promissory note which explains rights and responsibilities as a student loan borrower, and the fact that the master promissory note is a contract between them and the government to pay any student loans back that were applied towards their tuition. After being awarded financial aid, the student is then presented with a financial aid award letter explaining and outlining applicable charges and any funding that was applied to their tuition. Again, with all this information, how is it not fair?
I worked in admissions at EDMC for about 8 months before I was fired in 2011, for not meeting enrollment numbers. However, I knew what to expect as it was a sales position and you were to recruit students to attend school, it was outlined in the interview and throughout training.
EDMC is not a sham, however does have some bad apples. Saying the whole company is a sham is like the federal government saying that all for-profit schools are deceptive and bad for students, it's simply not true.
I am currently a doctoral student at EDMC's Argosy University, and I can tell you that the program I am in is both challenging and rewarding. I have worked for a couple different large for-profits, they're not all bad. Do they make bad decisions sometimes, absolutely. Should people be pissed that they got laid off, you bet. I was pissed when I got fired and I knew it was coming for weeks, it was just a matter of time. Stop painting EDMC with such a broad brush, you demonize those who actually care for their students, and cheapen the hard work and dedication that other students put in to doing well at EDMC schools.
Recent Comments
@ Mike, you never answered my question about whether or not you had a degree and how long you spent attending the CEC school or EDMC school which plays a big part in your situation, especially since you have $83k in student loan debt. You obviously don’t have to answer, but I am curious.
I’m not doubting that happened to you with promises and misleading information. I could however argue about the instructor credentials at AIU, not so much EDMC if you did not attend Argosy; that however we’ll save for another time. You never answered my earlier question, you eluded to earning an Associates degree from a CEC school; do you have a degree and if so what is it? When did you attend the CEC school and for how long? When did you attend the EDMC school and for how long? This is precisely the problem, you can’t lump everyone into one big pool and say that for-profits are bad. There is accountability on both parts and everyone’s situation is different.
I worked for both EDMC’s Argosy University for which I am currently a doctoral student, and American InterContinental University (AIU) Online where I earned both my Bachelors and Masters degrees, a CEC school. I can tell you from experience that back in 2004 at AIU when I started working in for-profit higher education that things were a bit shady. Admissions was talking about financial aid which they shouldn’t have been doing and things of that nature. AIU eventually paid the price however, they were placed on probation from their accrediting agency the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Their probation was lifted a couple years later after fixing their wrongdoings. What people don’t realize is that for-profit schools have come a long way since then. More informed students by the schools helps to create better business and more responsible student loan borrowers. There are a vast amount of circumstances that contribute to a bad student experience or large student loan debt like you seem to have. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else and demonize for-profits but harder to concede that they actually provide an alternative for students who cannot/do not want to attend a public college or university. With $83K in student debt, were you able to graduate with at least a Bachelors degree? If not, what happened along the way? What were you told or not told that you have so much student debt and frustration?
There are many other reasons student enrollments could be down other than people just being ‘informed’, as you put it. Have you also contemplated the fact that students could also be ‘misinformed’ by the very people who seem to be informing them; aka the news, the GAO who falsified data on for-profits in their investigation, the Department of Education who recently got caught omitting data in regards to borrowing/repayment trends among students? You seem to talk a good game but only have speculation and misguided logic to back it up. In regards to the lawsuit against EDMC; EDMC is the second largest for-profit school in the U.S., the government and Obama administration are looking to cripple the for-profit industry and are looking for someone to make an example out of, EDMC it so happens is currently in their crosshairs. When you have the federal government looking to dismantle an industry, you will have students that are ‘misinformed’ as to what for-profit schools are all about. Additionally, there have been some 30 other cases in relation to the lawsuit against EDMC; not one of the Courts sided with the plaintiffs if the case wasn’t thrown out beforehand.
Moreover, how is student lending and financial aid not fair? When students sign up for school, they are presented with and have to sign and enrollment agreement which shows tuition charges and their rights and responsibilities as an enrolled student. When going through financial aid, they have to complete entrance counseling and a master promissory note which explains rights and responsibilities as a student loan borrower, and the fact that the master promissory note is a contract between them and the government to pay any student loans back that were applied towards their tuition. After being awarded financial aid, the student is then presented with a financial aid award letter explaining and outlining applicable charges and any funding that was applied to their tuition. Again, with all this information, how is it not fair?
EDMC is not a sham, however does have some bad apples. Saying the whole company is a sham is like the federal government saying that all for-profit schools are deceptive and bad for students, it's simply not true.
I am currently a doctoral student at EDMC's Argosy University, and I can tell you that the program I am in is both challenging and rewarding. I have worked for a couple different large for-profits, they're not all bad. Do they make bad decisions sometimes, absolutely. Should people be pissed that they got laid off, you bet. I was pissed when I got fired and I knew it was coming for weeks, it was just a matter of time. Stop painting EDMC with such a broad brush, you demonize those who actually care for their students, and cheapen the hard work and dedication that other students put in to doing well at EDMC schools.