CDI College
Reviews and Complaints

I booked virtual appointment twice with adviser Santosh Shikarpuri. He never showed up. Second appointment he booked by himself, didn’t even ask if I’m available for that time. Just waisted my time. And of course I won’t apply to this College and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else. Very disrespectful and careless to potential students. Not good impression from the beginning.

I have a signed Graduation Award document that states I was to be awarded $2000 upon successful completion of my course (Addictions Community Support). I graduated August 16, 2023 and as of December 18, 2023, four months later not only have I not received my rebate but my email and phone enquiries go unanswered by the staff in the accounting department. I was initially told me to check my OSAP account for the reimbursement. I do not have an OSAP account, I paid privately. I am waiting for my e-transfer or direct deposit as was promised

I attended CDI College in 2013 to pursue the Oil and Gas Administration program. The teachers were a joke, besides one Unfortunately, I did not receive a practicum opportunity as part of my program. As a result, I accumulated a significant debt of over $30,000. Furthermore, since 2013, I have faced challenges in establishing credit under my name. Given my personal experience, I do not recommend CDI College.

I inquired about courses beginning February 2021, I was told I had to be clean and sober for a year before I could start my course. I would have a year sobriety in April at that point. They said that was fine and would be able to start me sooner if I wanted, they also assure me that I would be able to find employment in Alberta regardless of the program being set in British Columbia. I was excited and said yes, they immediately put me in contact with a financial advisor. The financial advisor pushed through my paperwork and got my loans approved for my March start date. I had orientation March 5th and started my course March 8th. I plugged my way through the courses and made the time-lines work even though I was told I would be able to work at my own pace and it would be stress free learning. It was not stress free at all. There were definitely strict deadlines and exams every week or two. I still worked my way through while managing my household and taking care of little ones. It was when my son was on summer holidays that the stress became too much and I asked to resume my studies in the fall so I could take care of my child. They told me I would have to withdraw (drop out) from my courses and re apply in the fall, so I continued and tried my best to manage everything in my life, but by fall I was burnt out. So I dropped my courses. I received a phone call offering me to complete my program in April of 2022, I was thrilled and was once again put in touch with a financial advisor for another round of student loans and grants. A month or so in I had started looking for somewhere to do my practicum and met up with a professional in my local area. We discussed my course and college and she informed me that I would never be able to work in the social services industry in alberta without becoming registered with the Alberta college of social workers. So I did some research and found that the program through CDi wasn't going to be enough to be able to be a registered social worker in alberta. I was devastated and once again withdrew from the courses. I then began to research other "failure" stories out of CDI.

I already wrote a lengthy review of the lack of teaching etc, in May with no response, There was barely any use of some of my textbooks, teachers were often not available, didnt recieve codes on time, setting me back 2 weeks, the one teacher that did teach was extremely unprofessional and talked down to people or about them when they were not present. Not all of the course material could be completed on time. The school is not even accredited when I was assured it was,

I am currently a student with CDI college for the EA( Educational assistant) program. I started my program in august 2022 and was due to graduate in June 2023. During my practicum which was may-June the school has failed to set up any practicum host. I started reaching out to the school in early march to start setting up a host and to have my requirements finished before hand. No one ever responded to any of my emails and phone calls. Because of this I’m unable to graduate and not able to get a job on the field that I’ve worked so hard for. CDI has been giving me nothing but a run around since March. I have spent a lot of money for school and time and now I feel like the time and money that I’ve invested was for nothing.

I am a student currently, I have had so many problems with this institution it is beyond frustrating. If I could drop the program with out heavy financial penalties I would. I am in the ACSW program, I enrolled at Reeves which I believe is a good college but do to completing online was sent to CDI. I was initially enrolled in professional social services program, I had all my paper work filed, student loan approved, then I was told I could not take because of my criminal record. I asked about this issue several times before I applied and made everyone aware of my past. Second problem my start date was Jan 30 2023, for ACSW I had all my paper work done again student loan approved ready to go and was told I am not ready to start Jan 30 2023. I had to do there job and show them I had my stuff done to start and not get pushed back a month. I have had so many issues with the dash board, continuous IT problems. We had an entire week that we could not access text books, take attendance, and complete assignments. This is when I started looking into this school, I found so much dirt I felt sick to my stomach and felt stupid for starting here. There is no shortage of past and present students with the same problems I am having. I was told this program is accredited, I made some phone calls and was told certain places will not even accept this diploma. I asked my student contact about it being accredited, I was told it is a licensed program and students get jobs. This answer was not satisfactory for me, I kept pushing after a week of emails, I was reassured it is accredited. I still have not seen proof of this. The final straw for me to start finding students and talk to them past and present was this past week. We started our community service worker course, I had no idea we had to pay all the courses out of pocket, I emailed my contact, she says you were told at the start of the course, I WAS NOT TOLD THIS! I asked a few other students who I will not name. Guess what, they also were not told this information. Now I am really upset because I have been constantly fed lies and half truths. I pay for all my courses, complete them all a week early. While I am completing CPR first aid, I am in class with students in the same program with different colleges. I asked did you have to pay for your courses? The answer NO it is covered in tuition. Rage is what I felt, taken advantage of by a school who uses it's students for profit and not benefit of the student. So this week after 4 emails a complaint on the BBB I get answers, and emails about my complaint. I received an email to complain to the educational coordinator. I filled it out sent the same night which was last tues June 6th 23, still no response. Today the online finance department finally answered me, they told me they did not have access to the email that I sent my receipts to. This email is the one sent to all students at the start of this course the main finance department email. After several emails again I finally got answers about reimbursement, I don't get reimbursed because I owe them money still. This money they get July 1 2023 for the remainder of tuition. The reason this upsets is because they do not tell you this they just throw it on your plate and say deal with it. I want to state prior to my complaint on BBB no one returned emails, if they did it was email this department, then that department says email this department. Always a run around. These are just the major issues, so many little things, disorganization, wrong links, and on and on. Please due your home work future students, because if you do not you will be stressed out and taken advantage of. One thing I will say is that my instructors have been fantastic, the opposite of this institution.

I enrolled in CDI's South Calgary Medical Office assistant program. I was told that although online, it was an accredited course. According to a Marketplace investigation CDI's online courses are not accredited. Through out my course a lot of my books that I paid $1376.00 for were barely used. In the medical terminology portion of the course, my class ran out of time to finish all of the areas of the body. For example we never even touched on subjects to do with the musculoskeletal system. When it came to the final exam, we were told what mostly would be covered and given a few answers to things we didn't have time to study. With Medical Office and Clinical procedures, we spent more time on marking our own assignments and then staying up late to try and get our homework done, we had to mark ourselves!. The Outlook, Excel and Microsoft word were not taught at all, I had to figure it all out and do modules.

One of the students in my class missed a lot of time and my instructor would often talk about her when she was gone, even bringing up personal things the student had put in the private chat, this was extremely unprofessional and made me feel very uncomfortable.

In student success strategies, my instructor left and some students were made to take the week long course again because the instructor didn't submit their work before she left. I was lucky enough that one of the staff from CDI let me submit a certificate I recieved to prove I completed the videos.

When I was to take the Outlook course, the same instructor as for the Success Strategies couldn't get a code so I had access to my book, so I had to do the course later and missed the 2 weeks.

A few times, we were to start a course, no teacher would be available and no link was there to join in. We would try to get a hold of someone from CDI or another instructor to see what was going on, only to be told an hour later, that there was some shifting in staff so we had no school that night. I also sent many emails that also did not get replies, very unorganized.

After I looked around, I was able to find a clinic that accepted me for my practicum, there was no help from CDI.

The way the one instructor spoke to us and the lack of communication and teaching, I dreaded my nighttime course and couldn't wait for it to be done.

I have continually received calls from CDI since I finished the course, harassing me about where I work, when I started etc. I have asked them to stop calling me at work and then they do it again.

Taking the course with CDI was the biggest mistake I have ever made.

Horrendous experience from the onset and worst decision of my life falling for their social media publicity and enrolling in a program. Illitrate and incompetent staff, zero integrity management, and all they ever care and love is your student loan to fulfil and satisfy their greed for MONEY by trapping and ripping students. Wish i did my due diligence in researching about these crooks. Big time scammers in the name of education.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-cdi-college-investigation-1.667019

Their end goal is to rip students and they do not care a damn about education. I was enrolled in a program watching youtube videos and instructors or anyone else werent there to be seen. If it wasnt for them, i would never know about youtube videos. Thanks for introducing me to youtube and taking your fees of $8000.

Joined cybersecurity, but from the start instructors and teachers of no skill. No interest and responsibility of conducting classes or providing information. Hard to reach them as they never respond. At the end withdrawn with frustration, with a big chunk of student loan to repay with nothing ever received from them. Their only motto is Money and the rest they do not care.

Where do I even begin? The things that went wrong and are wrong with this whole 'school' and the way they treat people is beyond anything that someone should or would expect from a learning institution.

From the very first day, problems began to arise.

The worst part of this experience is that somehow, they are backed by the provincial and federal government.

How can this possibly be when everywhere you look, the governments profess to NOT backing non-accredited schools. Yet, here I am, and countless others who trusted in this school and trusted in the government to offer an education that was worth the cost that CDI charges, and in reality it simply doesnt even come close to the price they charge for it.

I was mislead by the initial recruiter who said I would have ample funding to take of my living expenses while i was in school. That couldnt have been further from the truth. I went without for most of my schooling and didnt even get enough to get caught up.

The most important thing, that could or would of helped me gain employment was the certification exam codes. Both from Microsoft and CompTIA. Those are vital to gain employment and these codes which CDI charged me over $3500, werent even given to me or any of my classmates. I never even knew of their existance until after I was done. And the Microsoft exam codes and content that was taught to us was expired. In fact, those courses expired 4 months before I even enrolled. People dont expect a school to railroad them like this. People are more willing to accept that certain will just be. Without questioning or doubt.

CDI takes that and uses it to focus on one thing. SIgnup, enrollments and valid government funded students. Once they have you approved for Student Aid, you basically dont exist anymore. Getting support is near impossible yet if you fill out an online form asking for more information, someone calls you within a couple mins and if you dont answer, they will call and leave messages relentlessly until you do. That is there main focus and could care less about the welfare and success of their students.

My practicum had absolutely nothing to do with my course and I didnt have to implement 1 single action that related to my main course.

Since finishing in October of 2022, I have applied at over 300+ job posting and offers both online and off and I havent had a single interview or callback.

A year ago I was excited to get started and to finally be able to have a fullfilling new career and now my days are plagued with stress and trying to find a way to reclaim my happiness as I am homeless. Bouncing from couch to couch , some days I have no where to go because CDI took everything from me and has left me with nothing.

Nothing except a $31K debt for student loans on an education that isnt recognized by any business or service in this industry.

How is this even fair and who in their right mind would signup for an education they cant use when they are done?

Who?

Nobody I know. SO if know someone who is planning on going back to school and is looking at CDI or other private colleges, tell them to turnaround and run!

They will have better luck and success trying to start their own school that to ever be successful and happy if they go through CDI.

There is a reason there are hundreds, if not thousands of complaints revolving around this place and yet somehow it is still in operation today.

Their ads run online everywhere.

BE VERY AWARE AND DO YOUR RESEARCH TO AVOID WASTING YOUR TIME AND MONEY WITH CDI OR ANY OTHER AFFILIATED COLLEGE.

I called in June of 2021 and spoke with the initial intake person. Everything went very smoothly and we were able to come up with a course online with full disclosure about my disability. Social Service Worker, Youth Specialist. It all seemed great, my teachers were great, my peers were very helpful... until the end of my course. July of 2022 I was ready for my practicum. There was almost no help looking for a practicum. I was told there were people to help you, and I basically did everything on my own and it was very stressful. Once the course and practicum was finished in August 2022, I had an interview with a very promising company. I would also like to mention that my diploma states that I graduated with honors, due to my grades. That was when I found out that I need to have a drivers license in order to work with youth and that it is like that with most, if not all, places working with youth. I have tried to talk with CDI College on several occasions. I don't get replies. I am not getting help to find a job at all. I am working right now for minimum wage at a pharmacy. And if you are wondering why I am not working where I did the practicum, it is because it was with adults. I wanted to try to see if it was something I would like and I am unable to keep up with some things due to my disability. I was not told that I needed a drivers license when I started this course even with my full disclosure of my abilities and disabilities. I am not receive any information, help, or returns of my emails. I have written to the student loans office because I now have a hefty student loan and a minimum wage job.

I was enrolled in CDI ece program, I was almost completed, but t had to withdrawal due to having a baby, I had taken out student loans for this program and still owe $20,000, when I called to be able to finish off the program I was told I did not exist in the system, they then tried again and my birthday was saying I was over 100 yrs old, but yet there had been no courses under my name. I have been in contact with them many times since September of 2022 and not it is Feb 2023, at first they kept saying they are working on it and looking into it, now however I am just ignored. I feel I owe money to student loans but why should I pay for something that doesn't exist or I cannot finish, I am registered in the bc registry for my ECEA but I need to renew this, and to renew it I need my transcripts. Due to this I have lost my job!

I have tried unsuccessfully to transfer my credits from my diploma to a few public universities. I indicated that I needed to be be able to do this before commencing my program at CDI college.

I have also tried to register with the ACSW (Alberta College of Social Workers) as a student Social Worker to enable me find better paying and positioned jobs. The school is not listed on the approved list of colleges. find link below.

https://www.acsw.ab.ca/site/Credentials?nav=sidebar

Many companies in Canada will not hire CDI College Students in the field of technology for “A lack of a better education” and lack of adequate training. Many courses like Medical Assistance or Accounting at CDI College are not recognized in Canada and you'll have to take the Government test on your own time and money money. Aug 7, 2012

'CDI College's professional sales staff will convince you that CDI College is a high class private college as you can see by the high tuition costs, you will have hands on training, team work and small class sizes mean more attention with the teach to answer all your questions, flexible hours and class schedules to fit your needs, take only the classes you need to graduate quicker. CDI College is constantly changing with the latest in technology and industry standards.'

The above statement is how they bait students and as soon as you fall for the bait, you get sucked in deeper and deeper. There is an abnormally high turnover of staff (who are mostly wonderful) coping under high pressure situations.

I read reviews about the Assistant Director of Admissions job being a front for sales staff. Individuals who had previously held this position talked about selling their souls to perform their duties.

Accepted into CDI Professional Service Worker Program May 2021.

Developed Tinnitus and Hyperacusis January 2022.

It is a loud non-stop high pitch ringing noise that has changed my life. I can no longer do many things. Among them is reading and concentrating as well as focus nd train of thought. I am constantly distracted by this noise.

I asked for a hiatus in with 5 classes remaining along with my practicuns.

I was told to withdraw and reach out when I was ready to return.

I am now unable to reach the college and I have not had any progress with emails.

I efrosinia samoilov enrolled in cdi and I took a class for 1 day and didn't understand it so I decided to cancel my enrollment. I spoke to admissions and told them to cancel my enrollment and they confirmed. Then later was told from mansha to write a letter to mansha admissions and said I'm resiging from cdi and to confirm my cancelation. Now months later I'm informed I'm still enrolled in cdi and now I owe them money. I don't think so. I would like this matter to be addressed immediately to someone in charge! I can't get a hold of the finance department. I sent them multiple messages. I was trying to enroll now into reeves college and they say I can't because apparently I'm already enrolled in cdi. So it seems no one has canceled my tuition there which I informed and canceled months ago beginning do the program. I would like this matter to be resolved asap. Thanks for your time.

When I start in 2012 in Ajax camps with CDI college there promised me with $ 20000 loan if government we can get you a office job or administrative office job in 6 months

After I graduate 👨‍🎓 from College with certificate there was no jobs there was no help

“You are on your own “.

From teacher to director there don’t teach you the right way you pay 💰 the cost

Till now the college never helped me out with jobs or any other sources

There just love the government funds for there benefits. I think it’s time we all should speak 🗣 out the true about the college and bring who is responsible to justices 👨‍⚖️

My life matters

Hi there is is what I wrote to the college. Student loan was notified immediately and they even said they can cancel on there end or they can show me how to cancel on my end and I did it immediately and also I had notified the college in Edmonton where I got enrolled and the online campus and also the bc campus immediately, I even kept getting saying that I didn’t finish my homework and I had told them that I am no longer with the college and to stop emailing me and also you trained professional at CDI college knew about the withdrawal asap and as I said definitely student loan was notified but instead the CDI college wanted me to cut them a deal just to get money out of me saying that I can pay them even with the disability amount which was a very small portion to them, this is very said an amount that is awareded to a disability person and the school wants that too wow I’m pretty sure the public and the students who enter this has the right to know how they getting ripped off, not only that the school it self promises so many things apon signing up and then your left on your own, this school shows no respect for students and even a person like me on disability who didn’t get a full amount and grant and no living expenses because during the time when I was good I had previous student loans and not only that the college pushed me to start knowing my situation to attend to orientations when I kept saying and telling them about my situation they even stated no that’s just an orientation and students have the right to pull out with days of enrolment as it won’t affect them, this is a very serious issue billing me an amount and not to mention I had a student loan with CDI college for law enforcement policing in Surrey bc when I moved here I was well assured I can continue the program when the college never had this program here and they never offered me another program but instead you billed me an amount, I am a disabled person and the college was well aware of my situation and they pushed me so please talk to the Northgate campus CDI college in Edmonton and also the the bc campus and online campus was notified! I asked for call back and no one is calling me back I also had notified the college again of these collections and they assured me it will stop and I am still getting these emails from the college,this is becoming very serious issue! My number is [protected]