Charter College review: ripping people off 23

Daju,
We are concerned about some of the statements you have made and would like to encourage you to call and speak with a Charter College Director of Student Success at [protected]. However, to quickly address some of your concerns: We do make changes to our curriculum from time to time in order to better prepare our student’s for a career, which is also why we require such a heavy work load. In an effort to help students manage the rigors of an accelerated program we do offer student services such as tutoring – we hope you were able to take advantage of these services. Also, although we do not promise students specific externships or job placement we offer many opportunities to take advantage of our Career Services Department. We do value all of our students and graduates and hope to hear from you soon so that we may have an opportunity to discuss these concerns with you further.
We look forward to your call.

Brandi A. As a student at Charter College in Oxnard, Ca for almost a year now I can completely understand the anger, frustration, and disillusionment Daju seems to be experiencing. The workload is what it is. Accelerated learning warrants massive amounts of homework to complete but review of those assignments is necessary as well and most of the instructors dont grade them and dont return them. Study Guides are given to us for us to complete so come day of Finals, we just turn in our completed study guide as our final. This happens a lot! Fake extra credit assignments are posted on our Engrade to boost grade percentages. Assignments we never did. Students come to class late, leave early, absent more than 20% and still pass with A's. Independent study is a joke. Tutors and mentors cant be found to assist in completing work so we struggle on our own. I actually only spent 1 hour a week with an instructor for independent study and didnt learn anything new. All we did was review assignments I had done for a similar class a few mods before. I no longer have illusions about the teachers here. I use all the resources available to me at this school to learn on my own because that is basically what this school is. Learning materials to use until I graduate. Instructors take off for half hour breaks, dismiss classes at 12 or 12:30, watch movies in class, or hand out packets to complete and turn in. I am only learning what I am learning because I make the effort to learn on my own. Blatant policy violations that could pull their accreditation but that would only hurt not just me finishing but my fellow students as well. Pass students so the school gets their Title IV funding. If they learn or not is not their concern. Teacher evaluations no longer are handed out due to poor marks given by students. But it is what it is.

I whole heartedly agree with both Brandi and Daju. I have been taken advantage of by Charter College as well. I was a student at the Anchorage Campus for around 2.5 years. When I first began school there, I thought it was a great place to be. As I continued further into my education I saw many things deteriorate. The quality instructors (I’ll tell you why they are instructors and not professors soon) have all been let go, replaced by instructors who don’t care as much as they should, and most of them have second and third jobs outside of the class room. They even hired one instructor who was a convicted sex offender without so much as posting a notice around the school! The majority of the staff is crude, and rude and even sometimes racist. There was one dean who would consistently make racial and sexist comments to females and males alike at the school. Was the issue ever dealt with? NO. The curriculum has done away with pre requisite classes and switched to a wheel. What does this mean? Well it means that you may wind up taking a more advanced class that you have had no preparation in. For example I was put into an Algebra class before the basic college math class. I was put into an upper level CISCO class before I had done the lower level course; I failed the class because of this. When I was finally put into the lower level course, the instructor took an unplanned leave of absence, instead of canceling the class or finding a suitable, qualified instructor, the put someone in to teach who had never dealt with CISCO. When the problem was brought to staff and the dean’s office, all they could say is “sorry we had no choice”. That was 5 weeks and wasted money on my part. Charter College has decided to move their non-core classes to what they call an online campus. They have put classes online that make no sense. Has anyone ever heard of taking an Oral Communication class online? The purpose of that class is to better prepare the student for speaking in front of a group of people, how can you do that when you are looking at a computer screen?

As a former employee of Charter College, I witnessed many disturbing things. I found out that the school operates their classes as what they call, “an out of the box course” this means that ll material such as homework, lesson plans, tests, final exam are all pre made so that anyone off the street can teach the class. This is apparent in the quality of their instructors. They are called instructors because most of them have little to no teaching experience nor do they have any education in teaching. Most of the instructors who teach there are only required to have an associate’s degree and some courses only require the instructor to have a certificate in their field of work. I know this because I had assisted in arranging the instructors blue folders prior to an accreditation inspection. Go to a traditional university and you will find professors who possess master’s, PhD and doctorates level degrees and whom have been in education most of their life. There are convicted felons who teach there and work there, I can think of at least 4 or 5 right off the top of my head who worked or still do work at the Anchorage campus alone. Their new president would rather spend thousands of dollars on brand new office furniture for himself with company money and he would rather buy his Ghirardelli chocolates at $100 a box than providing for the students, when asked about hosting a family orientated event such as an Easter egg hunt for the families and kids of the Charter College students. The response I got when I asked about creating the event was “no that would cost too much money”. I’m sure buying $100 of plastic fake eggs and a few hundred dollars of candy for the kids wasn’t too expensive, their president and student success coordinator were just plain lazy! I have seen the school modify and erase disciplinary records of students so that they could get an externship easier. I can’t say what student had their negative records erased because it would be a FERPA violation to do so. The school consistently admitted people who were not competent enough to go to school. One lady that was enrolled into classes could barely walk because of her physical deformity but also she could not stay awake in class, would drool all over the keyboard of the computer she used. Would pick cigarette butts out of the trash can to smoke them herself? The school just wanted the money. The quote I got from that ladies enrollment counselor when I asked why she enrolled the student was this “I needed to meet my quota so I don’t lose my job” she then went on to add “I know you and everyone else is going to hate me for enrolling her” that’s right folks, Charter College makes it a habit to fire enrolment counselors if they do not meet their quota. What kind of an environment is that to work in? Take a walk downstairs to their parking area and you will find thousands of dollars’ worth of alcohol stored for their company parties.. Stored on school grounds! All in all Charter College is not a place to go for an education and I would strongly advise anyone who reads this to pass the information on and find someplace else to gain an education at.

Anonymous,
We can see that you have a number of issues with Charter College, which concerns us a great deal. We work to provide a safe and supportive environment to learn and work in; we do this by providing a number of family friendly activities such as holiday parties, award ceremonies for our students, etc. We also employee instructors who have valuable experience in their fields of instruction and offer curriculums carefully designed by both academic and working professionals. We encourage you to come forward and discuss your concerns personally with a Charter College representative by calling 1.888.426.2807.
- Brandi A., Charter College

Brandi A, the comment you made is a farce at best. I shall go into a little bit of detail regarding my last post. During my time at Charter as both a student and as an employee, I witnessed student data manipulation, destruction and deletion on numerous occasions that were all an attempt to cover up incidents and records that the school did not want to get out to anyone. There was one student in particular, I still will not call her by name due to FERPA regulations, which was consistently having angry outbursts in class, when asked by an instructor one morning how she was doing she yelled out “jalapeno cheeseburger”. She would constantly argue with and yell at her instructors while in class. All of these issues and problems with her were documented in Campus Vue under the student activities section. When it came time for this woman to go to an externship, anything that was a negative entry in her student activities was erased to cover up that this woman has some very severe psychological problems. As I now own my own company, I would NEVER hire a woman like that. Time to move on to the Admissions department. Jennifer Adams, whom works as an Admissions Representative admitted a rather unsavory woman into the accounting program. This woman, who was a homeless inebriate, was admitted into school when most courts would find the woman incompetent. She was constantly drunk, and on prescription medication when she would show up for class. This meant that she was sleeping in the class most of the time, drooling on herself, the keyboard and the computer desk, creating a health risk. She was not only physically handicapped but also mentally handicapped. In passing conversation about this student, Jennifer made the comment that the instructors were going to hate her for enrolling that woman but she had to make her quota for Admissions or she might lose her job. The school is all about filling seats no matter how they do it. They let new students in all the time who have a 0% chance of staying in school and even less of a chance actually succeeding. It is all about the numbers to them. There have been many unresolved and often times swept under the rug sexual and racial harassment at the Anchorage Campus. As everyone knows Charter College has a dress code. This dress code dictates what a student can and cannot wear while at the school. One incident that took place between a man by the name of Todd Herring and a female student is a perfect example of sexual harassment. As the student was walking up the stairs to head to class, Todd Herring, who was the Dean of Technology stopped her and told her she had to go home and change her heels because and I quote “They are hooker heels”. She complained to the administration at the school and she was told it would be dealt with. However the entire incident became a funny joke to Todd and a few of the other deans and nothing was ever done. Another incident I can think of involved another dean (notice a trend here with the deans?). This dean’s name was Mike Zamora. I took part in the actual investigation on him for not only sexual harassment but also racial harassment. There was a stack of student and employee complaints that was almost an inch thick. Not to mention the various emails between him and Todd Herring. Mike Zamora would greet some students and staff with racial comments, jokes and stereotypes. I am a white male and Mike Zamora would use his joke phrase to greet or say good bye to me once in a while, the statements were always As-Salamu Alaykummy brotha, and also stay black, and also stay Jewish. He made numerous comments about which female student he would just love to take him with him. During the investigation from HR – Susan Hammilton – it was concluded that Mike Zamora did in fact commit a multitude of sexual harassment as well as racial harassment against both students and staff. What was done about this, the answer is NOT A DAMN THING! Move on to the president of the school. Dr. Maclean, spent thousands of dollars on brand new office furniture instead of improving the quality of education or creating new events for students. In the past during finals week and the start of a new term the school would put healthy snack food in the student lounge. You also make claim that there are award ceremonies, Not at the Anchorage campus, those were ended a long time ago. Dr. Maclean ended this practice saying that it had no benefit for the students and cost too much money. He held numerous campus wide assemblies that each cost the school more than 500 dollars. The most people who ever attended these assemblies were about 10 to 15 students. He kept spending that money though. Moving on to the instructors. They are for the most part professionals, the vast majority of those instructors have more than one job, this means that they are not and cannot be completely dedicated to providing a quality education. Lionel Maybin who is an IT instructor there would be on his cell phone for a large portion of his class dealing with the upstart business he created. Other instructors would have us just hang out and watch movies. There was sexual harassment from some of the instructors – Linus Romey. Sara Decoster who was an instructor as well began a relationship with a student, a fact that was very well known around the campus and nothing was done about this conflict of interest. How about the criminals of Charter College off the top of my head I can name a few felons who worked there, ill not mention names but believe me when I say there are many criminals who work for Charter College When I was let go from Charter College I was not allowed to use the companies arbitration agreement that I had signed. This agreement that is required for employment with Charter College is to ensure that if you have any kind of a dispute with the school as an employee you can get a third party arbitration over the situation, I was denied and then ignored. When I was dismissed from school, I was not allowed to appeal the decision even though their student handbook states that you can. I completed over 120 credits towards a double bachelor degree and I have emailed, written regular letters, and left many voice mails asking if I can just get my Associates degree since I did the work for it and I have been ignored and have never been contacted with an answer. They violated federal regulations regarding student workers forcing unpaid overtime. I will end this tirade now. Brandi A, I caution you as I caution all people about Charter College; they are a terrible company to work for and even worse to attend school at. I also have a backup of the student records that were erased as well hundreds of emails regarding the majority of what I have said here. The only reason I have to filed suit yet is because I am hoping someone calls me back an allows me to take my certification exam and get my associates degree that I paid for and worked so damn hard for.

dear brandi the your post of feb 13th 2012 is disingenious or diluded at best. let me start out by sayin you "career services" at pasco, wa are a joke. i called them many times trying to find help getting a job. for the most part my calls and messages repeatedly went unanswered. when a did get a hold of someone the told me to go look in the paper or check the internet. REALLY thats your great career services dept? as for taking up my concerns with the administration, i have done so reapetedly and been ignored or lied to further. i have trouble understanding how you manage to sleep at night knowing you work for this outfit

I agree with Anonyous & am not surprised about the work environment. I was a student there, having transferred from UAA. My medical assisting instructor couldn't even pronounce some basic medical terms, thank goodness I had some background from UAA. I finished and received my degree, but I feel as though I learned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! So now I'm back at UAA to actually LEARN something from professors who care about teaching students (not just reading chapters from the book out loud & watching movies).
My biggest regret in life thus far was attending that sorry excuse of a "college" & putting myself into debt (over $20, 000 for an Associates). I should have stayed at UAA since it would not have cost me that much and most importantly the quality of learning is at college-level. Lesson to be learned: Do Not sacrifice education quality for a quick & easy piece of paper from Charter. You may have a degree, but it doesn't mean you know anything or can even get a job. Plenty of medical offices in Anchorage KNOW that Charter College graduates learn nothing and having a degree from them means nothing. How I wish I could delete that aspect of my life when I chose to attend Charter!

Hello,
We are sorry to hear that you feel so negatively about your Charter College experience. We do wish you the best of luck in your new institution of learning. However, we would like to mention that many of our graduates are successfully employed within their area of study and that we are proud of the positive relationships Charter College has fostered with area employers. If you would like to discuss any of the concerns you had during your time at Charter College please do not hesitate to call the campus directly.
- Brandi, Charter College

I have only one reply - after reading this, I am so grateful for the Bellingham Campus being different. Maybe it's the new dean... I heard not-too-much good about the previous one. There is so much already said above that doesn't happen at Bellingham, and as far as the problem issues - pursue the correct path and go over their heads for academic justice.

I agree with the original poster! I was a Charter College student, studying for my Bachelor's in Business Administration. I was working 80+ hours a week, and told them I could not come to class, and was placed in online classes. This went well for a few months, and then I started working even more hours. I tried getting them to let me take 1 class online at a time for a little while, until my work hours decreased. This petition was denied. I then requested to take a little time off from classes, which was also denied. I finally requested to withdraw from Charter, and they waiting 4 weeks to withdraw me! They are now saying I owe over $3000, and they won't furnish a copy of my official transcripts to my new school! I have over 80 credits with them, and would almost be graduating! If someone starts a class action lawsuit, please let me know and I will be on board!
Dawn M.; Anchorage, AK

I heard recently that Charter College don't do education background like requesting transcript on people before they enter the major course? I heard of people attending there and actually got in with a fake bought online diploma. Is that even possible?! Shoot i work my ### off in school just to get into college and some would fake their diploma just to cheat life into getting a degree...

Hi Vickiv,
All of our students are required to have proof of earning their high school diploma or GED. If you have any questions about our enrollment requirements or the transferability of credits please feel free to give us a call at 888.200.9942 or stop by your local campus. Thanks!
- Brand, Charter College

Brand, Im sorry to say but I disagree with you. I have a friend who got in with a fake bought diploma and now she is graduating from her associate degree in IT. Not that I am jealous. Im happy for her but I just see that what Charter is doing is unfair to those who work hard in school to make it this far and others would cheat to be at the same level. If you don't believe a word i say then you better check your local Anchorage Charter because what they are doing is for the money.