University of Phoenix [UOPX]
Reviews and Complaints

I am near the end of my 1st Master's course which is a 6 week course. During this time, I have been in an uphill battle to settle my finances regarding my Bachelor's Degree so as to get the ball rolling with my finances for my Masters. The last late disbursement should have been in my account 2 1/2 months ago. I call the finance department 2 to 3 times a week and my account has been accessed and looked at by over 5 people who are NOT my designated finance counselor. They have given me countless bad release dates and misinformation. I have only spoken with my actual designated finance counselor only about three times about my account to learn everything the other counselors told me was not correct. My late disbursement has been in review about three times for reasons they will not say. I have asked them if it was something on my part to be corrected, and they told me no, but still failed to give any information as to why. Needless to say, this is quite sketchy. I didn't realize it until now after doing a bit of research, The University of Phoenix is actually facing a MASSIVE LAWSUIT for similar reasons! These people sound more like uneducated bank tellers than "Financial Counselors". I have since begun my withdrawal from UOP and suggest anyone looking into seeking to continue their education, look elsewhere. These people act as if they are the federal loan department and display themselves as having authorities over you and your financial state rather than your counselors. This organization will create a smoke screen so thick, by the time the smoke clears, even UOP won't know where or what they are doing! And as for the Academic Counselors, they are truly an absolute JOKE! They offer no council, no real understanding of course content, they only contact you if you have missed a class or online discussion check-in. My last Academic Counselor was possibly from Germany or Ukrainian so it took three times the effort to do anything given the language barrier! BUT DON'T GET IT TWISTED!...I EARNED MY DEGREE BECAUSE I DID THE WORK MYSELF TO UNDERSTAND EACH COURSE AND IT'S CONTENT! I feel bad for the actual instructors because I believe they mean well. Business organizations that are looking for educational options for employees, BEWARE! This is how UOP makes their profit, targeting those with established incomes. DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE CONSIDERING UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX!...OR ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION.

This school is a piece of work. After I was repeatedly email and phone pressured about enrolling here... I finally accepted a call from an enrollment advisor at this so called school. Now let me tell you how I was literally step by step guided and persuaded (he may as well been the one typing because he answered every check box except my social security no) ... into signing a promissory for a 9, 000+ loan Before even being asked what I'd be studying... nor was i informed of their tuition costs! I also requested the 5, 000 pell. Ok whatever that's no big deal, the guy was good at his job so what right? Not so fast... here's where it gets tricky, I am currently awaiting disbursement of a refund after completing a verification process... Why the heck did i receive this email a short while ago from my financial advisor: "We are currently waiting for your verification worksheet to be pulled over and then the processing of your financial aid will begin. At that time, the time frame is still 30 to 60 days to be completed. Please keep in mind that since you are a first time borrower of financial aid, there is a 30 day delay from the time you begin classes and your funds will not release to your student account until week 6. By then, it would be 7 to 10 days before a refund would be sent back to you if you were eligible to receive one. You currently requested for $4, 700 in student loan funding and may be eligible for $5, 550 in grant funding. That should be just enough to cover your 8 classes for the first year which cost a total of $10, 200. ...Basically saying that i wont be able to receive a refund right? Someone please explain why these thieves think just because i was vulnerable and naive when enrolling here, that i would now develop amnesia in regards to the amount of the loan I was forced to request and promise to repay? Am I tripping or are they truly this despicable?

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thank you,

Emily Pham

Senior Finance Advisor, West Division

Save your money and go to a conventional college. Nobody will hire my wife because of the way the feel about the quality of education you receive. An instructor Vicky Gore has no clue how to work the word problems, only copy and paste them. When you ask how to do a problem, she gives you a sarcastic response on how to do it. Most instructors are poor quality instructors that couldn't find a job elsewhere. They sit at home and every once in a while copy and paste something on the computer as a legitimate response. VIcky Gore is rude, irresponsible, and unwilling to even help you understand your work. I have a team that knows nothing about the work, you rely on them for a grade yet Vicky Gore is unwilling to intervene to make them participate and try. She is more willing to judge the paper the team submitted as a failing grade. SAVE YOUR MONEY! DON'T GO TO SCHOOL HERE! I hate it, my wife regrets it, and the 12 people I know who did this school cannot find a job. SAVE YOUR MONEY! When I complained about this class, the instructor, and the students...they didn't care. Its all about how much money they can squeeze out of you for a poor rated education. Good luck finding a job with this school's credentials.

I now have about 58, 000 in student loans for a bachelor's degree that isn't worth having. I graduated from doing my Communication major in 2009 and none of the jobs I was supposed to qualify for by having this degree; do I ever qualify for. I don't have the skills necessary to the earning potential I was supposed to have gained by getting higher education. I choose to do my education online because being a single mom without the support system necessary to do school on campus (i.e. child care in the evenings--as I was also working 40 hours to support me and my child) The education I received was substandard and the students and I proved (unfortunately too late--my second to last class) that you could write a bogus paper and still get an A. All that time, I had been busting my butt to do well..maintaining all A's and I high GPA when none of the instructors offered any insight to the material I was writing about...only about HOW the paper was written. Citations, paragraph structure, etc...When they should have been paying attention to whether or not the student was grasping the material. there was NO real life application and in every job I have applied for in the field (jobs that If I had gone on campus to any other school) I should have gotten, no problem. I do not have any more skill now than I did before I began my endeavor in the years before I received my degree. I can say I have my bachelor's degree but I take it no more seriously than ANY of the employers I an applying with. My current boss doesn't see my degree and knowledge as means of giving me a promotion or raise. There is something wrong with this. I would love to think that I would get a FULL refund from the school to pay back all these loans that are for NOTHING! I received nothing in return for my money. I am disappointed and more in debt than ever before. Just what a single mother in Maine DOESN'T need! UOP should not be an online educator. they are hiring staff that have full time jobs else where and are only doing the online instructing as a means to make additional money. That was proven the day I wrote a bogus paper that was so poorly written I was sure I was going to fail it. It took me an hour to write. Other students assured me I would ace it because the instructor wasn't paying attention to anything throughout the course. They were RIGHT! I aced the paper and even got comments back on how WELL written the paper was. I was so upset and had wondered how many other times I had been failed by my instructors. Tammy Poissonnier

I am a victim of hurricane sandy which devastated and transformed the lives of us all here in manhattan. I lost everything because i live on the first floor in an apartment building that was flooded out by the water rising over the east river and coming into our apartments. I am homeless, no computer or laptop, have no winter clothing and all my belongings were destroyed in my first floor apartment. I did everything in my power to check into my classes, submit assignments on time, participate in classroom instruction and post discussion question responses on time. I still received an "f" in my course of soc 120 even though i was granted an attendance excuse by the administration by joanne colosi, soc 120. This woman is not compassionate, sensitive to what we are going thru here in manhattan, inconsiderate and outright mean to give me a student who did everything in her power to be in classes despite losing everything in my life because of hurricane sandy. I did not cause this natural disaster and now i am being treated with disrespect and not even given consideration by joanne colosi for what i am still enduring being homeless and living in this shelter. Our electricity company here in nyc even made sure that i was given a letter stating that i am homeless and that my building is still unliveable and cannot be occupied by tenants as yet. Does that instructor care? No she still gave me an "f" and is ruing my good gpa and has made it so that i cannot receive my financial aid disbursement which i am owed! Without that money i am unable to replace any of my computer equipment or clothing or find another home. She has no remorse or compassion for the new yorkers who are suffering still because of hurricane sandy's devastation! I am filing a formal complaint with the university of phoenix's administration and hopefully my grade will be changed! Lets see.

I have completed a little over 1 year of my Bachelors degree in Accounting at UoP, with 5 classes to go I was informed 4 weeks into a class that not only has my Financial Advisor "was unaware" of the fact that I maxed out on my loans but that I don't even have loan money to cover the class I am in. Isn't that their job as a financial advisor, to know how much money I need to cover my loans to graduation, how much loans I have used, and if there is an issue to inform students well before they are in a class that their loans don't cover? I would think so! Then for my Financial Advisor to tell me its not her job its mine and takes no responsibility - pretty sad, if that isn't their job then why are there financial advisors? So far I have attempted to talk with my Financial advisor, her boss the financial manager (who covered for my FA), worked my way up to the Associate director of finance - she said she would try to help me but at this point I still haven't heard from her and its been a week.

I have been through hell and back since this octavia alexander became my financial advisor everything she has stated to me has been a lie. She held my loans which suppose to be process she held for over 6 months or morner which she was taking my disbursement and paying for next classes when disbursement suppose to came to me still of processing my loans she took my redisbursement> while going to appollo group i have talk to osbudsman all the way down to the financial program, which showed that i did not recieve a sprind disbursement> my pell did not come out when i had enough credit to do so now they sending me a letter stated about acadimacally missing 14 days which it has been more than 14 days because my last official day was june 3. Which my pell just now was given to me for my 2011 - 12 aid year and which posted to my account on july 6. Now she is still holding my pell from my [protected] which still have a remaining balance of 2675 and i believe i have more in my financial account> she have no right to hold my pell when i had enough credit for it to be process. I have went through grade dispute where my acadmic by the name of steve blake tellin me i have to take a math class over because i did not get a 60% which i got a 61% and to again take a course over i already pass. This is a discrimination toward me and what they are doing to me still is not right. I do not owe this school anything and everything was already paid for leaving me over 22, 000 in loan this school is holding my funds and mismanging them. Please someone help me so the world can know about this university

This school is plain out wrong, I have taken 40, 000 dollars in loans that was only supposed to be 20. Now after 3 years they tell me I don't have enough to finish, where did the 40 thousand go? I am almost done and now they inform me I am going to be short money... Wait.. I havent seen a dime of my Pell grant money in over a year, it all goes towards my account, so loans + Pell = More money? How.. These people need to be checked, I am still enrolled because I feel stuck.

I was looking to become a computer tech on university phoenix was offering degrees in a short amount of time and do an online . I went in to take a look around 1 of the counselors came in met me.. told me all about school and how beneficial it will be for me around my schedule.I've tried to explain my situation that I cannot spend a lot of time online because I will still at the time on probation and my po would not allow me to do that... they claimed it will be easy to do because all they require that you make 2 post online and you will make a passing grade.. but was a fail to tell you that 2 post is not gonna get it ! I was havin a check every single day and make at least 5 to 6 and even more a week .. and sometimes hours at a time because of your assignments.. I didn't get my financial aid like a promise... hey come to find out the counselorS worked on commission how many people to get signed up.. so I was lie 2 to from the get go so she can make your quota to get paid... so now I have to pay for the first class which had nothing to do with my degree.

I have been an instructor at the University of Phoenix for one year and it has been nothing but horrible. I took this job because I needed the income.
I have been discriminated against and sexually harassed by fellow male faculty members and students. As a result of my complaints, I am now being discriminated against by my faculty liason, Wendy Candelaria, and my lead faculty member, Linda Posey in El Paso, TX/Sunland Park, New Mexico.
I was criticized during my first teaching session for trying to teach my students the subject matter. Everyone is completely rude, fake, and dishonest. I feel like the only human in Stepford. Everyone else is a robot.

The University of Phoenix (UoP) revamped its hiring procedures for part-time faculty for 2011. It is much longer and excessively expropriates the free time of its applicants. Here are the current stages of hiring and these stages both apply to their ground courses (actual classroom) and online learning courses.

1. Submit a resume to a recruiter and if they are interested, the recruiter schedules an interview via the telephone. The telephone interview is simple and straight forward.

2. You will receive several documents via email for a written interview, where you have to fill out several forms and send them in. One document is you are asked hypothetical questions about particular scenarios and how you would respond to them. The scenarios cover tension and conflicts among workers and colleagues, difficult students, etc. and how you would resolve these conflicts.

3. If UoP is still interested, then you have to submit an official transcript to their corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.

4. Now, you are ready for a campus interview. The interview spans four hours. You are required to give a 15-minute presentation, which is evaluated by UoP staff. After I passed the interview, UoP pulled my credit report from TransUnion. Are you kidding me? I guess if you have bad credit, then that translates into a bad teacher. One could argue a worker with bad credit may need the job more than someone with good credit.

5. If the process stopped here, then this would be reasonable. However, we have just started. Now, UoP wants all applicants to take a Faculty Certification course. It is a four-week course that meets fours hours a week. You are not paid to take this course. Although the two facilitators were quite good at the Little Rock campus, you have reading and writing assignments each week. Before the final class, you have to pass an online multiple choice quiz (12 questions) and write short essay answers (18 Questions). A facilitator is UoP speak for professor or teacher.

6. If you pass the certification, then you get the standard documents, bank deposit form, W4, and proof of your right to work in the United States. UoP also does a criminal background search at this point. I guess an applicant's credit report was not good enough.

7. Now, UoP will assign courses for you to teach. However, you are not a faculty member. You are assigned a mentor who reviews your syllabus, assignments, lectures, etc. You also have to meet with your mentor before the course begins. She/he is also a source of advice and guidance. Here is the caveat. If you facilitate your class badly and UoP does not want to hire you, then you are not paid to teach this course. Unfortunately, the undergraduate courses are five weeks long and require a large time commitment. UoP uses an online learning system, where all assignments, grade book, questions, and feedback are posted online. You are required to devote a segment of your time daily to this online learning system.

8. Once you passed your mentorship, now you become a PHOENIX! Even at this point, faculty members are required to participate in annual development seminars. Unfortunately, you are not paid to attend these seminars. UoP wants to expropriate more of your free time.

Wow, all this for a part-time teaching job and the campus director for Little Rock said they are looking for PhDs, especially for the business school. I have a PhD in economics and I stopped at Step 6. I thought I could teach a couple of courses before I left the country to teach in Malaysia. The funny part is I will earn much more in Malaysia than from UoP with a full teaching schedule. The university in Malaysia liked my credentials so much, they skipped the interview and sent me an appointment letter and contract immediately.

Just to traverse Steps 1 to 5 required three months and another three weeks for Step 6. I would expect UoP to have faculty recruitment problems for PhDs for awhile, unless UoP revamps it recruitment practices. I know colleagues who may be interested in teaching part time, but would never pass Step 5. UoP just capitalizes too much on a professor’s free time.

Here is the sad news. I worked for UoP between 2003 and 2006 at the Houston Campus. Even a previous faculty member is not exempt from this long, drawn out hiring process. If you switch teaching from one campus to another, or transfer from a ground course to its online degree program, then you have to start over again at Step 5 with the Faculty Certification, which seems terribly inefficient. Why does UoP require faculty to continuously repeat the same course, because they changed campus or learning environment?

I think part of this process is to indoctrinate the applicants into UoP corporate thinking and practices, and instill a sense that an applicant made it. Then they become part of the team, and thus, UoP can pay low wages to its part-time teaching faculty. Also, any difficult applicants, who complain about the hiring process, are promptly terminated. UoP cannot have faculty with independent thought or maverick teaching staff, which seems counter to the notion of having a PhD.

It may still worth to go through all this training. The rumor is the other for-profit schools do not have this long, time intensive training and certification program, and these schools like hiring faculty of UoP who passed this certification. Thus, this training makes you valuable for UoP's competitors and they pay better.

Finally, I came across some interesting information about UoP. UoP reported an enrollment drop of 42% for 2011. Which organization would be hiring workers if they lost 42% of their customers? It sounds like UoP should be sinking faster than the Titanic. Further, if the U.S. economy continues to stagnate and college students cannot find jobs, then the student loan program will take a huge financial hit. UoP relies heavily on student loans with student debts often exceeding $40K per student. UoP charges the students high tuition, pays part-time faculty the low wages, and has the lowest graduation rate of all universities. It sounds like UoP’s days are numbered. Once the U.S. government revamps the student loan program, then say farewell to the University of Phoenix.

I have been a student at the Universty of Phoenix for 5 year now and I regret ever getting involved with this organization. I have struggled to get the university to disburse my refund from my student loan and nobody seems to care. I repeatedly receive nasty letters threatening to remove me from the program if I do not pay my tuition bill, while the university sits on my student loans and refuses to release the funds to pay for the tuition bills. The university is attempting to force me to pay out of my pocket for tuition when the university received over $10, 000.00 for my student loan to pay for the classes, not to mention apporximately $3, 600.00 of that money is to be refunded to me. No matter who I speak with I am brushed off and told to wait for a phone call. Well, three months have passed and I am still being told to wait for a phone call. My next semester begins in 5 more weeks and the universoty is still refusing to release my student loans. Now my student loans periods have overlapped and I cannot remain in school.

Today I made a formal complaint with state, the DOE, Sallie Mae, and I am in the process of filing a complaint with the prosecuting attorneys office because the university is illegally keeping my money. I am working wioth an editor from a well known educational periodical that is dying to headline negative stories about online scam schools like the university of phoenix.

I have been openly lied to over and over again by not only my financial counselor, but his manager too. I spoke with a couple financial counselors from other universities that were willing to speak with me and after explaining the situation to each both responded the same way... they have never heard of disbursements taking that long, someone is not doing their job, and if that were happening at thier school somebody would be getting fired.

UoP...you will never ever ever see nay more student loan money from me...I am leaving your worthless fly by night school and going to a traditional university even it if takes an extra 3 years to complete my degree...I've learned my lesson.

I received an award letter in August of 2011, stating I had been awarded a grant for school. My complaint is that I have yet to see this money go into my account after several contacts with my financial adviser, she still has not been able to give me any information as to when my money will come through. She keeps on saying next week, and then next week comes and goes and still no money. I have seen friends get their money and I am still waiting to see any change in my account. Who can I speak to in regards to this, if anyone knows please contact me.

FAFSA has told me three times that my grant has been processed and it was awarded. My school has been telling me for three weeks they do not have it. They claim my financial aid officer can not call FAFSA, That their processing center must make this call yet it has not been done yet 10/13/2011. FAFSA says this can be handled with one phone call in a matter of minutes. It appears Phoenix has lost my file. FAFSA says they talk to financial aid officers everyday that this should not be an issue. FAFSA processed my grant oct. 3. transaction #3. Help
marilyn1221.[protected]@yahoo.com
The 0 in my email is a zero.

Hello,
My name is Shannon. My email is [protected]@yahoo.com. I wrote the letter below in 2008 to dispute the loan connected with the University of Phoenix, which was acquired in the year of 2007. This letter went out to : The Student Loan Corp, United States Department of Education Inspector General Hotline, Axia College of University of Phoenix Douglas Beckwith, PhD, JD Dean and Executive Director.

After receiving emails from the University of Phoenix, an enrollment counselor eventually contacted me; his name will be provided upon request. This counselor discussed my options of continuing my education and about how many hours I had from a local college that would transfer over. He told me he thought I would probably only need about four classes. (This later turned out to be seven!)

I told him that the only way I could take classes through U of P was with a grant. I explained to him that I already had a large amount on a credit card and I didn’t want another large bill.

His words were, “I understand.”

After listening to me explain further about my problems finding employment, as well as my divorce in 2005, he explained to me that I should have no trouble getting a grant, mainly because I haven’t been employed. He explained to me how I would better myself and have a better chance of finding employment with a degree.

During the process of filling out the paperwork, information about loans was requested. I questioned him about this and wanted to know why is the U of P asking information about a loan if I am applying for a grant?

His words were something like this; “You more than likely won’t get a grant if you don’t fill out the loan information.” As he kept talking, I was led to believe that I would not even be considered for a grant to take classes if I didn’t fill out these loan papers.

Again I reminded him that I already had a large amount on a credit card and I didn’t want another large bill. I didn’t want a loan. I wanted a grant.

As we continued to talk, and as he was going over my start date, he told me he wasn’t sure if I would even get the grant in time to start the classes that they had scheduled me to start.

I said well then, I guess I won’t start classes because unless I had a grant, I could not take classes. Again I reminded him that I didn’t want a big bill, and I always repeated the amount of my bill that I already had and that I didn’t want another big bill.

He kept saying he understood.

The day classes started he called and told me he had exciting news. He said my “grant’ came through.

No mention of any loan.

No mention of the amount classes would be and that some of it would have to be a loan.

He told me that since classes had already started, I could go ahead and sign in and begin and I would catch up.

Every time a new 9wk term started, someone from the U of P would contact me and tell me each time classes would start that everything was okay and to start classes.

As time went on - - and after I found out that I had to take more than four classes, I received a check in the mail. I had a friend at the time that had experience in receiving grants and she told me that sometimes they give you extra money to live on while taking classes. And we thought that what this was because surely the University gets their money first.

I thought to myself …okay…

I soon found out, as my degree plan was coming to an end, that I not only had a grant, but I also had a huge loan.

I was devastated!

No one in their right mind, especially a female, age 51, with the economy the way it is and jobs for even the youngest graduating very scarce  with a two year college six miles down the road and a four-year college 30 miles up the road would considered paying $7, 000 to $9, 000 for four to seven classes!

No one would!

I surely would have not!

I was lead to believe I had a GRANT!

If I had known about this loan, you can bet “your” bottom dollar that I would have said, “Thanks, but NO THANKS!”

I want to pursue a lawsuit against this college for scamming me (and maybe many others) by not being up front on the "true" cost of taking these classes.
Again my email is [protected]@yahoo.com
Thank you
Shannon

My son started with University of Phoenix online on May 30, 2011. Today is his last day of class for this term. My son received two financial aid award letters and was actually awarded his pell grant. He has not been given anything else because he had to go through some type of audit where he had to verify who he is by way of birth certificate, notorized id and social security card copies, proof of address, transcripts and my taxes. We sent all this in. I have called the compliance analyst who was handling his file. I never got a call back, but, finally got an email stating his paperwork had been reviewed and his financial aid was still on hold and his next block of classes would be cancelled until the matter was resolved. What matter? It has never been explained why he needed all of this. Now we are waiting on a Compliance Investigator to contact us. I tried to find out about my son not attending there next block because he wants to go to school and shouldn't have to sit out because someone there is having issues. I was told that if he withdrew, he would have a balance owing. I think this is unfair because he was told at first that he was approved for financial aid. Once he started classes, then a problem arose. I would like to know if there is any agency that I can file a formal complaint with so that someone can look into this. I would appreciate any advise or assisstance.

Wow... I don't even know where to start! Every aspect of this company "school" sucks! This company... Oops "school" is the most pathetic school ever! The ethic level from the employees: (Staff, teachers) is horrid! To start with the enrollment counselor gave me misleading and fraudulent information regarding my classes at time of enrollment. Half of the class I have taken are not recognized by any other school which means I spent money to take classes which made a large profit for company. I have several "teachers" provide templates for class work and then I get credit taken off because I did not use the correct template... Come on now I did not make up my own template... You gave it to me. Now that I am close to "graduating" I am missing or lacking credits now even though I have taken all of the classes needed.

I am writing in regards to filling a complaint against University of Phoenix, In Summer of 2008 I enrolled in University of Phoenix degree in accounting The enrollment counselor gives me misleading and fraudulent information regarding my classes at time of enrollment. I was given schedules of classes for my degree. After take 4 courses at University of Phoenix I was informed by my counselor that University of Change my degree plan. My degree was change form Bachelors in Accounting to Bachelors in Business concentration in accounting all most of my accounting courses was eliminated. I have already filed my grievance with Office of Dispute Management but they have denied my request already stating that I have agreed in enrollment contract that the University has right to change my class courses any time. But I never sign a contract the enrollment contract I have request a sign copy with am I still waiting for it. Enrollment counselor gave me false and misleading information. I was enrolled as an on ground student and I sign up for ground classes only in La Mirada California Campus.

At time of enrollment my enrollment counselor instead that all of my classes on my schedule will on campus in La Mirada Campus. Since I was given misleading and incomplete information at time of enrollment and University of Phoenix change my degree program eliminating my accounting courses since I need these courses to sit in for my CPA exam. I have to go to a different school to finish my degree. Office of Dispute Management has already decline my request for a full refund.