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American Intercontinental

Mccallum of Whitehall PA (03/11/08)
I was unhappy with the customer service and support I was receiving from the institution. For reasons out of my control, I had to withdraw from the school. Upon withdrawing, I was told that the remaining balance (which totaled over $4,000) was now due in full. They harassed me day and night--even after 8p.m. (an hour in which I do not feel is appropriate for them to be calling my home). They even had the nerve to call on weekends demanding money. They they threatened to send my information to collections several times, even though I had made payments (including one totaling $1,000).

I found another institution to continue my education, but of course they need my transcripts which AIU refused to release...even though I had been making payments. They are the worst institution I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. They are not at all concerned about the student and their education, but only with the money they get from them. They need to be put out of business!

I have had to place my education on hold, and my family has suffered financially due to basically having to pay to get rid of them.

Amoy of Yonkers NY (11/28/05)
Iam a student at AIU-London. I currently receive $36,000 worth of financial aid. one years tuition is $24,000 . however, for several semesters now i have been short of money for living expenses and continue to owe an outstanding balance. they say this is because i moved out of the dorms during a term but by the fall term the outstanding balance was covered, and the exchange rates. the universities finance department holds students money after tuition and fees have been applied and then they give them their balances in two disbursements. 1 before midterms and 1 after.

this results in students not receiving all the money they should, had the finanace dept returned the balance to the student after tuition and fees were billed.many of the policies of the finance department, no one has every heard of and for that matter cannot find in any handbook. the main problem is regarding the sallie mae alternative loans which many students have, i'm aware that they have less restrictions than titleV funding and its therefore left to the discretion of the school. i am seriously concerned about the dealing of the finance department at AIU-London. they have lost or misplaced thousand of dollars worth of funding for one student in the summer term, co-signed a loan for a student without their or their parents knowledge.

Many students believe that the finance department holds on to our balances so they can earn intrest on it. is it possible to have someone investigate whether or not they have violated Title 20 United States Code section 1097?

As a result of the policy of the finance department at AIU-London i never have enough money to cover my living expenses in london, therefore i have to request that my loan disbursements from sallie mae be pushed up to an earlier date. Also many students find them selves broke and in emminent threat of being kicked out of their flats because they cannot pay their rents. others don't attend classes because they have no money to pay the tube fare.they only recommendations the finance department makes is to take out more private loans or get a part time job which isn't possible with most students scheduals.

Jeremy of London UK (11/14/05)
I'm a student at American Intercontinental University-London. I have been a full time student for over two-years now. A situation arose this term {FALL TERM 2005} which I need help in resolving. Three weeks before the start of fall-term I had a meeting with the finance advisor at the university. She told me I had been under funded by around $3,400, and sent an email to the processing team in Chicago to adjust my disbursement for fall term. I registered for my classes before the end of summer, and went off to the states to visit family.

I had previously told the finance office I will be moving next term, just to make sure funding was okay on return so there wouldn't be homeless. They ask students to bring leases for their accommodation when they move off campus, which can be hassle if information is not sufficient to what they want. My lease was due to expire on the 23 of September so I did not want to be homeless.

I returned to classes on the 12th of Oct. normally refunds arent given on the first week of classes, so I put in a refund request for next week for the move-in cost. I noticed on salliemaes (my loan provider) website my disbursement date had been changed twice and was now scheduled for the Oct. 18th. I was staying with a friend and I needed to move out , so I reminded them of the urgency for me to receive my funding. On the 19th of Oct.

I was given a refund of 1223, which was short 1,000 of what I requested. The following day I was sent an email on the from the finance advisor that they over-awarded me for the academic year, (see attachments). I had a meeting with Tanya G on the 27th of Oct. and she told me basically they will need to send back almost $5,725 to the lender because they made a mistake in my budget for the year. I asked why they didn't let me know before start of term and was told she didn't detect the mistake till the 18th of Oct.

I was due to move out the first week of Oct, but I told my friend about the situation but they could no longer accommodate me. I had no choice but to pay for a room or be on the streets. I asked Tanya is there any way this can be resolved since it was not a mistake caused by me -her reply was she didn't know and I should get a job. I understand there are mistakes when dealing with students who receive financial aid, but if this was told to me before the start of term I could have looked for alternative ways of recouping the funds I had to pay back or even took off the term, but it was not. I did odd jobs to get money to move in a place-they had already taken tuition out for the term. I am here in London now and basically I don't know how I will pay my rent for the next two months, I have no living expenses, nor travel. I dont know how I will even get a ticket to get home after the term.

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