Katharine Gibbs Schools

Stan of Brooklyn, NY October 28, 2008

Everything about the school is fake, did u guys know that in 1998 was the year that katharine gibbs started giving out computer because a group of student revolted about the type of professor they had teaching the classes. most of them were either unqualify or had teaching license

I knew teachers who were passing students because they knew to much the scam. if only i knew they trying to destroy me. the are stopping from getting the proper education. And i want to stop them from doing to others

Stanley of Brooklyn, NY October 28, 2008

I am trying to go back to school and recently I sent someone to the school trying to get a transcript and the person was told that it was impossible to get it because I have a 4000 balnce which I am not aware of. I was giving a number to call which is the head quater in chicago. I spent three months trying ti get in touch with someone no response. However, last month someone called me to tell me that they were looking into the matter and I will get a phone call, which never happened. I had to call myself today.

what i found out was the loans was written off, put back on, written off again and put back on last week from when I called 3 months ago and as of today it 's been wrtitten off and sent to a collection agency ACS. The gentleman by the name of jay which by the way was very rude and trying to use threat as a way for me to tell him that i owe the money,

For the past 8 years the school never ever sent me one letter or email and i have lived in the same address for the past 12 years. I spent years trying to clean my credit and for them to come out of nowhere trying to destroy something that I have worked at building and to expect a useless education, wasted my time money and energy for a useless diploma, something that I can even use to transfer to a serious school.

Stanley of Brooklyn, NY October 28, 2008

I am trying to go back to school and recently I sent someone to the school trying to get a transcript and the person was told that it was impossible to get it because I have a 4000 balnce which I am not aware of. I was giving a number to call which is the head quater in chicago. I spent three months trying ti get in touch with someone no response. However, last month someone called me to tell me that they were looking into the matter and I will get a phone call, which never happened. I had to call myself today.

what i found out was the loans was written off, put back on, written off again and put back on last week from when I called 3 months ago and as of today it 's been wrtitten off and sent to a collection agency ACS. The gentleman by the name of jay which by the way was very rude and trying to use threat as a way for me to tell him that i owe the money,

For the past 8 years the school never ever sent me one letter or email and i have lived in the same address for the past 12 years. I spent years trying to clean my credit and for them to come out of nowhere trying to destroy something that I have worked at building and to expect a useless education, well they got something coming there way. I am don't know how anyone feel, but i am ready to make them pay for everything they did to me. wasted my time money and energy for a useless diploma, something that I can even use to transfer to a serious school.

Danielle of Bridgeport, CT October 27, 2008

I attended this school in 2002, graduated but failed many classes due to minimum training. Gibbs said they would help me graduate but little did i no it would be by taking out many loans I was unaware of. This scheme has me in debt now unable to attend another college to furthur my career.

In addition to gibbs getting me approved for loans they never gave me my transcript but allowed me to walk and recieve a blank booklet which i thought a degree would be in. Gibbs promised me career placement which resulted in a temp agency that paid me less than i was making before i attended college. I completed gibbs courses in 2004, its been 5yrs im still working as a temp unable to land a profitable stable job. I need serious help. Im 26 years of age and stuck w/o recieving education unless I pay them 10,000 dollars just to recieve my transcript. Because of a greedy Gibbs associate Im praying for a miracle to get back into school.

Alyssa of Lindenhurst, NY October 21, 2008

I attending Katherine Gibbs from 2005-2006 for Health Care Management, under the impression that this was an accredited school. During my time there i found the faculty to be unqualified, the level of education that i recieved is not adequate for field there was no job placement as i was promised all interviews that i found i was turned down they stated i needed better training i too am also in debt with 30,000.and no way out i will be paying this off for years with no career i feel i was taken advantage of the school will not even return my phone calls and i can not get anymore student loans until some of the debt is paid

im working at a job which has no future as has no relation to the schooling i have i can barely pay my bills let alone a student loan im mentally and emotionally stressed

Gissele of Miami, FL October 21, 2008

I graduated from this school in 2001 from Visual Communications and I was told my credits were tranferable to any school when I first applied there. THAT WAS A LIE!! I wasn't able to tranfer any of my credits to CUNY. They weren't helpful in job placements. Everytime I would inquire on employment they always told there weren't any available at the moment. I am still struggling to pay these loans on a worthless degree from an unreliable and unprofessional school. Students that have attended this school should get their money back!!!

Abiu of Jackson Heights, NY October 21, 2008

I went to Katherine Gibbs College and graduated in 2002 with an associates degree in graphic design. Oh boy, I dont know where to start...I can tell you after doing some research online and hearing familiar stories on how this college is not an accredited college. I wanted to go back to school again, so after doing some more research into another program in a cuny college my credits mean nothing and cant transfer.

I had a few classes where the instructor didnt know what to teach us...it was a joke...the entire class waited in front of the directors office until she came to have her explain. There were maybe a hand full of good instructors in the school that I was lucky enough to get.

On top of that when I had just finished getting my degree there, I went to there job placement which was a joke. After the 3rd time I never bothered going back because they kept sending me to part time gigs that didnt pertain to graphic design. I was like ????...and of course I've heard the same thing over and over from other poor students who basically have been ripped off by this school. Is there someone out there that can advise on this? I think its so wrong to rip people off and then being stuck paying loans for something thats worthless. Im still paying the loan for this school.I think its absolutely ridiculous and from what I read, theyre not taking anymore students dating February 2008. that goes to show this school is having a number of issues.

Polina of Brooklyn, NY October 20, 2008

I attended Katharine Gibbs from 2001 - 2003, for the Fashion Design and Merchandising Associate Degree - New York Campus. I initially attended some FIT classes, and then my friend heard about the Fashion Design Associate Degree from Katharine Gibbs. We went in together, just to ask some questions (this was around March / April 2001), and as soon as the recruiter heard I had taken some FIT classes, he told us to wait, and he brought Camille - the dean of the fashion design program to meet us.

She proceeded to explain to me that she was the dean of fashion design in FIT (even though she was just assistant dean), and that she left FIT for the same issues I stumbled upon, and that she started this program in Katharine Gibbs which is so much better than in FIT. We were told that they would transfer my credits from FIT, and also that credits from Katharine Gibbs could be transferred to other schools also, and that they were fully accredited. The next starting date for the program was may 15th of that year, and I enrolled -excited about the program and lifetime job placement WORLDWIDE, and transferrable credits.

When I went to fill out financial aid documents, the woman barely spoke - she just kept mumbling things and giving me one word answers. She asked if I will be paying cash or if I would need loans. I remember telling her : I do not want big loans on my parents names. And she said ok, and asked me to tell her the max I want for loan amount on parents name. I told her 5000. She said no problem and gave me the promissory notes to sign. SHE NEVER TOLD ME THAT I WILL HAVE TO TAKE OUT A PRIVATE LOAN. Only my mom received a federal loan. I received a 15,000 PRIVATE student loan from Wachovia (I think)with VARIABLE interest rate. It is not possible to consolidate a private loan, and the interest rate is not 11.5%. I have been paying 250 - 500 every month, but my balance is even more than original sum - it is 17,000 now. How am I ever going to pay that off with 11% interest?

Also, they never explained that the cost of the school is a FLAT sum for the entire program that you have to pre-pay. It is not a per-credit or per-semester cost - it is 32K for the fashion design program - and after the first 2 weeks of school, there is no refunds. None of this was ever explained to me, and until I read everyone else's post, I thought I was the only idiot who missed something and kept blaming myself now for 7 years.

But what bothers me MOST, besides all of the above, is that before I graduated from Katharine Gibbs, we were constantly being told that Gibbs was in the process of accreditation for Bachelors degree. And considering the fact that it is a quick program, and teachers were ok, I would have probably signed up for the Bachelors degree. (this is before I knew about the private student loan, and before I knew about credits not transferrable to other schools).

I have spoken to Camille throughout my days at Gibbs, and I have called her after graduation to keep asking about bachelors degree. One of the years - either spring 2004 0r spring 2005,I called yet again, and she told me that they were in the final stages of accreditation. She said they will start the bachelor program either in the summer or in fall (they were waiting for accrediting body to send them the final approval, and that in the summer the accrediatation body are really slow to reply, so it might have to wait for fall). Everytime I spoke to her, she kept delaying the acreditation and making me not sign up for FIT or another school, in the hopes that Gibbs will finally start their 18 month Bachelors program.

Later I found out that they could never be regionally accredited, as they are listed as nationally acreditted, which means for profit. It was all lies and scams and now the NY campus is closing down... I believe there was allready a class action lawsuit against Gibbs in Feb 08 - and I think Gibbs settled with the students. Are there any more cases happening? Does anyone know?

I have attented college since 2000, and only now, in spring 2009 I will finally get my associates from FIT in fashion design. Gibbs credits are useless, I had to start all over in FIT. I have wasted 32K, before interest. I am still unable to find a good job in the fashion industry because I need a degree, and still do not have one. The private loan that was sold off to AES from Wachovia is a variable loan with 11.5% interest rate. I have been lied to time and time again by Gibbs, and have blamed myself for missing something.

Kyle of Pawtucket, RI October 20, 2008

I enrolled in Katharine Gibbs School out of high school, hoping to get a step forward in a career with their Interactive Media and Web Design program. The promise of assistance with placement and introduction into the newest programs and technology was what drew in everyone in my class. However, many of the classes were incredibly disappointing. We only learned incredibly simple and mostly outdated things; layer masks in Photoshop but no texturing techniques and nothing about tablets, extremely basic HTML coding but nothing at all about using XML or PHP. For the most part it was like a review of everything I was able to figure out on my own about those programs.

During our coursework, one of our teachers borrowed an art book I had purchased independently - and over the next few weeks I noticed the class going through the art exercises laid out in the book. I was paying to be taught out of my own books.

After graduation I managed to actually learn more from simply working from the books on my own, waiting for the guaranteed career placement to take effect. However, after returning directly to the offices several times and calling in to try and provoke some action, I was only given one interview for an office that designs phone book ads - the exact same interview everyone else in my class was given, and the only one. To be perfectly honest, the only teacher that we encountered in our entire time was our 3D design teacher - everyone else was teaching us what we had already picked up from simply being interested in graphic design. The entire year's coursework seemed like nothing but a very remedial introduction into the media, but never any relevant coursework.

Only this year I've just finished paying off my student loan, with whom I've also had nothing but trouble. And I find myself nothing but more broke for all the effort - the degree has been completely worthless to me. When my dream job, a graphic designer position at Hasbro became available, I looked at my credentials and realized it was like I didn't have a degree at all. I've never gotten placement for a career in the field I wanted. I've been stuck with jobs that have had nothing to do with Graphic Design, and their placement had landed me only a single, and by far less relevant, job interview than I have found on my own from the newspaper. Even after repeatedly going back over months following graduation, their response was never more than the same single pitiful interview everyone else went through. I truly gained nothing from Katharine Gibbs. It only wasted my money for college and years of my life.

Luisa of Ozone Park, NY October 3, 2008

I went to Katharine Gibbs with the idea that I would get an Associates Degree in Web Design and find a great job earning great money. Everyone there were so friendly and helpful and seemed as though they really cared about my education.

I joined Gibbs College and still dont even know if I graduated. I never received my degree diploma and never received an invite to the graduation. I spent 28,000 in loans and grants to go to a school that taught me nothing. Overcrowded classes, under qualify teachers and class curiculum are very limited they give you a bunch of useless overpriced books. I just read that the school got shut down by the higher education for not meeting requirement and much more. The gibb school takes advantage of hopeless people trying to get an education to better thenselve. Its a true shame

Garnish payment, poor credit score, cant apply for any type of loans mentaly and emotionaly disturbed by the situation

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