The University of Arizona Global Campus Reviews

The first course seemed properly rigorous, a basic psychology overview, with plenty of teacher involvement and criticisms. As I worked my way through the curriculum, working towards a Bachelor of Arts in History, I was beginning to get the uneasy feeling that this school was providing a very easy, but very expensive path to obtaining a degree that may be of dubious value. In one course, the assigned professor disappeared from active involvement after the first week, reappearing over two weeks later, claiming in an email back to me that she was having computer trouble.

The class basically involved the students posting their own comments without any instructional feedback from this instructor for most of the first half of the class. I was really shocked because this instructor's bio claimed that she was also an instructor at one of the U. S. military academies. One instructor's critiques of a paper that I handed in was to tell me that I really should to be in a better school, but by that time, I had invested too much into Ashford. I sent them $150.00 in December of 2012 in order to have them send a copy me a copy of my degree. (I graduated in June of 2012.) Last week I received a copy of my transcripts, but so far, no degree. The only calls I do get from them is to see if I am interested in enrolling in their Master’s program. Why would I!

I now owe over $20,000.00 in loans, for a degree, if I ever receive a copy of it, which may prove worthless. They were recently turned down by Western Association of Colleges and Schools and are on shaky ground with the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. As this school’s main interest was not in helping people obtain worthwhile degrees, but in making as much profit as possible, they should be forced to either repair the damage they are causing by improving their education practices to reach a level to where their expensive degrees have some real marketable value, or take the money they have so far made and invest it into making a profit somewhere else, not in running a bogus education empire.

The VA even told me that it shouldn't be this way. I've been attending for two years and it's always been something different with my financial aid. You are not allowed to talk to anyone but an advisor, who has 48 hours to contact you back, so if you have an urgent matter, you're screwed. Also in two years, I had at least 6 different advisors and I was never told that they switched. In 2012, I had four advisors within a month's time and every new one, and also their supervisor would call me a liar when I tried to explain my classes/financial aid information to them. It was awful, definitely not a school I would recommend.

When I called the school and asked to speak to my academic advisor, Michelle **, she was unavailable, so I left her a message for her to call me back. This is my second issue with this school. Every single time I attempt to call or email Michelle or anyone who is supposed to answer questions, no one is available and no one returns calls or emails. I was called a couple weeks later by someone inquiring on my experience at Ashford. I informed them of my problem and my inability to get a hold of anyone or have any of my calls/emails returned. She informed me that she would look into the matter and call me back. When she called me back, she stated that I would need to talk to someone in the Financial Aid Department. I spoke to a couple of different people in the Financial Aid Department and got a lot of different information.

Finally, I spoke to Jessica ** from Student Records who informed me that my last class was not paid for because the Financial Aid Department failed to fill out the proper paperwork to have my funds released to the school and have my last class paid for. My last class was $2,049.00. I called the Financial Aid Department at Ashford and asked why this was not done, and to have them fill out the paperwork to have the funds released and get that last class paid for so that I can get my degree. I was told that I am no longer an active student with Ashford because I am done with school, so they can't do anything or fill any paperwork out to have the funds released. I was told that I needed to be an active student. I asked if they could re-instate me long enough to have the paperwork filled out so that this could get resolved and they told me that I would have to be enrolled in a class in order to do that. Financial aid wanted to transfer me to my academic advisor, Michelle **, to discuss the matter with her. I informed them that I am never able to get a hold of her or have her return any of my calls or emails. I asked if I could speak to Michelle's supervisor. I was transferred to her supervisor who, of course, was not available. I left a message but was never called back. The situation was never resolved.

A couple of weeks later, I was contacted by a collection agency informing me that Ashford has sent me to their agency to collect my debt. I contacted the agency and asked them if they could put their collection on hold while I tried to resolve the issue. I was told that Ashford sent me to them to try to collect a debt and they wouldn't put anything on hold. They told me to contact Ashford to try to resolve the issue. I attempted to call my academic advisor again and got her voicemail again; only this time I couldn't leave a message because her mailbox was full. My mother has even tried to contact Michelle and Financial Aid via email, only to have an automated email response from Michelle stating she would get back as soon as possible for her. Financial Aid also responded, stating if we had any questions regarding my account balance or charges to my account, that I needed to contact my academic advisor.

Not only is it impossible to get a hold of anyone, but no one is willing to help or answer any questions. I was also informed by Financial Aid that I did not elect to receive the full amount of financial aid when I signed my paperwork in the beginning. They stated that the entire time at Ashford, my loan amounts were not enough to cover my classes. I asked for a copy of those documents and have not received anything.

For the last year, I have been trying to get them to accept those classes. My last semester, I had to take a leave of absence to a medical issue. When I came back, I was told I couldn't continue unless I paid in full all my classes. Now that they have all my financial aid, I can't go anywhere else. I am in the process of seeking legal representation. I have learned that they also lied to me about being accredited by WASC. If anyone else has had issues with Ashford, visit this site and sign a petition to take them to court. There is a class action lawsuit against Bridgepoint education and I'm determined to get retribution.

Please join me in standing up for students' rights. Finishing our education is hard enough as it is, without adding a money-hungry, for profit school that doesn't support its students and makes it harder on them to finish school.

I was disappointed in the quality of class work and my fellow students' grammar levels. It was actually quite shocking. I continued anyway, hoping the classes would get better the further I went into the course work. It took them nearly 20 weeks to figure out my financial aid and give me any word. During this time, I had to request a change in student advisor because I could never reach my advisor, and she never answered any of my questions. They got my loans, then sent my loans back to the Department of Education, and then it took them another several weeks to get my real loans. During this time, I got several new award letters with the dates of disbursement constantly changing.

I started school on August 28 and my first disbursement did not happen until the end of December. No one could tell me what the delay was about, until finally I got a hold of someone, who basically told me that no one had ever requested my loans. This is after me calling a few times a week every week for about 6 weeks. It's not like they could have forgotten. I only got a small portion of my money. I ended up failing a class because I had a family emergency and could not submit my final paper until after the class ended. I emailed the instructor and let him know because my advisor told me he was the only one who could help me. He then told me there was nothing he could do and my advisor was the only one who could help me. Eventually, I discovered I had to submit a formal contest of the grade, which I did. I was then told it would take 4-5 weeks for them to determine what would happen.

In the meantime, I was so disgusted with Ashford I told them I wanted to withdraw. They then determined that somehow I now owe them over $2,300 because of the current "F" grade (still waiting on appeal, but based on their history, I am not hopeful). This does not make sense because per federal financial aid guidelines, you have to complete 67% of your classes with a 2.5 GPA minimum. I meet both of these requirements. Now my advisor is telling me that one of those classes fell into a previous academic year, even though they were taken in the same format as Ashford always packages their classes - 4 at a time in a chunk, funding for the 4 classes, and repeat. I am so angry at this school and the constant jerking around. I wouldn't be surprised if they never sent my funding back at all. I wish I had never even begun this headache.

I called my financial advisor and the financial aid office once again. My financial advisor told me that the money would be returned to me and never really stated what had happened to it. But the week of Dec. 2nd, I should receive a payment. I did get a payment on December 2 for one of my loans, but I still owed the school money and I wanted an explanation of where my other loan was still. Well she told me the week of Dec. 16 that I would receive my final loan disbursement and then the remaining funds would be sent to me in 2 checks. So I waited and waited until the end of the week of the 16th - to get nothing. I also then did not receive any answer from my financial advisor or anyone when I sent several emails wanting to know where my money was.

So now I also found out that even once I get my degree from them, it is virtually worthless in my state. They told me it was accepted and I would just have to take the state certification test. Not true. I still have to have additional schooling for that. I could have went to a local university and been done in the same amount of time, less money and not have to do extra work. I have decided to contact the Dept of Education. They have contacted Ashford and have given them until Jan. 23 to explain why I have not received my funds that were disbursed to me in October.

My situation seems very similar to Jessica of Klamath Falls, OR. I recommend anyone having issues to contact the Dept of Education. The more of us that go to them, the better chances of us being able to get our lives back that Ashford has taken and ruined. I may never be able to get a job in my field with this degree, and I someday hope to be able to go to school again. But I have no idea how. I think all students who have been lied to should put together a class action and make Ashford pay our loans back so that we can get funding to go to a real school, get real degrees and get a real job.

The next thing you know, I try to log on and I was dropped for not logging in? Are you serious? The adviser was calling my workplace on a daily basis over stupid crap like "Make sure you log on tonight? How are your classes going?" I am 42 years old and I do not need someone babysitting me with my school work especially when I am 16 credits short of a BS from a different university. I repeatedly told her that I work in a Federal facility and I can lose my job receiving personal phone calls at work. She called every single day! There was no way to block her calls because it was a switchboard.

How frustrating... After withdrawing, the balance was zero and my adviser told me everything was good. I get an email in December saying I owe $375! Seven months later, they communicate with me? Everything about this school is shady. Go onto their company profile on this website and you will see that they have lobbyist under Sunlight Foundation and guess who is on the board? Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. This scumbag allows prostitution and child sex trafficking on his website. You can find this on YouTube as well. This makes me sick. Does anyone know of a petition against Ashford against scamming students?

Coming from another school, I knew what I should have been getting from loans and grants and what should have been disbursed to me. Attending Ashford, I was getting less than half of what I was getting at University of Phoenix. I have had a credit sitting in my school account for a month now, yet no one can seem to tell me why it has not been released to me. Not only does Ashford charge more in tuition, their financial department is a complete joke. The advisers give the same canned answers when you can even get them to respond. No one says the same thing. They pass the buck to the next person and some of them are just flat out morons. I would never recommend this crap school to anyone.

Ashford proceeded to run my FAFSA in November after I had graduated. They took a portion of my Pell Grant to cover what they claim is money they are owed. I am getting no answers or help from anyone in the financial aid department. My financial aid for the school I started attending December 1st is now suffering due to Ashford allocating those grant funds. Ashford has provided no proof of this so called overpayment except to say, "Look at your student ledger card and do the math. You will see a difference of the amount charged to your account." I did the math and there is no money that is unaccounted for. They will take your money any way that they can. They even charged me for classes that should have been covered by financial aid while I was a student.

I cannot even look at my AA diploma with pride because of this situation. I keep getting phone calls stating I was an excellent student, I graduated with honors, and if I would like to pursue my BA through them. After this, no! Pay attention to all the hidden costs if you do decide to attend there. I had no idea there was a graduation fee that had to be paid before I could get my transcripts released either. No wonder so many people have sued them. I am going to check into legal action as well.

Let me remind you, they said I didn’t owe any funds and they also said my records were lost. Hmmm, very interesting to lose someone's records then basically hold your records for ransom. It makes you wonder what's really going on with this school and how many other schools are doing the same exact thing. Hey Ashford, where are my credits and degrees? I had about 4 months of school left to finish off my 4-year plan. Like I said, after 2 years, I was supposed to get my Associate's degree, which I never got and by the 4th year my bachelor's. Unfortunately I could not obtain either degree. Meanwhile, I was basically done with my 4 years. Good luck to anyone else out there struggling with a similar situation.

They made a mistake, or so they said last year causing me to supposedly owe for two classes, but I could never see what they were referring to, but they threatened to not let me finish my degree. I discussed this extensively with my advisor that assured me I would have a substantial amount of funds left over after my last class and I could pay it all then, which I did. Undoubtedly, they issued my funds to me but the funds were not supposed to be released? I have been passed from one person to another, all of whom eventually just stated that the previous person was correct. At this point, no one is willing to take responsibility because they will be personally responsible for the funds, or Ashford will. I am left with no choice but to seek legal help.

After researching all of this, Ashford is also under several huge lawsuits threatening their accreditation. Please read everything you can before choosing this university just in case! Also, if you do choose this university, understand it is owned by Bridgepoint - for profit. I loved my precious instructors that encouraged me and it is truly heartbreaking that for years, I have always told my children, "Your education is one thing no one can ever take from you," and mine has been stolen by the gross negligence of incompetent staff.

She emailed and called me everyday telling me she hadn't received word yet. I forwarded each email from this student over to my manager, who told me to not answer back. I answered her back by simply saying "Keep trying!" A few days later, the student was contacted by a financial aid adviser at AU and was told that if she did not have her financial aid paperwork in the first week of school, she would be dropped. At this point, the student emailed me with the news and was very upset. I then forwarded this email to my manager again, who told me to handle the situation. I had no idea what to do, and I was thinking at this point: Does he want me to call the IRS with her and get this information or what?

I asked for a meeting with him and told him I didn't feel comfortable with speaking to this student about this again and that she should start school at a later time. He then proceeded to call this student on a cell phone and told her to guesstimate on her FAFSA so that the financial aid step could be taken care of. The student quickly emailed me after saying that she believed my manager had called and told her to guess on her FA docs and asked if she was supposed to do this. I then forwarded this email to my manager, who told me again to not answer!

About two weeks later, during my monthly review, my manager gave me a negative review of 2 out of 5, because I was not a "solutions provider" in dealing with this particular student's complaints. I was quite upset, and I contacted the whistleblower and filed a formal complaint. I did this as anonymous. However, I was called up to the head of my department's office to discuss my complaint. I told "Becky" that I had everything in writing and thought this situation was unethical. If this student was audited or was given more money (Pell Grant money that she actually wasn't entitled to), I, her adviser, could be responsible for this because she had sent me so many emails on the matter. Becky had then asked me if I contacted other avenues such as the Financial Aid office for help on the matter, and I told her I had, which were within the emails as well.

I then contacted Human Resources to find out if my complaint had been addressed correctly, since first, I filed as anonymous and second, I was confronted by the head of my department, which I believe is a conflict of interest since this person is a direct higher up. I was rudely addressed by HR by email that they had asked Becky to deal with my complaint and that they could not provide me with any detail other than the complaint had been dropped. Sorry.

At this point, I took it upon my self to resign. I believe the means to get this student into school was completely unethical all the way around by having her guess on her paperwork to a negative monthly review for me. Any advice on this matter would be appreciated. Many students are misinformed and rushed into school, and the staff is being penalized for having any objection.

I should add that during the discussions of my not attending, I communicated the fact that the VA payment for the remainder of the class balance (TA covered $1,500 for the sum of two classes) was to be covered by my GI Bill top up benefits. Long story short, the VA made payment on the account but Ashford had submitted the account to collections, even after their knowing of the situation. Bad place to attend unless you just want to pay for a piece of paper without any more substance of learning.

This is the best part though. Remember how I said that this was 2 years ago? As little as 3 months ago, they called me again. Seriously, just give up. Oh, and I'm going to the local community college and enjoying the fact that I'm getting my degree for about 1/4 the price of Ashford and similar schools. And the community college even offers most classes online.

Ashford University is regionally accredited, nationally accredited and has several other accreditation. Anyone who says otherwise is either disgruntled or has no idea what an accreditation entails. Ashford University provides a quality education. Ultimately, you get out of it what you put into it. Anyone who took the easy way to their degree should not be commenting negatively, as that is on them. The courses are accelerated (5 weeks for undergraduate and 6 weeks for graduate). Students must post weekly discussion postings, respond to postings, take quizzes and submit writing assignments. The standards for work being submitted are no different than brick and mortar colleges.

It is nearly impossible to cheat your way to a degree at AU. The reason is that the assignments are ran through a plagiarism checker electronically. It's actually easier to cheat at a traditional college, with old fashioned paper essays than at AU. The amount of writing that must be done at AU is much more rigorous than traditional colleges and you don't receive credit just for showing up and sitting at a desk, attending lectures. There is no way to escape diving into the textbooks and learning.

One of the things I appreciated the most is that the instructors have less discretionary power. They must use a fair rubric (normally set by the university) and grade your work critically. This gives students an idea of where they are going wrong or right. It also give students leverage if they feel they are being graded unfairly. The support at AU is pretty good. I have attended several schools, both online and on-campus, and AU has been the easiest to deal with. My biggest feuds with them were overpaying for a couple classes, but this was due to my negligence as a student.

If you are using financial aid, you must be aware of their policies on taking breaks, dropping classes, etc. Otherwise, you may find yourself paying for one of the classes out of pocket. However, if students just stay enrolled, there is very little that can go wrong. I have dropped and rescheduled so many courses because of my work schedule and every time, I was able to do it over the phone in just a minute or two. If a student's academic adviser is not available, they can just ask for the next available adviser.

Unexpected surprises, there are none. Everything from the tuition to policy and procedures is posted online. Anyone who claims they were stiffed with extra expenses or surprises should simply pay attention. Never assume that what you are told over the phone is always correct. The staff at AU are professional, but sometimes they make mistakes, that's life. Do a little research, calculate what your tuition will be, what the tuition plus interest will be upon repayment and take a look at the curriculum before enrolling.

For anyone who still doubts online education, get with the program. This is the direction nearly all schools are going. Even Harvard, Penn State and Stanford are offering degrees online. More and more state universities do as well. While degrees that require practical hands-on experience cannot be taught online (yet), fields such as management, business, psychology, information technology and many others are well suited for this learning environment. These degrees are taken seriously by employers, despite what anyone will tell you. It's hard for employers to discriminate against these degrees when their CEOs, managers and directors are all earning degrees online.

Overall, my experience at AU was very positive. There were some bumps in the road, some instructors I did not like, some courses I did not like and I made a few mistakes which cost me, however, these are the burdens of being a student. I stayed the course, accomplished my goals and I am happy I did! A++

I read some of these reviews and will agree that the financial aid office was frustrating at times, but my advisor was very attentive. I felt I received a good education, and as with most online programs, some of the learning was self-directed. I find it disappointing that the school is suffering from poor reviews coming from students who failed and then complained that they couldn't get their money back. Part of being a good student of learning is taking responsibility for one's own actions.

I was told by the school that I could do so without any penalty to me since it was beyond my control. All I had to do was fill out some paperwork and send in proof that I was in the area that was hit. I completed all necessary paperwork, printed out two news reports about the storm, and turned it into my adviser as instructed. I ended up with a W on my transcript and being charged for the class, despite the fact that I was told that the class would drop off my record and the money would go back into my financial aid. I had to fight tooth and nail to have the W dropped and the money credited back. Well, the school finally, after months of harassing them, did drop the grade off my transcript but never credited back the money. Then around the same time, I got very sick. I had sinusitis, then bronchitis, and finally walking pneumonia. It took three prescriptions of antibiotics to be cured. I fell behind in the class I was in and received an extension from the teacher.

Anyhow, I tried my best to complete the class but was unable to in the designated time period. So I ended up with an F. I spoke with my adviser once again, and she told me that if I got the necessary documents from my doctor, I could have the grade changed to a W. I could then retake the class, and if I passed, the W would drop off and the cost of that class would be credited back to my financial aid as well. This was due to me having unforeseen circumstances. Well, once again, I submitted all of the necessary paperwork; and then I re-took the class and received an A. I waited for the F to drop off as my adviser said and to be credited back this money. Well, I waited and waited. In the meantime, I kept up with my adviser and she told me she had submitted everything to the proper departments and that it was simply a matter of time. Then in the middle of my adviser working on these issues for me, the school decides to change advisers (for the good of the students). I ended up with a different adviser and discovered that she knew nothing of my circumstances.

I contacted my previous adviser, and she told me that she no longer had any of my paperwork. So then, I had to start the process all over again with my new adviser. Paperwork had to be resubmitted, and once again, I had to wait. Well, of course, nothing was accomplished. The F is still on my transcript, and the money is still missing from my account. It was back in September 2011 when this process all began. I have been trying endlessly ever since to get these situations resolved. Then to make matters worse, if that is possible, I called my adviser the other day and requested to be dropped from the school because I want to transfer. Well, she told me that I won't be able to receive my transcripts until I pay the bill I owe the school. The amount is around $1500.00. When I inquired why I owe the school money, she told me because of the F I received. What I don't understand is why Ashford sent me a stipend check back in March if I owe them money. They send me a check for $2300.00, which is more than enough to cover what I supposedly owe them.

Why didn't they tell me this, so I could have paid this money from the stipend and be done with this rip-off school? And why do I have to owe them anything in the first place? According to what I found out today, the Department of Grade Appeals denied my grade change back in March due to it being so late in the game when they finally received the request. Why did they come up with this after I told my adviser I want to transfer? Why are they doing this? My adviser then proceeded to tell me that if I stay at Ashford, when I get my next financial aid stipend in October 2012, I can pay what I owe them. How convenient for Ashford. I have become exhausted, frustrated, and discouraged. I have a 3.82 GPA. I am on the Dean's List. I have never had a school do this to me before. Does this mean that I am going to have to stay at Ashford? What if another disaster occurs and this happens again? I just don't know what to do.

I just want to get my Bachelor's, go on for my Master's, and become a licensed professional counselor so I can help people. What a horrible thing to do to anyone. I am going to report this to the Better Business Bureau and anyone who will listen. I have contacted Senator Harkin in Iowa where Ashford is headquartered. And I will be contacting my representatives here in Virginia. Whatever you do, do not enroll at Ashford. Instead run away!

After three weeks, yes, that is right, three weeks of trying to get in touch with my financial aid adviser, I was then told that yes, there is a "tech fee". When I asked why I was not told about this when I enrolled, they said, "It is in the student handbook." Oh, really. How convenient. Of course it is there, but, isn't the University's job to inform the incoming student of any fees that are going to be removed from your stipend? Apparently, they didn't think so.

Back to Facebook. After reading through the numerous complaints about this tech fee on the University's Facebook page, I decided to post my own complaint. And I was attacked by several students that regularly post there that informed me that it was "my problem" that I didn't take time to read my student handbook, and see that there was going to be this fee. Rather than hold the University responsible for not telling me when I was enrolling, it was apparently my fault completely for not sitting down and reading the handbook.

I also have a theory about some of these regular "students" that post on the University's Facebook page. I don't think they are actual students, but people who work for Ashford that pose as students who ask questions and deflect rumors and complaints all day long. I find it interesting that there is always one set group of about five "students" that constantly post there to other students and field complaints, yet they say they are students. If you are a student at a college, how do you have time to field other student’s questions all day long?

Anyway, this tech fee was one huge rip-off and I was very upset that it was removed right off of my stipend, which I needed to replace my computer in order to continue with school. That is my money, by law, and not the school's to use at their choosing. This is what I was told by someone at Sallie Mae. As of now, I'm investigating this to see what can be done. Meanwhile, I have withdrawn from this school. They immediately scheduled me for a wall of entrance courses that I don't want to take and the first two classes I took there was filled with illiterate students who could barely form a sentence. It seems shady to me that I have to take these "entrance" classes and pay for them when I don't need them.

I was into my third or fourth class (making A's and B's on all assignments and tests) and had a problem meeting the class assignments due to my job. I informed the class adviser and teacher by email, and the teacher responded that she understood and she had some other students that needed to catch up as well. But the teacher flunked me and I was told that the federal loan would not pay for the duplicate class. I would have to pay for it out of pocket. I could not get the teacher or class adviser on the phone or email after that. Now I am in debt for $5,000, with nothing to show for it.

I was told by my then academic advisor that I could take a break as long as I return in the same year, which I did. I started back in August and the next academic year didn't start until October. The funny thing is, right before I received this email, I was sent a stipend for $2,140. I contacted Dawn and asked her that if I owed the school, why would they send me a stipend? I also find it funny that the amount I owe is the same amount of the stipend. Dawn stated that the school never reinstated the funds on my account and because it was another year, they couldn't go back and request those funds. I don't understand why I wasn't notified about this in year one and why did they wait until 3 classes from graduating to tell me this.

They also took a class from me (one that was already paid for) to take care of part of that balance. Dawn stated that I had a legitimate case, but she wasn't going to say that Ashford dropped the ball. She referred me to a dispute department, but I haven't heard from them. I now have 3 holds on my account (transcript, financial aid disbursement, and registration). I am unable to graduate because I have to pay that balance, plus the amount for the remaining three courses. This is about $5,000. I was told I could get on a payment arrangement, but it was only for 12 months. That means I would have to pay them more than $400 a month, which I don't have.

Other than that, I have no other complaints about Ashford. I think they got too big too quick and don't know how to handle the number of students. One last note, I have had about 5 counselors since I began classes at Ashford. I wish I would've read about all the complaints before I started taking classes. I have come too far and I can't quit, but I can't graduate either. Such a waste of time and money.

Again, I assumed they had gotten it because I didn’t hear from them. This happened two more times and I got really angry. I called, but no one answered. I received an email saying they didn’t receive my W-2. How can you not answer the phone but send in emails? Finally, I talked to a guy named Michael ** who told me to fax it to him. I did and called him right away, but he never called back. The next thing I know is that I went online to my class and my class was canceled until I sent my W-2. I still to this day kept my receipt showing I faxed it multiple times and it went through. So what is going on? I was ten classes away from graduating with my BA and I am so mad. So, they cut my classes, financial aid, and now I have a bill for $32,000.

At the end of this class, with still no financial aid, he was talked into taking yet a second course. It is my understanding that they should never have enrolled him, according to their handbook, in a second course with no financial aid. He was several weeks into the class with a B average at that point and he was notified that he would not get financial aid and was dismissed from the class. The next thing we know a collection agency is calling saying that my son owes over $4,000.00 for the two classes. He wrote a letter of denial as is required in 30 days if you are not in agreement. He is currently seeking attorney representation in this matter. He was wrongly and falsely led to believe he would get financial help. This school misrepresented him. I have my master’s degree and a Rank 1 degree. I did not have these problems from the colleges I attended. I feel responsible for encouraging my son to push for his degree with this school. They want money for a class he did not need and want him to pay for a second class that he did not finish because they removed him due to no financial aid. I am angry and disappointed in this terrible misrepresentation.

Recently, the same thing happened, only this time, I could get no help from the instructor, and my adviser would never return my calls or e-mails. I told them they could shove Ashford University where the sun never shines. Of course, although Federal Student Aid paid for the course, I am now again in debt with Ashford for this course also. I told them I was going to have to speak to my attorney about this, and my adviser told me an attorney cannot do anything because I signed a contract that prevents me from filing any type of lawsuit, and have to enter into arbitration with the people who are stealing from me and the Federal Government.

Well, I found a way around that, and I am asking all of you interested in finally getting justice from Ashford University to e-mail me at ** with your concerns and what Ashford did to you. This is no joke, and I am not trying to set anyone up. I have found a way around Ashford's contract, and the more people I can get involved with this, the more Ashford will be forced into finally do what is right, and quit feeling they are above the law. My name is **, and I am not going to allow Ashford to steal from the government any longer. You see, their actions today against us will directly hurt our children in the future when Federal Student Aid will be too expensive for them to go to school. We have to act now to stop the fraud, and I hope you will join with me in doing this.

They did misplace a lot of my paperwork, causing me to have to resend. Overall, I feel that the college did a wonderful job in educating me. The worst problem that I had was trying to get an address change. Their computers kept rejecting it! However, this is not something to get really upset about, overall. I have read a complaint about their sister college; however, I chose not to use that part of my degree anyway. I was never told that I owed money, and I usually got my stipends on time. I would definitely recommend this college to people, so long as the people want to be proactive and do what is required of them. Thanks, Ashford, for a great experience!

Within a week, I owed them $3000, then they supposedly returned sub/unsub loans, which caused me to owe more money. Then I watched as my military tuition discount was charged back to my account, making me owe more money. Then book fees were added (even though military receives a book waiver). Right now I supposedly owe $4980+. They have held my transcripts which is making it impossible to enroll in any other educational institution. I have tried since August to get an answer on how they could charge me for books, tuition waivers for the military, etc. They also won't release my supposedly returned financial aid so that it can be used at another university.

I was a 4.0 student and my grades were changed after I left AU. I am yelled at by academic, financial and other types at AU. I have been told to shut up, I have been told I am too stupid to understand what they are saying, I have been told to contact the Financial Aid Clearinghouse myself to have funds released. I would like to know how to get these issues corrected!

In January 2012, one-half of my annual financial aid was issued to Ashford to cover 9 credits/3 courses. Following the directions on my Ashford financial aid award paperwork, I had 30 days to cancel all or part of my issued aid package. Day 30 fell on the weekend, so I issued my aid return request on Monday in writing as instructed. I requested that 100% of both my subsidized and unsubsidized loans be returned to the lender. Instead, Ashford retained my student aid and applied my first Master's course against the available aid balance on my student account.

Next, although I was issued my diploma and my BA degree conferred by Ashford on November 27, 2011, Ashford recently altered my official transcripts by giving me zero credit for a transferred course (which it had previously credited me) and replaced the credits with the (3) credits I just completed in the MA program. I have tried to work with the lender and the Department of Education on getting my funds released/returned and determined if what Ashford has done with my transcripts is common place or perhaps unethical. Both agencies keep telling me to contact the Ashford financial aid office. I cannot get any person at Ashford to return my calls or emails. Even after reminding them that I am an alumni, still there's no response nor return of the balance of my funding to the lender.

Stay away, far, far away. And spend your money at a school that cares about you, because this for-profit educator can really disrupt your academic progress by holding your funds as long as it is legally possible while also refusing to communicate with you. 120 days, according to my research on the FAFSA site. May 2012 will be 120 days. However, the frustration is definitely time-consuming. I had to work closely with my new university to make the final half of my 2012 aid cover 1/2 of the annual tuition at the new university, because the national lending site still says that Ashford has consumed 1/2 of my available 2012 financial aid. In fact, my student account hosts an $8k+ credit balance since January 2012.

I guess Ashford is an excellent educator to do business with, until you want to take your business elsewhere. Then the consumer is set adrift, aid-less and communication-less. And for at least 120 days, it could be held a financial aid hostage - something only the student consumer seems to care anything about.

Also, I asked them when the school updates the NSLDS website so that it would show that my loans are cancelled. They told me that I had to call the department of Education. So, I did that to find out when the site would be updated. The Department of Education told me that it was up to the school to update that site. But I was just getting the run around from the school and no answers. So now, I am telling people if you want to go back to school, do not go to Ashford University, the school does not tell the truth about anything.

So, on that day, my funds came(only my loans supposedly). I was told my Pell would be there by the end of the week. That did not happen, and I was told it could be 30 days before they received it from the government. So I called the Department of Education and Fin. Aid, which told me that they had already sent in the money on the 23rd. Ashford still claimed that they did not have the money and there was nothing that I could do. So I checked every couple of days. Finally, after getting rather crappy with several different departments and advisors one day, my Pell showed up. This was March 6th, 2012. I was then told that within 14 days, I would have my stipend, which I needed to buy a new computer and programs.

In the meantime, I noticed that my ledger was really jacked up and I called in to have them fix that and drop me from a class that I could not take because I did not have the program required. I was assured that it would not affect the release of my stipend, and in any event, it would be taken care of. This did not happen for a few days, and I was not formally dropped from the class till I got hateful once again. Well, it has been 16 days, and still no stipend. My ledger is finally correct, but still no money for me. So, I called again and since I can rarely get my own advisor or her boss, I talked to whoever I can. At this point, no one will tell me why I have not received the stipend, or even a date when it will be direct deposited to my account.

I was sent an email saying not to be unprofessional, and not "yell" at them through emails by typing in all caps. Really? How professional is it not to do your job as an advisor? All I get now is sometime this week it should be sent to Fannie Mae. Then they will process it and send me the excess. I wait tables for a living, and if I did my job the way the office staff at Ashford does theirs, I would be fired in a second. Since, technically this money is mine, and I have to pay it back, I should have the right to know what is going on, and be given something concrete to go on, instead of being continuously put off- very unprofessional! I also managed to do a three way call, where two different departments got into a catfight on whose fault this was. Now, neither department will talk to me.

To top it off, last year, my money was at the school and they showed where they had it, but it took a month to get to me, yet no one knew why or would make an effort to fix it. I have seen where many other students have had issues with them. I know some just don't understand the process of fin. aid and course load, etc. But, not all of them ! I have attended my last semester at Ashford. I love the classes and the flexibility, but the hassle with fin. aid for two years in a row is just ridiculous. Worst customer service that I have ever experienced. I am so afraid now, that they will try to mess me up as much as possible. There should be some laws that protect and ensure students from being taken advantage of and being used as banks for questionable practices performed by universities. There is not much recourse for the student, especially online ones.

I did my research and did read some negative feedback. The only problem I had personally was getting a call back from advisers on occasion. I think in any situation people should be proactive. If you cannot get an adviser or admissions, financial aid or whatever department you are trying to contact, then send an email. I have taken that route and have always gotten someone within 24 hrs. I am not trying to criticize anyone's post but, if you are only enrolling at Ashford or any other school, just so you can get the grants for personal use, then you will be frustrated after those grants are applied towards your classes and you only receive a few hundred dollars.

As far as transferring credits, my conversation was, I needed to know exactly what credits were transferable and what was not before I signed anything. What is the accreditation and make sure those requirements are met. It is your money and your future, be more proactive and don't be forced or misled by anyone into anything. Sorry for all your bad experiences, but as for me and mine, I am quite happy thus far. 4 stars here and that's because they are not perfect just like any other academic institution.

I have repeatedly told the person (who by the way is the same individual every time) to stop calling and harassing me. Pete refused to stop calling and even went so far as to say he would continue to call until he received an e-mail from Jessica telling him to stop calling. This is a clear violation of FCC regulations regarding phone harassment! I am reporting this to the FCC and hopefully will get the opportunity to sue the individual and the University itself for harassment charges.

I am not happy with this school at all and I wish I never signed up with them at all. Because they did not help me at all as far as helping me get hands on training. They could have found some schools and placed me at one of them here in GA but they did not. My husband is very upset as well because I lost a lot of sleep and time away from him. I will never do this anymore and I will not recommend anyone else to attend this school. If I have to rate this school on a scale of 1 to 10, it would be a 4.

Well, I had an unsuccessful grade, yes an F, and now they are saying I owe $1,200. Yes, I admit I owe the money. My complaint is the fact that they are unwilling to work with me to return to classes. They say I have to pay the amount to get back into class or that I can make a payment arrangement. But they are unwilling to work that payment arrangement into my income. I am a disabled student living on $625 a month and they are unwilling to help me with a lower payment than $155 a month. I like the school but I have to agree it's not about the student or the education, it is about the money they can get from the government and that student.

Be very careful. Keep your grades up and don't disagree with your professor. This is what happened to me. I was vocal in the class with my disagreements with the professor and I paid the price. My fault, I should have seen the writing early in the class and withdrawn but I stuck it out and paid the price. Some battles are better off not engaged in. I owe the money but I also want back in but I can't afford the $155 a month. Nice catch, they told me they want me back in, (they want that federal money), but they are unwilling to work within my income. I have checked with my local area universities and my credits will transfer if I want to change schools but I don't. I like the platform of the classes and the professors are generally good. But be warned, financial aid and the business office are not willing to bend on anything.

My grant, which was approved for these classes, said it was used also, so $3,000 from them just disappeared. They refuse to answer me where this money has gone or give me any receipts or answer emails. The last time my student advisor wrote me, she was upset that I needed forms to stop any future loans. It’s ridiculous. I am going to Jag this week and going to get this school blacklisted for scam to help any future military personnel.

Now, the financial aid department has been the worse experience I have ever had in my life. I would rate them at a low -0. They always say they are missing documents that has been submitted. The worse thing is you think you submitted everything and you are waiting on a return call from them for weeks to find out that you are missing information. You would then think they would be proactive and call students back, however, they do not. I have fought with them since October 2011 in regards to my change of financial circumstances forms. They continue to say I have missing information. I wrote everything down they requested and sent it off again. Then they say, we need additional information. I finally asked my academic advisor to step in. She and her supervisor both checked my information and said everything looks correct. We both conference the financial aid department and spoke to Tina, who just read notes and didn't know what she was talking about.

It feels like they have high school students working in this department. Actually, high school drop outs working in this department. They are completely incompetent. I have 10 more classes to go, but I'm thinking if they can't read and process simple information in a timely manner, then do I want to continue to pay $1250 per class? (Cost of class and electronic book) Overall rating for the school in my opinion would be 2.

I called Ashford, and they said that there's really nothing that they can do for me. I want to take it to the next level, and get a lawyer to help me find out what happened to my loan. I really want to stay enrolled at Ashford, but I need my loans right. My husband believe that it's a scam. I'm starting to really believe that I'm going to owe them so much money. What can I do now? Please help me! I want an attorney to call me about this. I'm so upset. I want to enroll somewhere else, but they said I will get charged for the classes that I haven't completed. How can that be? I've been on the phone all day, with everybody, and getting the runaround. There's no one giving me real answers.

I signed a cancellation form for all future loans and disbursements. Since the loan amounts are scheduled to come in tentatively at the end of January, you would want to fill out a loan cancellation letter that is attached above. You will want to make sure everything is completed that is necessary on the form and submit it back to me at your earliest convenience. You can review the amount of loans that you would like to cancel by reviewing your award letter that was sent out to you via email for this award year, as per my financial aid advisor. I thought I was in the clear not owing in any money because this form was for future loan amounts and aid amounts that would be obtain 2012. I withdraw led and did the correct procedures. I even checked my balance and in fact it did state I owe any amount.

On February 17, 2012 I received an email from the Ashford’s collections stating I owe $8,895. Last time I check I did not owe anything. Come to find out they took upon themselves that they cancelled the fall 2011 loan and Pell Grant after I received it. My classes were paid for and yet they took it upon themselves to cancel the previous aid/loan that paid for my classes in the fall. What I don’t understand is how can they cancel a loan or aid that I did not cancel in fall 2011 when in fact I was still in school. I did not even request a loan or aid cancellation until mid-December for future sources. Secondly I finished my last course in December, which ended the 19th in 2011. I was also told I did not meet the academic quota for courses and aid/loan and had to retrieve the loan/aid back. I called the lender and they said they received refund from the fall 2011. I told them I did not cancel funds for fall 2011; I only cancel funds for future resources. He told me they refund 6,000 something dollars. Pell Grant was only $1,170 or around there. That means what was the other money for? What upsets me more, that before anything Pell Grant should be used and yet they did not used the Pell Grant before the loan. Also, the loan and any aid cancellation were for future disbursements but yet they took back the fall 2011 when I was actually attending Ashford at that time.

I had not emails or notifications of owing any money. I have checked and been told I did not owe any outstanding balances. Then when I retrieved this collection email, this has become news to me. I feel Ashford has abused and committed fraud in the system. I believe because I withdraw I am being punished. I have never had any issues with aid/ or loans with any college or university before until Ashford. I never had to owe money or had a college go behind my back, and misuse the system.

Every professor has a different style and approach in teaching. I recommended friends to Ashford and they have had the best experience. I feel those people with complaints should address their issues with their academic advisor. You can actually address them with any academic advisor on staff, they are always willing to help and find resolutions for any problem that you may encounter.

The teachers don't have real subjects that you can do research papers on, and the whole degree is based on writing papers for every class. Most are repetitive in content. The computer class was a joke. The teacher was of no help, and had no teacher's assistant. At the end of December, my admissions adviser, and my academic, financial aid advisers changed. The financial aid and academic person became one, and no admissions adviser exists now. I have a student, who is my adviser, and it is a joke. He also works for Everglades University online, because I checked into getting in with them, and he answered my call as an academic adviser there too.

This is all fraud and against the law. They are clearly pocketing our financial aid. I saw a post by them today in my emails, that they just now are applying for accreditation regionally, so therefore, none of their credits will transfer to regional colleges to get a masters degree. This is so bogus. I am transferring out to our state college in the fall or before. I know I am not staying at Ashford. Also, I was told that even that there are minor degrees offered, I wasn't allowed to take any along with my major. It is highly annoying how they chose what curriculum and classes you take, and wont let you chose when you pay dearly for it. I am sick about my choice, and will be leaving there as soon as my balance is zero with them.

Upon reading the numerous complaints, I decided to challenge them on this. I made a complaint with ASU and that got me nowhere. Now I am trying to attend another college and of course, they will not release my transcript, until I am paid in full. This seems so unfair! At least I know I am not the only one out here experiencing this nonsense.

Enrollment advisers were told to push students, get them to fill out applications before the student was ready to attend. This is demonstrated by the 68% withdraw rate at Ashford. My enrollment team went through 5 managers in 4 months. My enrollment numbers were low, but I had a 100% retention rate for my students. Soon as I applied for classes and the tuition coverage, I started getting write-ups for poor performance. I was not allowed new student leads, instead I had to cold call old leads, many over a year old. I had more phone calls than anyone on my team. I complained and stated that the business practices used were not in the best interest of the students. I was terminated soon after.

My student problems began in the Spring of 2011. All of a sudden, $900 was placed on my account and I was notified by email. I contacted the school and they said it had something to do to the fact that I moved to Missouri and that I needed to contact Federal Student Aid office. I contacted FSA and they had no idea what I was talking about and they recommended that I contact Ashford again. My Financial Adviser could not explain why I had the balance and guessed that it had something to do with a grant I received from the state of Iowa. I wanted to then attend a different university; but found out that Ashford would not release my transcripts until the balance was paid. So I paid the $900.

I tried to get into another university but found out many of my credits would not transfer to the program I wanted. So I opted to return to Ashford. On May 22nd, my home was destroyed by the EF5 tornado that ripped through Joplin, MO. I informed the school that I would not be able to attend classes until I figured out my living situation. In late July I found that I was dropped from course due to lack of attendance. I then had to go through many hoops to get back into classes. I completed two more classes only to find myself dropped again. I contacted Ashford as to why, all of a sudden I reached my limit on federal funding. They never gave me an indication that I was close to this limit. Had I known, I would have made other arrangements.

I was told that I would not be able to attend classes unless I could get private loans. I tried; however, most lending institutions did not recognize Ashford as a viable institution. Thus leaving me 22 credits short and a 3.64 GPA. In December 2011, I received an email saying I owed Ashford $1345 due immediately. Again, without my knowledge or any indication that I would have a balance. Not even a mailed statement, just an email. Again, they will not release my transcripts. I was also told that they could not do anything about the balance. I am unemployed and have no means to pay off this amount. I just want to be done with the school entirely.

I have gone back and forth with the student dispute center and they say there is nothing that can be done about the balance. Now I find out all of these similar stories and the investigation that Senator Tom Harkin is conducting on these institutions practices. I have worked in diesel mechanics for many years. When we have a customer who needs a $1345 repair done to their vehicle, we don't perform the repair and then expect that customer to pay for it, holding his truck in the shop until he does. Instead, we inform the customer first, explain the problem, show them what needs to be done, and ask for his permission to make the repairs.

When I explained this concept to Ashford, they stated they did not see the relevance to my situation. If, by chance, I did make the $1300 repair to the vehicle without the customers consent, under the consumer fraud act, I would not be able to collect the money. Even if that was the case, I would gladly cover that repair because I did not conduct my business ethically. I want Ashford to do the same. I believe that all these students filing these complaints are entitled to their tuition being reimbursed by the University. I hope we can receive some kind of justice, it is not fair to students to be treated this way. We need to come together and bring more attention to this problem.

7 days has passed today, and now it's a whole new story. Now he claims I have to wait for another quarter to end, and the reason is because of that document changing all the rules. In other words, he intentionally conned me into signing a document by making me think it'd result in a more timely disbursement, and now spun it and is using it to not disburse anything until another quarter. This is the 3rd or 4th time they have knowingly, and in a coordinated fashion misled me, to get me to do what they want and to hold onto the money.

It is clearly a well coordinated scam that involves an intentional system of false promises. I went out and bought a new PC based on their promises and representations, so I could attend online classes, and now have a power bill due. The money did not come and my power has been cut off. They make promises and habitually mislead people to get an enrollment. They do not practice truth in disclosure ethically, and if you rely on them in any way economically you will regret it. They lie regularly.

The education is below par. The teachers do not teach you anything. The only thing they grade is grammar, not content, and often the teachers do not know the actual subjects at all. It seems so far to be a huge scam, and a way for advisers to access student loan money made in the student's name, and a con game follows so they can play games with it ,and control it. You are stuck in a position to try to get a degree, even though the education is laughable content wise, since you have no real instruction, just a book. Otherwise, you will be stuck with a huge bill and no degree. Don't fall for it. The positive comments here, are made by advisers benefiting from the scam. On campus students are also involved in the scamming.

Ashford tried to tell me that they had no provisions for medical emergencies, but I pushed it and they came up with one. I was charged for the two courses and upon my graduation, Ashford placed six holds on my account, keeping me from graduating with my classmates. My GPA was 4.0, and I worked very hard for that with my Master's in higher education specialization. I completed my MAED in May 2011, and it took Ashford a year to fix the appeal overcharge and several months to fix the other two courses.

They kept changing my account and telling me that they had done things that I did not notice. They told me that I ran out of money and owed $1,571.00 for my capstone and my graduation. I ended up in surgery this past Thanksgiving and called to ask that they work with me, as I would not be able to work until March or April 2012, not to mention the fact that I have been unable to secure employment with my degree from Ashford because I do not have a teaching certificate.

They must have known that I would need that certificate, and it would have been easy to complete it while I was finishing up my Master's. Ashford refused to work with me on what they claim I owe and told me that it was going against my credit if it was not paid immediately.

Also, since I have 0 income of my own, I need my financial aid to buy my books, and to pay for my internet services and computer upgrades to attend the school. Well, my experience with the financial aid department has been terrible. Instead of getting stipends every 3 months like everyone else I know who has been in college and received financial aid, I get sometimes only 2 stipends a year. Like in 2011, I have received a stipend in March, and one in June. That's it. I failed a class at one point because I had no electric for 2 days, no internet for over a week, and no phone for 3 weeks and missed a deadline for turning in a final paper. I already had a low grade for that class because of internet outages making me late on several discussions, and I wasn't allowed to submit the final paper once my internet was working.

That took 30% off my grade and I failed. I submitted all my paperwork to the school showing numerous technicians had been out to my house, but Ashford wouldn't reconsider. I was told that internet problems are not a reason to have trouble with internet school. They told me I should have walked to my mother's house, (15 miles away) to do my assignments or I should have bought a laptop (with my student loans that they never send me on time) and walked to McDonalds with my 4 year old son and done all my homework there. And since I failed the class, even though I was desperate for my next stipend and it was due, I was told I would have to wait until I passed 4 more classes (so 20 more weeks) before I would receive another stipend.

Now this is in October. It has been 4 months since my last stipend. I have $0.00 to buy books, my electric is about to be shut off, my internet is about to be shut off, and my computer needs a Microsoft upgrade for me to be able to do my assignments correctly, but I have to wait 20 more weeks to get a stipend. I emailed my financial aid adviser and called over and over. He finally got back to me several weeks later and told me there was nothing he could do. I was supposed to pass those 4 classes without the books so I could get the money to buy the books to pass the classes. I finally threatened to contact the attorney generals office. He laughed at me, and said "go ahead, we are doing what we are allowed to do. You chose this school." I sent a few more weeks of emails and finally he called back on November 17, and had me fill out and email back some forms to put me in charge of all my money, even though he told me Ashford will technically still be in charge. He then explained that since I am only a few classes from graduation, my stipend amount won't be that much, just $839.50 and that it will come in about 14 days. I asked if there is anyway to get it sooner since I am about to start a class and need the money to buy the book. He told me "off record" that usually the money is issued within a few days and that if it doesn't come within a week to contact him again. Well a month goes by and no money is issued and I am emailing every single day, 7 days a week.

He got back to me on December 16, and says nobody ever told me $839.50, there is no way I would ever be entitled to that much, and the largest amount they can cut me is $299.00 and that I have to pass at least one more class before I can get that. Now I am in a class that I don't have the book for and am just winging it and because of Winter break, I won't be done with this class until the end of January. So I will not see my stipend until February or even March. So I am going 8-9 months between stipends. I told my adviser that's it I'm going to the attorney generals office and he laughed at me again, told me to do what I had to do it wouldn't change anything. I was so upset I hung up. So he sent me an email that is really snide saying "You hung up on me before I could discuss your options. Seems we always have the same conversation Shannon and you never let me give you answers. Instead we run circles. Please call me." Well the only options he had given me was to keep trying to do the work without the books or assignments, or to withdraw and quit.

Their scam starts almost immediately. You are given a choice between managing your own money, and letting them manage it. It is made clear, you should not manage your own money. They give you a very narrow window in which to pay for a class. They tell you that you can send the money in, but they might not open the mail for a period of weeks, at which point the money will be overdue, and there is a very substantial fine for being overdue. They can also fine for paying early. So, they make it clear, if you dare try to manage your own money, we are going to take it from you. We will make you regret it.

Has anyone else noticed that the online "teachers" do not exactly have a degree in the class they are "teaching", that they frequently do not grade or even read the papers (this is left for unpaid student volunteers, in other words, students with no degree at all, grading student work). They do not help their students, do not have to make a lesson plan, do not create the assignments (they come straight from the book), in fact, do not do much, besides write a few emails. For which I am sure they are handsomely paid but, with 15 or 20 or more students each paying about $1,500 for a class, the university is really raking it in.

Also, the textbooks they use a new edition for many, many classes. This means they will not buy the old book back, and they do not sell used books. No online book seller has the new edition, as a used book either. Just another scam. This college needs to be investigated, and a lot of changes made. Actually, I think it should lose accreditation, and all students be facilitated in switching to real colleges.

My daughter is just short of her degree. She has not had a stipend since June of 2011, and they say they will not send another until February of 2012, and that it will be $299, not the more than $800 they promised a month ago. She may have to drop out, and they say that if she does, they are going to keep all of her remaining money.

I am now being threatened by a collection agency for payment and a charge-off on my credit report. I knew I could not afford Ashford's tuition and only enrolled there after I was assured I would receive financial aid.

In August I when I started my classes, I asked the school where my financial aid money was, they told me I didn’t complete a financial aid form. I emailed them the form showing them it was completed and they still said they didn’t see that it was done and that I would have to complete it again. So I completed another form, and they said it would take 8 to 12 weeks to complete the process. I then called them a couple weeks later to ask them where the process was and they hadn't even started with it yet saying that I needed to make changes to the form. So I made changes and they said it would take another 8 to 12 weeks. When I asked why it would take so long after completing it in June, they said that is how long it would take to process the form.

A couple more weeks went by, I called them, and the y told me I had more paper work to complete. I then asked for a new financial advisor. The new advisor walked me through the form to be completed again. He then said he would expedite the process to 7 to 10 days. Two weeks later and I still don’t have an award letter, but the department of education has sent money to the school for me. I called them back, and they said I have another form to add to the financial aid packet and it will take 8 to 10 weeks to process. At this rate I will never see my money.

I was also administratively withdrawn from my class after completing all my assignments. It didn’t matter if I had already completed my assignments. I was told I had to complete an assignment every 7 days. So I will probably never see my financial aid money, and will never be able to complete a class for the school. I am thinking of leaving this school and am going to call the department of education to make sure they get all the money back if the school won’t give it to me. I don’t want to get screwed over from getting my financial aid money when I go to another school.

Now, they're telling me that they are holding my degree until I pay for almost $3000 more! I am unable to talk to someone at the university or get a clear picture as to what is going on as the online system never seems to reflect the correct information, and neither does Ashford staff! Ashford always calls on Friday afternoons and obviously, I am not able to even speak to someone until the following week. I have documented all of the correspondence between myself, my father and Ashford. This is insanely frustrating and I am tired of crying about it. Somebody needs to stop these people!

When my Post-9/11 GI Bill was approved, their first payment was made to Ashford finance department on November 22, 2010 in the amount of $2,250 which covered three months for classes starting on November 16, 2010, January 4, 2011, and February 8, 2011. From then on, they paid 100% in full, totaling $10,750 from November 22, 2010 to August 31, 2011. Each of my classes with the military grant program is $750 per class. When I file for FASFA, I always upload my tax information through the link they provide that will take you directly to the IRS.gov website and upload all of your tax information that they require. I have been approved for a Pell Grant up to $3,200. When corrections were submitted by the school on September 15, 2011 and was reprocessed based on my income, I was then awarded and approved for a Pell Grant up to $3,100.

My financial advisor at Ashford emailed me on Thursday, September 15, 2011 to advise me that she spoke to their Financial Aid office, and it turns out they overpaid me too much for Pell. So my next question was, how much was I approved for Pell and how much is the overpayment? To break down the payment history, I was paid for my Pell Grant refund owed to me $150 on November 21, 2010, $750 on November 16, 2010, $750 on December 3, 2010, $664 on February 23, 2011, $750 on May 24, 2011, and $1,650 on July 7, 2011, totaling $4,714 for the 2010 to 2011 fiscal year. So my financial advisor at Ashford emailed me explaining that the Financial Aid office contacted her, and they have discovered that they paid me too much Pell and are requesting that I pay back the entire $4,714.

I was outraged because if I am approved by FASFA and awarded by Ashford $3,100 after corrections were made based off my income, then why would I pay back every single penny of the Pell they have ever paid me? My financial advisor at Ashford advised that they told her - and I quote - “The student EFC was higher on the ISIR received July 26, 2011, so COD automatically returned the funds as the student is now eligible for less Pell.” This did not make sense. So I then asked her exactly how much was I approved for Pell based on the Financial Aid’s office. She advised - and I quote - “You were originally awarded $3,064 in Pell for Academic Year 1, and $1,650 for AY2 Pay Period 1 for a total of $4,714. They sent back $3,664 of those Pell funds and that would be what was owed.” Again, this did not add up or make any sense because based on FASFA’s website, they submitted my corrections on September 15, 2011 and I was eligible to receive a Pell Grant up to $3,100.

So I then called my advisor at Ashford via telephone and she informed me that I am required to pay back the entire $3,664 because the school paid back Pell $3,664. This still did not make any sense. I was more outraged. She offered to let me speak to her supervisor which at that time I declined because for them to ask for me to pay back that amount of money that was refunded to me, which by law I am entitled to if my benefits covers me at 100% and all of the money that I have going into that school from the MyCAA grant program, to a Pell Grant to now the Department of VA Post-9/11 G.I Bill, then why am I owing any balances? She was not able to explain to me why I would owe all of the Pell money back.

So my outlook on the entire situation is that now Ashford is telling me I was approved for Pell for $4,714, but because they overpaid me - which they are not telling me exactly how much they have overpaid me (I keep getting I need to pay back $3,664) - that’s saying to me that I was never awarded a Pell Grant to begin with starting in 2010 to 2011, or only awarded $1,050. When I was attending Saint Leo University prior to transferring to Ashford, I was already approved and awarded Pell which whatever the balance was left over was transferred to Ashford when I switched schools. I completed the FAFSA website correctly as instructed whenever you change or update schools, so there was no fraud on my behalf. And there was no need to redo any FASFA for that year until I filed my taxes for 2010 in March of 2011.

The issue I am now having with Ashford is that if I was paid $4,714 and my award with corrections were $3,100, then their overpayment to me would be $1,614. I do not understand why Ashford paid back $3,664, and why would they ask me to pay $4,714 which will keep me from graduating until I pay the balance in full? I explained to my financial advisor at Ashford that someone in their Financial Aid department entered some incorrect information and dropped the ball. Either someone in that office is committing some type of fraud or they just simply cannot add and do math. There should be no way as a military spouse and student with approved grants (no loans) that I have a balance due to Ashford overpaying me in Pell money. No one can properly explain to me in depth or detail what my true overpayment balance is.

I told my financial advisor at Ashford that they need to get an auditor to review my account, and to not contact me until they have fixed their errors. They are wrong for trying to make me pay for the errors they have brought upon themselves. I can see paying the difference, but I do not see any reason why I would have to pay back $3,664 in Pell money unless they only approved me for $1,050 for the entire 2010 to 2011 fiscal year and having tuition paid at 100%. I have contacted someone with the military base legal to seek legal advice and possible representation to file a lawsuit against Ashford University for fraud and negligence against me for coming up with this bogus balance of money they have paid me which is owed to me because of their mistake, and not handling my account properly as a student which I trusted Ashford to handle for me.

I am due to graduate by 2012. I am enrolled in two classes every five weeks, which is accelerating my graduation date to February 2012 instead of July 2012. I am being told that I will not be able to graduate until the $3,664 balance is paid in full. This is wrong. I hope to get things resolved, but I’m extremely emotionally upset with them, and I do not plan to return to this school for a master’s, nor will I recommend this school. I have also filed a complaint against them with the BBB. My legal advisor with the military is making calls and trying to get to the bottom of this. My feedback from Ashford is now they are looking into everything to see what went wrong. Regardless, I only have six classes left. I am too far in to quit. Even if I had to pay this money back, I was informed by base legal never go to a for-profit school. They are all about money. You best believe I will not be returning for a master’s degree with them. I will graduate and write this off on my taxes as a deduction. I pray no one else has these issues either.

I argued this for 6 months and they were not willing to remove the amount. While trying to work this out, I made payments and then choose to stop due to their lack of actually working on this issue. They sent it to an outside collection agency and I now cannot get this off my records or even get them to return calls. I just called the school again and because they sent to an outside agency they no longer have my records and are not willing to help me resolve this issue. This is now listed on my credit report and hindering my family from purchasing a new home.

I was told I would be able to become a certified teacher when I was done, which was a lie, and that I would be done the program in a year which was also a lie. Though these lies were told I did still have a good learning experience with Ashford. I had a financial aid issue once and they quickly took care of it, though I had to demand to speak to management and make several emails and phone calls. I finished my degree and was considering going back for my masters.

My enrollment adviser told me I had been over awarded as a dependent student; when I am an independent student; therefore I could not get financial aid for the masters program. I then was told that they would look into it and let me know why my finances were mixed up. Two weeks later I get an email saying everything is fine if I agree to pay 5k by the end of my 4th graduate course. I was shocked, how did I end up owing 5k when I just graduated with a clear account. Ashford told me that since I was (wrongly) over awarded they had to send the money back to the lender. Therefore; I had to pay them. I feel like this is wrong and sketchy on so many different levels. How was I never notified and why are they just now seeing this. I asked if I could pay the lender back instead and they are telling me no. I called FAFSA and they said they have never received any returned funds. Now I am reading all of these complaints and, upon research, am finding many more stories similar to mine. I plan on fighting this and hope others do as well. They should not be able to keep scamming people like this!

I took several classes and then took a few weeks off due to an uncontrollable health issue. My adviser stated that it was no big deal, that I would be placed in the dropped status, and after a few weeks, she would change my status back to active. I have the emails to prove it. That was in May and I have not heard from her since. She has not returned any of the countless emails or phone calls I have left for her since May.

Last week, I received an email from someone with AU's collection department stating that I owed $900.00 and it had to be paid within 15 days. This was the first correspondence I have had with anyone from AU. Apparently, they have some shady billing practices and the GI Bill, that my adviser assured me would not be affected by her changing my status, had to be refunded.

Now, they are coming after me for the money. No letter in the mail, no phone call to clear up the confusion, just a hateful email from some jerk hired to do their bidding. Please do yourself a favor and do not enroll here. I have several friends and family that are students and none of them have anything good to say about this university. Most of them quit just as soon as they start and have similar horror stories.

It is extremely overpriced. They are great until you're enrolled and then, they will never return your calls or emails again. They say that they are military friendly, but they are not looking out for our military. I plan to tell everyone I know and spread the word about the shady practices they exhibit. I also plan to contact every attorney general's office, the VA education benefits departments, the BBB and any other entity I can think of to get this place shut down.

However, there are more complaints on this school.

I have called numerous times in hopes to get some answers to when I can expect FA to kick in to pay for these classes they were so adamant about signing me up for. I am not happy with the FA process, How long does it really take to overlook my paperwork and release the funds so that my account can be paid in full? It is discouraging because I feel I was set up and badgered non-stop to get started. Now that I'm a student, the phone calls have stopped. Matter of fact, I can't get my AA or FA adviser to even return my calls. I chose AU because my husband was attending, however he didn't need FA because he's receiving FA through the military. If I only knew I would have to go through such a rigorous process I would have taken a different route. I do not recommend this school, unless you have an alternative way to pay for school that doesn't involve going through AU's FA dept.

I left a voice mail to Dr. Elizabeth **'s Executive Assistant, so hopefully, something will be done as soon as possible. Do no attend in this university. Save yourself and money by attending in a normal school. This is a for profit university, and you will feel better if you do not have to deal with all the nonsense that this university puts students through.

I was an employee there as well as a student. After taking a few classes there and seeing the quality of work that the school accepted for their courses, I was appalled.

The classes are set up with about 30 students to start with. Part of your grade is determined by responding to others in your classes. It was hard to find 3 intelligent people to even respond to in the classes. Most work was illiterate gibberish that was very hard to read. The level of grammar comprehension was terrible. People would write 15-20 sentences all jumbled together without a single punctuation except at the very end of their post.

There would be tons of grammatical mistakes. A lot of the posts looked as if someone was sending a text message to someone on their phone with tons of shortened abbreviations. Honestly, most students looked as if they only had a junior high reading and writing comprehension level.

The thing is it is a writing intensive program so grammar needs to be graded just as much as content. A lot of my assignments had minimum word requirements like 250 words, for instance. Again, 90% of the people in my classes did not get close to this number. Most posts were less than 100 words. How can you give someone even 75% credit for turning in 50% or less of the assignments?

I checked in the companies internal tracking system and a lot of the students in my classes had been attending Ashford at least 1 year and sometimes 2 - 3 years. It seems as if as long as you turned in work, they would give you credit and try to pass you along.

I knew a few people that were teaching assistants or actual instructors. First off, the instructors are more moderators than teachers. All you need is a bachelor's degree to qualify to be an instructor. Then you just take a few weeks course online and you can be an instructor there. The TAs and instructors are bound by university policy on what they can give credit for, and if someone does the assignment, they must give them credit.

I found out that this was pretty much because if the students wants to go there, they will do what they can to pass them. The reason is simple, as long as the student keeps passing classes, the school keeps getting the students' financial aid. The company doesn't care if you learn or not, they just want to get as much money as possible.

This is obvious fraud, they are not providing a bonafide college education.

In July, I was contacted by their collection department, someone by the name of Victoria. She was extremely rude and instantly demanded a payment toward a balance of over $3,500. I asked her what was this in reference to. She said that she didn't have any information in reference to that. I immediately contacted my financial adviser and the school's financial department. April didn't respond, and others at the department once again stated that they never received my documents. I sent them the documentation once again and I still have the proof.

Finally, after a few days, April called to say that she received them and I now have to complete a new FAFSA which would allow them to pay the outstanding balance. I was upset because before going to anyone other than her, being my financial adviser, I felt that she should have been on top of this situation. I completed the FAFSA and was later informed that my account was sent to collections. I explained the situation to the agency ERS and they asked me to send them proof of emails, which I did.

April emailed me to say that I have to send them an agreement of payment from the collection agency. I asked her why must I agree to this when she already explained the process and said that they would cover it. She didn't respond to my email. I called her the following week and she gave me a list of things I needed to do (which meant to start making payments). She says that my financial aid was never sent off from the beginning because things weren't complete. She was trying to make arrangements for re-entry. I explained that I was interested in that unless this problem gets resolved. If things weren't complete, I should have never been able to take any courses. I have been doing everything they asked of me and now I'm responsible for this payment.

I decided to transfer. I know how these schools work with transcripts so I got mine while still enrolled and with a zero balance. Anyway, I withdrew and had almost $2,400 in my account. I was informed the account would be audited and I may get some while the rest go back. That’s fine either way. It gets done and it all goes back.

30 days later, I get an email from collections saying I owe $1,182 (cost of a class?). There was no explanation despite my asking. It could be a scam for all I know.

The major issue with Ashford is the financial part. Withdrawing semesters and their own ledgers apparently are not being a true indication of things paid or the billing. I wouldn’t recommend the school.

She went on to tell me how since I was a stay at home mom, I would be wasting the opportunity that I had with their online program. After a month's worth of harassing phone calls from the school, I agreed. Really, what could it hurt? I continued with Ashford until my responsibilities to my family and my husband's business became too much with the course load involved (a new course every five weeks).

I attempted a Management course, logged in to Blackboard, went over the assignments and knew that the course would be outside of my ability at that time. So, I emailed my advisor during week 1 of the class telling her to remove me from the course. At that point, I called my advisor two days later and notified her that I was not able to continue my studies with Ashford and I was withdrawing. She completed the paper work and I thought every thing had been handled, that was Sept. of 2009.

On December, I received a phone call from Mr. ** advising me that I owed Ashford $1,200.00 for the last class (Oh yeah, they increased your tuition from $780.00 a class to $1,200.00 a class after your first 6 classes that were almost $400.00 a credit hour for UNDERGRADUATE degrees). I explained to him that I had dropped my final course and did not owe it. He advised me that my advisor failed to remove me from the class until Day 2 of week 2 and that I still had to pay for it. I called my advisor and told her the situation. She apologized and said that she was correcting it.

I haven't received anything else from them or a collection agency. I just enrolled at my local college to complete my Nursing degree. When I contacted Ashford for my transcripts today, theY informed me that I can't have them because I still owe them $1,200.00!

I explained the situation to them again and advised that my college plans are on hold indefinately and do not call me again. I have received at least 2 calls a day from them since that time. This is boarderline harrassment. I have told them time and time again that I am no longer interested and to note that in my file and remove me from their call list. They have not. The caller always says "Well there is nothing noted in your file; I'll make sure I put that in here. Sorry." Then the next day I get another phone call. I amgoing to report them to the Attorney General's office for the "Do Not Call" list,since they have been informed repeatedly to remove me from their call list. I suggest anyone that has a problem with them to contact your Attorney General Office and the BBB.

After receiving no statements from Ashford, Brian received an email from the Ashford collections department trying to collect a debt and threatening collections with a 33% additional fee. It appears that the debt is a direct result of the technology fee that was somehow not covered by financial aid. Brian had only taken three courses with Ashford, had continued technical difficulties downloading his course materials, and definitely did not reap $1200 worth of technological benefits from Ashford.

After the email to Brian, I was added as an authorized person to his account in an attempt to resolve the debt on Brian's behalf. I continued to attempt to correspond with Mr. ** via email, as this was how contact was initiated and this method of communication is easiest for Brian and I given our work schedules. Mr. ** blatantly ignored all emails and Brian has now been sent to collections. We are receiving daily calls at our home from the collection agency and yet, still no communication from Ashford.

I expect the collection action to be discontinued, our credit record to be cleared, and be contacted by someone of significance at Ashford to resolve this debt.

I was instructed that a financial aid officer would be calling me and he never did. In fact, I've only spoken to him once since November and that was when he explained that I had an overage that would carry over to the next course. When I received the call from collections I was confused and could not get answers from the agent Chris. He simply stated very rudely that it was my responsibility to log onto the portal to check my balance. Now I am getting threatening e-mails stating that I may be charged up to 33% extra if I do not pay the money within 5 days.

I am unemployed and I am trying to find a solution for this very quick. After no response from anyone at Ashford yesterday and this morning, I called my FAFSA representatives, who in turn directed me to my lender. I was told by my lender that the "funds were not in fact returned by the school", that I am in good standing with my lender, and that I need to contact the school on this matter, because they do not have any records indicating anything of sort.

I asked the representative one last question, after feeling such dismay, "Can you see anything in my records of any return dated for 5/31/2011?" He indicated once again, " Mrs. **, there is nothing showing that any funds have been returned on behalf of the school" Wow! Not only has this school claimed that they have sent my student funding back, but are trying to make me pay for a debt that already has been covered, and alter my financial status to cause me even more harm. There are no e-mail responses, or even a call back. Please, someone help me.

I am very stressed and discouraged. I have been crying for the past 24 or more hours. My life has been turned upside down, because of this school. They will not even grant me access to my full page on the student portal. They have also taken away some of my credits, and worst of all, I don't have the money to fight this! I feel very defeated right now, and I can't even bear the hits that I am taking. Please, someone help me.

I had managed to found a way to maintain my average within a little failure here and there because of no books (there is only so much research a person can do). With the money in my account after 4 months from the original date, my classes were paid for and they did not schedule me another class, I decided to transfer! Wow, bad mistake!

After payment of the school, I had $1400 in my account that can be expected to be returned to my lender. Within a month I was in turned billed for $3800! Where is this fair? I have tried to contact them and I will only get a voicemail and after countless emails, we only play tag on the internet! This is ridiculous. And there is no one to help the students that really try!

What else will the government allow these companies to take from the poor? I am left with no education and or no job opportunity for the future. I am in the rim of debt because of this school. I can not complete my education in another school because of the amount that they said has incurred! I don't know what to do, and I know they have cheated me out of my life goals! The classes were by-right paid for. And to be devilish, they stuck me! I tried a grievance with their department and nothing happened. Please help someone!

In the months I attended Ashford, I received All A's and two C's. One C was due to the fact that I was considering leaving the school and turned a last assignment in late the other was because I was accused of plagiarizing and given a zero for my last assignment. I feel that the advisers are incompetent and the school is only about money and that they do not care about their students. The money that was used to pay them I have to pay back, so in a sense, I am their employer and I would not keep on an incompetent employee. Then to top it all off, they notified me that I owe them over $600 because I failed a class. I did not fail, I left the school because of their incompetence. I would not recommend anyone enrolling at Ashford, especially their online classes, they do not give you a book credit, charge more than what they will originally tell you and the advisers are not competent and not very smart. I should have known from the beginning when they kept sending for my transcripts to the wrong school and the adviser asked me if I attended another name! Now, I went directly from my previous school to Ashford, come to find out she was sending the information to the wrong school. I made a huge mistake in attending Ashford and I would not want anyone to go through what I went through!

Since attending Ashford, they caused my grade point average to go down. When I left my previous school, my G.P.A. was 3.69 when I left Ashford, it was 2.37. I wanted to apply for scholarships, which I feel I could not do with such a low G.P.A.. Since I have not received my aid as I thought I have been unable to pay my bills and have had to put a hold on my education until the fall semester. This may not seem like a long time but I had to return unused funds in the excess of $4,000. Since I live with my daughter, this has caused me to put off moving into my own home. I am unable to provide my daughter any help, which puts her in financial straits and causes me undue stress.

I am writing to notify all concerned departments that I, Caroline **, am withdrawing from Ashford University, LLC. I have decided after the ordeals I have been through at this for-profit "university", my educational goals will be better served in a traditional public/private university setting. Since I started with Ashford in January of 2009, it has been nothing but sales, negotiations, and misplacing of various (and sensitive) financial documents. These were mainly lost by Rodrigo ** my (and I use the term loosely) Financial Aid Advisor.

After we had told many individuals that both I and my husband had been the victims of identity theft in the past. Anytime my advisors in any department were changed, I was never notified and would only become aware of the change after I had gone into my Student Portal to email the intended party. My decision to leave Ashford comes mainly from the fact so many documents were lost and the most mandatory being my "Change of Circumstances" for the 2009/2010 school year, that was mailed to Ashford 4 times. It makes no difference now since I am of the belief Ashford/BPI either got my Pells for last year and kept them, held onto the paperwork too long to avoid paying me monies I would have been owed, or lost my paperwork through general mishandling.

I am sick of dealing with Ashford's lackluster "customer service" and blatant avoiding of my legitimate questions. I have to pay most of these monies going to Ashford for my tuition back to the government (from my loans), therefore, I should not have to leave various emails/voicemails just get a simple question answered. It seems I can never get anyone on the phone in any department. I have notified parties at Ashford already that I filed complaints with the Attorney General of PA, The BBB of Iowa, The Higher Learning Commission, and the Board of Education (Iowa division).

Scott and I also have contacted an attorney regarding my/our situation. I know you have been investigated last year and this year on behalf of students and shareholders alike for fraudulent practices. I have seen numerous students who have gone through similar circumstances with Ashford, listed on various complaint boards. I have also seen the Frontline report on "for-profits" where a former Ashford "Admissions Advisor" spoke of the way they are expected to "close on at least 12 students" a week, and hit a sore spot for the student where they see the only way out of their situation is by attending your school. As a result of my experience, and the research I have conducted, I will expect my transcripts be sent within a timely manner when they are ordered and that at least some of my credits transfer-since you are accredited. If this poses an issue as well, this information will also be passed onto our attorney.

I am writing to you in regards to several financial issues I have had (and am still having) with Ashford University owned by Bridgepoint Education. I was assigned a new Financial Aid advisor some time late last fall (however I was never notified by the university, and was soon to find out this would become a trend). I began sending documents to my new advisor Rodrigo ** as instructed, and suddenly my financial aid folder began missing paperwork. On average, I have had to send every piece of financial information on an average of 3-5 times as documents keep coming up missing and then it is held against me.

My husband (who was assigned the same advisor had the exact same issues). In fact when we had to keep calling Financial Aid about the documents, it was remarked by other staff members that we had "very thick folders". My concerns started months ago when it took repeated faxes, e-mails, and several voicemails (since no one ever answers their phone) to follow up on anything. Then when we would get a hold of someone we would be told yet again that there were documents missing that had been sent in already.

They came up missing with no record of ever receiving them.

We sent documents again on 3/31/2010, after we both had called and for an update on the Circumstances form and were told there was more missing documentation that we "never sent in". At this time I was informed by my new advisor Jim ** that I needed to send all my paperwork in again so I did. Scott (my husband) kept calling over the past several months and finally got his retroactive funds in August of this year. Nothing on mine yet, so I sent them in for a third time on 7/08/2010 and heard nothing. I finally sent my new advisor Jim ** (who I was never notified of, even though I had requested a change several times) an email on 09/15/2010 asking where my paperwork was in the process, and still heard nothing. It should be noted that when you send in this paperwork they tell you there "is no time frame on how long it will take to be processed". Two days later, I contacted the Ombudsman Office on the campus.

They have me a great lady named Carmel who also got me in touch with a manager in the Financial Aid department (which I was told before through people in Financial Aid, I could not speak with). Rebecca ** has been actively involved and is working with her supervisor and one in processing to attempt to get my funds. However, this also has taken many repeated phone calls. I am writing to you because they are telling me they have no record of any Change of Circumstances paperwork before 07/08/2010, and now they are telling me they will not award me retroactive funds for 09/10 because I filed for a change after the beginning of July, when in actuality this was the third time I have sent in this paperwork this year. They state they are only allowed to award funds at certain times by the government.

Fine but then Bridgepoint Education should have to pay me what Ashford owes me since it was their mess up completely. Now due to the inept actions of the Financial Aid department I am being refused monies that I am owed and now need and we have no money coming in, and I will not be able to continue going to school without it. Rebecca told me if she had been involved sooner she could have resolved it but once again Ashford never told I was allowed this help. If I ran my business this way, I would have no customers at all and would be sued right and left.

The bottom line is, I want and need these retroactive funds and am now being denied due to something that was the fault of this incompetent and lazy department of this shoddy online university. I also just saw they were being investigated by your office and the Office of the Inspector General last year for similar complaints by students. I also noticed that they are currently being investigated by The Kendall Law Group on behalf of the shareholders for fraud in regards to marketing practices. Your assistance in getting what I am owed would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call me or e-mail with any additional questions. Once again, thank you so much for any help you can give.

I went to the website, www.nslds.edu.gov which will give students a list of all the money they have used to fund their education. It stated that Ashford used $9,087 for classes between January-April 2011. I was dismissed in December 2010! I contacted Ashford and they stated they would send me a form to fill out to cancel my student loan and would "take care of the rest".

I don't know why they haven't taken care of this when they dismissed me but have taken 5 months and only after I called them to start the process. I was dismissed for "taking too long" to complete classes, I would have been 7 weeks over their time frame when I graduated. I was also never notified by anyone at Ashford regarding this rule or any warning.

I did take off 3 months when my father died in October 2009. After speaking with other universities like Phoenix and Grand Canyon University, they stated they have never heard of such a thing. Anyway, for all of you who are reading this and considering Ashford, don't go! There are so many complaints right now about them as well as fraud investigations. I have contacted the Attorney General of Iowa regarding this situation and would encourage anyone else who has experienced issues with Ashford to do the same.

I have spent $32,000 on an education that I do not have a degree to show for. I have to start all over and pay the money all over again to obtain my degree. I have spent so much time getting the run around from them when I called to clear up my financial aid so I can start with a new school. I have received harassing and threatening emails and phone calls from the financial aid department stating they are sending me to collections for a $110 graduation fee that is still pending.

When I told them I was not graduating because they dismissed me they stated I still had to pay a fee because I was a student there. They also stated that my credit would be ruined if I didn't pay it. They are a bunch of bullies! I have worked for 2.5 years to get this degree and it is so disheartening when all my hard work, time and money is down the drain.

They still have my money and it has been almost a month. Today I get an email that states they cancelled future financial aid and are sending back $2,931.00 to my lender and there is a possibility that I will owe them money. And I do not understand why because my classes are already paid for, but it shows in my account a positive balance of 2575.00. Anyway they are ripping me and countless others off and do anything else but do not enroll here. You will be sorry. I was a transfer student and Ashford is very vague about answering questions. I am going back to my other school as they are very up front about how their financial aid works and they give you a specific date on which you can expect your excess funds. There are better schools.

Then the financial aid nightmare started. My husband was rushed to the ER right before I started college, and the financial aid counselor called to tell me I had not completed my forms and to leave my husband's side and go home and complete them. Guess what I told him? Then the jerk called back in an hour and said he found the paperwork, so never mind. Then he called two days later claiming he never said he found the paperwork. He called and harassed me so much that I asked my adviser to give me someone else and make him stop calling me.

Then they gave me another financial counselor who was okay and helpful after you figure out what questions to ask her. Well, I just talked to her last month and she said she had everything, no problems. I was good to go. She kept telling me I had not submitted my tax returns and they were going to cut off my financial aid. They threaten this a lot so I get used to it. I finally figured out she wanted the 2010 tax return, not the 2009. I had not filed it yet, it was not April 15 yet.

Now I get a letter again today, saying they are cutting of my financial aid because I refused to submit a paper and they were trying to call me all day and couldn't get me on the phone. There's no name on the email, and the email was not from my financial counselor. I was at my desk all day. There were no phone messages. What a lie. I had my cell phone with me also. They have called me in the past. And, the link they sent me to fill out more paperwork is not a real link!

So, I call back, ask for my financial adviser and was told she wasn't my financial adviser any more. No one is! I left a complaint with the supervisor, want to place bets if anyone calls me back?

If you want stress, headaches, and constant irritation, go to Ashford. The classes are great, the financial department is beyond your worst nightmare. And, it never ends! I've gone for a month without harassing letters form the financial aid department, that's a new record. And don't forget they are going to turn off your financial aid. Don't use this college!

When I tried to contact anyone, my financial aid advisor to the person who sent the letter, I received no response. Only after I told them I was going to contact the detectives on the fraud cases against them did I receive a response telling me that I could appeal their decision. Since then, I have received numerous harassing phone calls and emails from their collections. They have told me that they need my $110 balance paid off or they are sending me to collections. I have spoken to the man who calls me. I sent emails and left messages. I explained that I was a 100% financial aid student and was appealing the dismissal, so I was not going to pay this balance until a decision comes through. They sent me another nasty letter telling me if I do not pay the amount, they are sending me to collections and it would ruin my credit. I am so upset that I did not go through the University of Phoenix. I never had any issues with them. And they have even helped me with suggestions during this ordeal with Ashford University. I wish I had done more research on Ashford before choosing them for my master's degree.

At that point, my previously ultra-accessible enrollment advisor was nowhere to be found. In his defense, he apparently received a promotion and did not feel that a return phone call was necessary, even to this day. In what now seems to be an Ashford University administration tradition, I also never heard from Nick's boss (Chris), or Chris' boss (Marcus **). Unable to reach the enrollment department after numerous attempts over the next few weeks, I withdrew from the scheduled future course work and spent the next several months trying to resolve the matter myself by tracking down anyone at Ashford University that I felt could possibly help.

Unfortunately, the lackluster customer service continued, so I decided to file a grievance. The official 30-day formal grievance process began on 29 Sept 10 and is still in progress almost four months later. Every attempt to follow-up on the matter has resulted in the same--the investigation is currently in the final stages message from the resolution coordinator, Helen **, starting as early as 5 Nov 10.

As a transfer student, I should be nearing the completion of my degree. Instead, after six months in limbo, my educational goals have been delayed indefinitely; I have missed the opportunity for tuition reimbursement through my employer, and have wasted huge amounts of time and energy. This entire process and experience with your university has been extremely frustrating due to the lack of customer service, urgency, and concern for student issues. The effort and service provided has been so abysmal that it is almost comical, certainly ironic, considering that Ashford University is an institution of higher learning responsible for developing others.

At this point, I do not expect anyone associated with Ashford University to listen, but hope that voicing my concerns to Bridgepoint Education, as well as through other local, state, and federal entities will allow future unsuspecting students to benefit from my negative experiences. Thank you for your time.

I am still waiting and I see that it is still not the balance on my account. I am outraged as this is my money, money I am required to pay back so I am entitled to it. I want to quit but then I lose everything. Ashford is a scam. They should have been upfront with me to begin with. I am going to the Better Business Bureau if all of my funds are not given to me. I am struggling now with debt that I assured myself school loans would help cover. I am devastated because I thought that this was the right choice. I am now in debt to the government for school loans, money that I cannot touch. I had to pick up a second job to help make ends meet and that barely pays daycare. I wasted time waiting on that money and had to borrow money to pay the phone bill just to have access to the web site to take the classes. Now I am sick with regret and there is no way out.

The representative stated that it was never deducted and I received a stipend of the balance. I was given a number to contact my financial aid advisor (who I had never heard anything from and is my third or fourth advisor since I've been enrolled in 18 months).

I asked her why did she not contact me about the owing the fee and it appears from my statement that it was paid. She responded that it was my responsibility to contact her and that financial aid does not pay for the fee and that they do not offer waivers on the fee. I told her that it was not even a matter of waiving the fee. I asked where does it state that financial aid does not pay the fee and besides I could have paid the fee from my stipend if that was the case.

At no point did anyone contact me and it appears on the billing that I had paid the fee. For months, from July to November, not once did anyone even state that I still owed the fee. I am presently unemployed and I literally do not have the money to pay for it. I am now having to pay over $17,800 in loans for a degree that I cannot even get transcripts for. It was not enough to have to wait 14 weeks to get the stipend and now for $110, nor are online students offered any career services (I tried to get career assistance and was told that they will look at my resume, but that is the extent of it). I cannot even get transcripts. I cannot apply to jobs acknowledging that I graduated because of this and now I received a collections email that I will have to pay an extra 34% if I do not pay within five days.

I asked the Department of Education Ombudsman office for assistance, but the rep assigned my case was either incompetent or was afraid of the company as she never submitted my verbiage and incorrectly summarized my issue, of which the case has been closed. (I have all documentation needed) I almost felt like they worked together and that they attempted to sweep it under the rug. I have documentation of my ledger, my grades, Bridgepoint Educations pitiful response letter, emails from the Dept of Education closing the case.

If you tell me that I do not have a case, then I will try to get the funds somewhere to pay for the fee and try to put it behind me. For me, it is the principal of the issue and the arrogance of a for profit company that is basically taking federal dollars and not really offering anything in return. The company is not trying to help graduates find work by offering no career assistance. They hold onto stipend monies for up to 14 weeks. Customer service is a joke and it appears that all of the financial aid reps are on the defensive and treat students like they are ignorant. Don't get me wrong. There is a place for for-profit educational centers, but ethical responsibility is a necessity and I believe that Bridgepoint education is not ethical.

I have available the response letter from Bridgepoint Education that does not address my issue, but turns it totally around. I have my response (Please see below) that sent to the ombudsman who never forwarded it to Bridgepoint (which I sent to TR ***, the Vice President of Finance, who seemed to have the arrogant attitude so there is no way he can deny that he did not receive the information). I have all the emails and conversations relative to this:

"Lisa did not forward to you my response to your letter. Please take note of this because I will be bringing this to the media and my attorney general's attention as well as my congressman. This letter does not adequately address my complaint. In fact, it does not address my complaint at all. They twisted everything that I submitted. The letter incorrectly attests that I stated that I was told that "all I needed to do was to submit the petition to graduate form to graduate." I am insulted that anyone with good sense would think that a petition to graduate would suffice as a graduation requirement.

I stated that when I submitted the petition to graduate, I received an email stating that all was in order for me to graduate and the petition was approved. As the form indicates that the fee would be applied to my account and as you can see on their submitted attachments, it did appear on my account. There is no debate that the fee was to be paid by myself and that it should be on my account.

That was never the issue. The issue that they failed to address was that they never indicated that financial aid could not be applied to the fee and when they mailed me the stipend (the balance after all expenses are paid) in October approximately a week before the graduation ceremony implied that all financial obligations were satisfied. It would be great if they can offer their definition of stipend.

There was no reason for me to believe otherwise that financial aid would not cover the graduation fee as it covered the technology fee.The letter also incorrectly attests that my complaint was that no one told me about the graduation fee. My complaint was that from July to November, 2010, no one contacted me to notify me that financial aid would not cover the fee. If that was the case, I reiterate that I could have taken the money from the $1900 stipend check that was sent to me in October and applied $110 to the fee. If that meant cashing the check and sending Ashford $110, then I could have done so.

That is my complaint. I received notification on November 15th a week after my completion date of November 8th that a balance was due in the form of an email. Why could they have not sent an email in any of the months prior to November that financial aid does not cover the fee? The response that Ashford University provided was an insult as they are insinuating that I just do not want to pay the fee. I told them that I do not have the money to pay the fee as I am unemployed and I felt that had they informed me that financial aid did not cover the fee, I could have made arrangements to pay the fee before I completed my classes. They told me after the fact. This letter was just an example of Ashford's arrogance.

They did not address my complaint at all. I also requested that they put a system in place to make it clear to students that financial aid does not cover the graduation fee, so no one else would experience this since over 85% of the student population is online and has some form of financial aid. I guess that request is also out the window. It is not enough that they do not provide any career counseling for their online students, make students wait 14 weeks for their aid and now they want to hold my degree hostage for $110. They got $17,600 from me and withhold my degree for $110? It is the principle of the issue for me now. This is a lesson learned and I can truly understand now why for-profit schools are given a bad rap. Ashford has already made money off of me and the Federal Government and now they are just ready to move on to the next body."

I also submitted this to the BBB in Iowa, who stated they referred the case to the BBB in San Diego of which Bridgepoint Education handles it. When I first looked at Ashford's profile on the BBB website, they were not members of the BBB and they had a rating of C-. However, Bridgepoint Education in San Diego was a member and had a rating of A. If you look on there today, you will see that Ashford now has a A rating as well. I have not heard from them at all and cannot get a live voice so I am very doubtful that I will get any fair response from them.

To be honest with you, they are such a huge company. I would not be surprised if there were politicians that are investing in Bridgepoint and the legislation regarding for profit universities proving a history graduate career success will not be forward. If you cannot help me, I will just get the media to help. I want the public to know what these schools are doing. I worked hard for this degree (3.86 GPA) and I will not allow them to treat me like some poor ignorant woman who does not understand the process. I am very clear on the process and I do not want them to get away with it. Can you help me?

It was stated that no fault had been found on the part of the instructor, which was not my contention in the first place. Being familiar with the software used by most universities for submitting work, I feel that no attempt to uncover the problem. It is either a lack of effort or worse a lack of competence, both are inexcusable from an institution of higher learning. The software in question contains markers when a submission has occurred and notations as to the acceptance or rejection due to corrupted data. Most instructors at any other university have been trained to find these anomalies within their user interface software. I find it unconscionable to be ignored and cast off by someone whom I feel has been hired by me and others to do a competent job. It has made me reconsider my judgment in hiring them and I am now considering ending our relationship.

The instructors were not helpful in answering questions regarding course material or going into further detail about what they were looking for in the papers that were required. One instructor simply never got back to me. I was told different rules and regulations almost every time. I called and finally requested to speak with a supervisor who wasn't much more help. The financial aid officers wait so long to get back with me, my academic advisor withdrew me from the school. I'm now another $13,000 in debt and have gotten nothing in return.

Something has to be done to stop these people before they make the government close down distance learning programs in general.

I am writing to you in regards to several financial issues I have had (and am still having) with Ashford University owned by Bridgepoint Education. I was assigned a new Financial Aid advisor some time late last fall (however, I was never notified by the university, and was soon to find out this would become a trend). I began sending documents to my new advisor Rodrigo ** as instructed, and suddenly my financial aid folder began missing paperwork.

On average, I have had to send every piece of financial information on an average of 3-5 times as documents keep coming up missing and then it is held against me. My husband (who was assigned the same advisor had the exact same issues). In fact, when we had to keep calling Financial Aid about the documents, it was remarked by other staff members that we had very thick folders. My concerns started months ago when it took repeated faxes, e-mails, and several voice mails (since no one ever answers their phone) to follow up on anything. Then when we would get a hold of someone, we would be told yet again that there were documents missing that had been sent in already.

The case I am writing to you about is specifically regarding a Change of Circumstances form that would allow me to be eligible for Pell Grants. Ashford based our financial award off of our 2008 taxes last year even though we told them several times that my husband has been unemployed since September 2008, and I am an unemployed full-time student. It was not until January of this year, we were even notified there was a form we could fill out to note special circumstances in which we would be awarded our Pells (another case of Rodrigo dropping the ball). We both live solely off my husband's money and being as such sent in our Circumstances form on 1/14/2010, along with supporting documentation and our independent verification forms 10/11 as required. They came up missing with no record of ever receiving them.

We sent documents again on 3/31/2010, after we both had called and for an update on the Circumstances form and were told there was more missing documentation. At this time, I was informed by my new advisor Jim ** that I needed to send all my paperwork in again so I did.

Scott (my husband) keep calling over the past several months and finally got his retroactive funds in August of this year. Nothing on mine yet, so I sent them in for a third time on 7/08/2010 and heard nothing. I finally sent my new advisor Jim ** (who I was never notified of, even though I had requested a change several times) an email on 09/15/2010 asking where my paperwork was in the process, and still heard nothing. It should be noted that when you send in this paperwork they tell you there is no time frame on how long it will take to be processed. Two days later, I contacted the Ombudsman Office on the campus.

However, this also has taken many many repeated phone calls. I am writing to you because they are telling me they have no record of any Change of Circumstances paperwork before 07/08/2010, and now they are telling me they will not award me retroactive funds for 09/10 because I filed for a change after the beginning of July, when in actuality this was the third time I have sent in this paperwork this year.

They state, they are only allowed to award funds at certain times by the government. Fine but then Bridgepoint Education should have to pay me what Ashford owes me since it was their mess up completely. Now, due to the inept actions of the Financial Aid department, I am being refused monies that I am owed and now need and we have no money coming in, and I will not be able to continue going to school without it.

Rebecca told me if she had been involved sooner, she could have resolved it but once again Ashford never told I was allowed this help. If I ran my business this way, I would have no customers at all and would be sued right and left.

Interesting bit of info. For-profit schools get 90% of their funds from federal monies. Bridgepoint went from $28.62 million in 2006 to $454.32 million in 2009 (just from keeping and drawing in the wary and unsuspecting). We are currently thinking of filing a lawsuit.

Now the problems, mine is the same as many here, the financial aid department. They are notorious for lying to students about their money, holding funds and giving students the run around. They do attempt to enroll people in useless classes just to get the money. The people in financial aid are very rude, not very professional and clueless about people needing funds to buy supplies and pay for school expenses.

AU makes the threat that if you withdraw it will mess up your financial aid for a year, not true, just have your paperwork completed at the new school you choose and the rollover will be flawless. They tried to pull that on me and when I enrolled at the local community college with online classes, everything went perfect and I got all my financial aid money at one time and within 2 days after the school received it. Ashford is a ripoff. Do the research and save yourself a lot of money.

I also understand I read the handbook of FA perfectly but as I speak to someone else about my FA, it makes me feel dumbfounded. I enjoy my classes at AU but I feel you're getting overly charged for your courses as well as technical fees and books, for what I was told was free with the course. I was advised to take out to separate loans that will not cover my expense nor reimburse me also. I feel that if I continue to attend AU I will be in so much debt before I can start a career.

You don't know until its too late. Plus they are holding my Pell grant money that was suppose to come to me. I signed a statement that they are to release my funds to me. They do not call you back on a timely matter and when you ask them for a breakdown on what you are being charged for, they cannot give you an answer. They kept saying I don't know yet we don't know.

How is that if you know darn well what classes I am taking for the year? They try and take all money given by loans and grants. They are sneaky. My sister and I enrolled there and both figured out they are a shady school. Grant money is used for you. Not for them to make up or stick you with things you don't need so they can charge you. I do not recommend a school who has no class. They are stealing from us and the government.

About a month later, he got an email from one of their collectors saying that he owed them $3700 and must be payed within 15 days. The email address it came from said not to answer the email because he will get no reply. They only had an address to send the money. Now they are telling him that if he don't pay within 5 days, they will add 33% interest.

He is unemployed and has no means to pay it. There is no way to contest the debt because there is no email address or phone number to call, only the address to send the money. He can't even negotiate payment terms because there is no way to contact anyone at the school. We can't get pro bono legal aid from Iowa because we are not residents. There is no legal aid service in our home, state of Massachusetts will take the case. We are out of options and don't know what will become of this situation. About all he can do is to declare bankruptcy which will of course ruin his credit for several years.

I was given 3 weeks to contact NY, fill out their paper work, and NY to send a copy to the University. The University did not receive the copy from NY state within that three weeks, so they took me out of classes. They are now saying I owe them 20,000 exactly when a letter they sent shows I only owe them a little over 600.

Recently someone contacted me, did not say what agency they were with, only that they represented Ashford University wanting my banking account information, so they can start taking out money for this 20,000. This person did not even identify themselves until the end of the call and still did not identify the agency they are with, and gave me a number that goes directly to their desk. This just seems very odd to me. Ashford itself has not sent me any paper work saying I owe this much, and now almost a year after, they took me out of their school someone is calling and not properly identifying themselves, and will not except any payments unless I give them my banking information. It just does not add up for me.

The fact is one of the reasons I attended Ashford University Online (for the short time period) was that I was told I qualified for financial aid and wouldn't have any out of pocket expenses as during the enrollment process. One of their questions to me was whether or not I had filed a FAFSA to which my response was in the affirmative as I had been looking into going back to school for some time. The admissions representative asked if I would authorize Ashford to obtain my FAFSA and I did everything requested of me by inputting on the FAFSA that Ashford was the university I wanted my FAFSA information transmitted.

Upon her review of the information, I was informed that I qualified for a full Pell Grant of $4500 and if I completed my course of education, I would stretch it out over two separate school years and hence would receive $9,000 in Pell Grant money and the rest would be financed through a Federally Guaranteed Student Loan. It was requested that I fill out one specific Financial Aid documents, aside from filling out the financial aid information requested online during the enrollment process and take an entrance and exit quiz online with regard to the student loan. I submitted all of the information that was requested of me and timely.

After that I had to purchase my own and even though I felt the cost was high it still seemed within reason. Not all books are eBooks and so you sometimes have to pay more for the actual book but not too much of a difference. However, through some searching I have found the same books (brand new) for sometimes a 1/3 of the cost. They are international books and the only thing different is the cover and some of the case studies. They work great for class though and I have not had an instructor state I cannot use them. The disbursements for my financial aid has been very prompt and my financial advisor gets back to me within a day or two if I have questions.

It is unfortunate that some people have had problems. Some of these complaints seem a little crazy. They are trying to run a business/school and no matter where you go there will be problems. I have never been told I can use only Ashford's books. I was only cautioned that they would not be able to track them. For those who felt that some of the content was wasted...the first class is kinda self explanatory but that is just to get you back into the rhythm of going to school again. After the initial class, I feel my classes have been very informative and the books are very detailed. I am a Business Administration major and I highly recommend Ashford University!

When I asked Aska and Adela why they are requesting for my 2007 income tax papers, their answer was both vague--"for our files". I began to feel lied to. Christopher W. accused me of closing my Stafford loan when he walked me through all the calls to Sallie Mae and instructed me what to say to them again and again through a 3-way call. I obeyed his words to Sallie Mae. Because of his actions, my Stafford loan was closed.

Sallie Mae told me for the first time on March 16, (2009) that my loan was closed. Because of Ashford's negligence and misrepresentations, I'm out of online college, and my plans to get a degree has been interrupted, especially the $240 tuition credit program I was in with CTU. That's gone--because I listened to Christopher W. deception. They ignored my notice to cancel my courses, and wrote me several times instead reminding me that classes were in order. Ashford charged me tuition and has sent it to the credit bureaus. Collectors are on my back to pay.

"Despite our efforts to resolve your delinquent status, payment to settle your balance has not been made. This is your final notice and last opportunity to pay. Unless we receive a check or credit card payment within the next 5 days, we will send your account to a collection agency. If this happens, you may incur collection agency fees up to 33-1/3 % of your balance. Enforced collection of the balance due may impair your credit rating. Contact our office immediately to submit payment and avoid collection agency assignment. Pay your bill in full, either by check or credit card.

You tell me a loan company that will send you money in less then a month. Plus, you need to pass your class. People should not be going to school so they can get extra money. They should be going to school to learn. Ashford needs to make sure you pass your classes as well. I think it's absurd that people find crazy things to complain about. You wouldn't have had that money at all if you weren't in school. What would you do then? Mark my words, you wouldn't get it sooner elsewhere either.

It is going on 9 months now and we still have not received a dime of our Pell grants or aid for my husband. They managed to hold my Pell grants and I am going on five months now and still waiting to receive the disbursement of our funds. We now have to file hardship letters because we have bills piling up because we rely on this aid to live through the summer because I am off work for two months (I am a teacher and only work 9 months out of the year). This has been so stressful on our family. We have shut off notices for our electric and our water and also our internet and phone.

We have made several complaints and are working with the Department of Education right now and they said they have one person who is working with Ashford's complaints along with Kaplan University. This should tell you something. Beware of this school. We are so disappointed in this whole process. Oh, the person who thinks that we are just going to college to get the aid and that you know ahead of time about the disbursement, this is true if you sign the waiver for them to do this. I did not and they are supposed to disburse your funds within 14 days of receiving them. Please do not label people without getting the whole story.

I have seen more complaints about the financial aid than I have seen positive ones. I am going to school to get my BA and get an education and I qualify for aid, because I do not make enough money. It is my right and I have to pay it back, not the school. I think waiting over 9 months is too long for anyone. We are getting ready to go on our local news next week and talk about our experience. Ashford should not be able to do this to its students, and we want people to be aware of this.

First, they "waived" the $55 enrollment fee. Wow, they're my best friend! Then they enroll you into their (fake) psychology class while they get your transcripts and financial aid in order. So warm and fuzzy feelings again, they promised to take care of me. My transcripts were received, guess what? I had 63 units accepted to electives! Almost my entire AA degree was put into a category that doesn't count for anything, but my enrollment counselor said I was looking good and was over half way there before any of this. Liars! My graduation date is set 4 years from now! In a sense, I have to start over with nothing. $70,000 for a BA? This school is a joke and a scam! Do not go any further! Be careful when calling, they actually enroll you from your first inquiry call. I called in to ask questions and little did I know, the lady was asking me for payment information within 10 minutes of talking to her. I said, "wait a minute. I'm just calling to ask questions about this school, I'm not trying to join it yet". She was irritated that I didn't just go with it.

The admission advisers are great at selling you a great picture, but it is not real. Their financial aid department works the system to their full benefit. If they lose your information enough times and accidentally sent the wrong forms to the processing center, it will continue to delay the process. When the process is delayed, you, the student, are forced to continue taking classes until it is done and an award letter is received. If you pull out any time before any of this, the least you will owe before 2 weeks is $55 registration fee and money to get transcripts. If you go past the 2-week mark of the first class (they will push you to go past with bullying tactics, they called me a quitter), you are responsible for about $700 out of pocket for no units and a big headache! If you complete the first class that they recommended, you are responsible for the entire cost of that class about $1300.

Financial aid does not take effect until week 7-8 (but with their stalling, it is much longer!). Anyway you look at it, the student is locked into a financial nightmare! I have to complete my 2nd class (the book is expensive, Ashford books only) just to hope my financial aid is complete so I can drop them. They warned me that it could take up to 3 or more months to get it all in order and in that time frame, I had to remain a student and continue taking classes. I asked for contact information for Jane **, the dean of Ashford, and they refused to give me her information. What university doesn't allow a student to contact the dean if they feel there has been unfair treatment? They offered me counseling because they thought I needed help (mentally). Yeah, after this ordeal, I just might! Everything depends on Ashford. Don't put your finances, time or education in their hands. They are thieves! I hope there is a class action suit filed against them. How do I start one? I'm up for the fight!

Well, I looked at my account and I saw that my funds were received for both the Pell Grant, the subsidized and unsubsidized loans were posted 12/10/09. I was told that I would receive my funds as soon as they posted to the account, but that is not what happened. I emailed and called my financial adviser and was told that the funds were mailed out. She then preceded to send me a stop payment form so that they could reissue the funds. I asked for the check numbers and was told that the check number was **, the date the disbursements were received. When I brought this to their attention and told them that it looked like they were trying to hold funds to receive interest, I was suddenly sent my check in 2 business days. The date is now 12/30/09.

Currently, I am having problems with my financial counselor (same one) who will not send me a breakdown of my financial aid for this financial year, so I told them to take me out of the current class and I would not be attending until they straightened out my financial aid. They told me that I had to enroll by June 22nd or I would be removed from the school and would have to pay my funds back to the school. So I have signed back up, but I made sure to have my transcripts sent to another school as well as my FAFSA because I have a feeling that I will not be getting my financial aid from this school. I am going to make a report to the ED Office of Inspection so that they can make a formal inspection of their practices. There are too many complaints being made and it is making it impossible for well-meaning students to complete their education if they are unable to utilize the aid available to them.

Other than the financial aid portion, I have had a good learning experience with Ashford and the material posted allows me to use what I learn in the real world. I don't understand why the instructors are there except to post the materials because very few add anything to the learning experience. My learning experience comes from the other students, the readings, discussion questions and the writing. In regards to one particular person posting who feels that those of us complaining about the disbursement of our financial funds must obviously not be aware of the use of financial aid, let me point out to you as I did to my financial aid counselor that these funds are used for tuition, books, computer, housing and anything related to your educational experience. In case you haven't noticed, there are many of us who were displaced from our jobs and unfortunately, the additional cost of going to cost must be covered completely in addition to having the funds to cover housing to some extent.

I'm happy that you have not had any of these problems, but as you can see from this complaint board that there are more of us unhappy with the financial aid process than you are probably aware of. I have had to withdraw so that I can prepare for the possibility that my financial aid may not be covered as my financial adviser will not respond to me and I have copied her on emails regarding my schedule as well as directly contacted her by phone and email. This has also caused me emotional distress, which has caused me to be very sick from my diabetes. It's important that I keep my stress level at a minimum and when I worry about money, it causes my blood sugar and blood pressure to raise.

Currently for the past 3 months, my blood sugars have been very high and as of this writing, my blood sugars have been running in the 300's and 400's. Dangerously high and affects my ability to sleep, concentrate and feel able to work on my studies. In addition, I have been trying to find another school in which I can receive financial aid while attending a new institution, but having enough money to complete the last 4 classes at Ashford University.

I am in my second class and so far, I haven't really learned anything. The books I have read so far are amateurish! They don't even follow the title of the books. The information provided is pure common sense! I am hoping things work out because it is a little late to back out now for me. These two books I have read are Ashford books so let's help the third is much better. As for my Pell grant and financial aid, I honestly don't know. I'm not learning anything. The books are horrible and their new system of ebooks is pure crud! Financially, I am not aware of any problems, however, there may be consequences later on.

I started this process in May with them. Even after 5 months, nothing was 'straight'; my degree status was wrong, my financial aid paperwork was wrong 'somewhere', they wouldn't accept my GED transcript so I had to runaround and figure out how to get that from an overseas education center (this took weeks). It has just been crazy! I don't feel that classes are very beneficial; basically if you read the book, you know the info. It's not rocket science.

Oh, speaking of books, what a racket they have here! Their books are very proprietary!! You can only use Ashford books. If you look hard enough you can find people selling/buying used books. I have gone to the website I was given for AU to buy back books. What a joke! As of yet, they have not been buying any of the particular books I have. Imagine that!

I say, if you are considering AU, keep looking! Even try a local community college if you are just starting. There should not be this kind of nonsense going on... I am surprised the government (MyCAA and Pell) hasn't looked into this more, but I hope I am making my voice heard!

I enjoyed all the classes and found them very informative. It set me up very well to apply for, and get accepted into, a good MBA program with an AACSB accreditation. I have no complaints at all and was glad to find Ashford and use their services to further my academic career. It is a different experience for everyone that attends but I have talked two other individuals into enrolling there; both of which are doing well and have zero complaints. If you don't like the university then stop going there but it is a fine institution.

I have read numerous complaints about Ashford but I have noticed that many of the complaints are unjustified. For example, people complain that they do not receive an immediate response but the website indicates that someone will return a call within 24 hours. My advisor always gets back to me in that time frame. There are over 30,000 students enrolled online. If you don't get an immediate response, don't be so selfish. There might be 29,999 students calling the same advisors at the same time you are.

Also, concerning financial aid, it clearly states in the student handbook the rules for financial aid: 30 % of excess financial will be disbursed immediately and the remainder after eight weeks of class time has been completed. It makes me think that the people who complain about not receiving their money right away are just looking for the financial aid for their own personal bank account. There are ways to get books for Ashford classes but some people may not be aware of Google and all the features and information offered in search of cheap textbooks.

Perhaps those that complain should stick to a brick and mortar school setting where they can have immediate (or not) access to financial aide counselors who will most certainly expect the same information from all students entering the establishment as an online establishment. I will graduate in 2011 with a BA in Education and Public Policy and I have learned so much and can't wait to use this knowledge in a new career.

I had resent the paper work again and guess what, during my fourth class completion, they still indicated that they were not received and have to contact the school. I was told twice and had documentation that AU said they were received to find out that they didn't. Me as a student would be held accountable for misrepresenting myself in any way. What are they not being held responsible? They are misleading and their faculty are the worst. All I kept getting was passed around back and forth, one person blaming the other, etc., instead of fixing my issue. Think twice about applying here.

After only five classes and many issues with the processing of my financial aid, I withdrew from Ashford at the end of March 2010. I received many different advisors during my short time with the school and never had phone calls or emails returned in a timely manner. After several weeks of waiting, I finally received an itemized email from Ashford stating my final balance of just over $4466, which I paid reluctantly from my bank account. I continued to call requesting the information to withdraw permanently from Ashford because none had been supplied to me, and was told I was already withdrawn from Ashford University. I paid my final balance and it cleared my account April 8th, 2010.

Today. I received an email stating there was a "Post withdrawal disbursement" in the amount of $464.25 that was to go back to me or to my lender. I called in regards to this and was told that in fact my final bill was now $3731.25; however, my check that cleared on April 8 was the total balance of the bill I had received.

They gave me a final bill and never sent me another bill until I called to ask information with regards to the email I received today. I was told that the $3731.25 was a balance they sent back to the lender for classes I never took. I am now being told I have to pay them back this amount, even though it was sent to them for classes I was going to take but never did because I withdrew from their school.

They now want me to pay them for classes I never attended, for funds they received for classes I was going to take and never did, that they had to send back. How do I owe them money when I never attended those final classes and they had to send back the funds? If the funds were sent for pending classes I never attended, the final bill should be back to zero after I paid off what I had attended.

They provided me with books for the first course and then I learned that in order to complete the remaining courses that I would have to purchase new books for hundreds of dollars every couple of months for the next several years. I jumped ship at that point. If only I could show you the content of these books, useless. Don't go to this school.

A little over a week later, I was told that was not good enough. I had to send my birth certificate and certificate of birth abroad. I sent that and was told to send my wife's W-2 again. I had sent Ashford mine or my wife's W-2 at least four times. After sending our W-2s a number of times we get told that we had to contact the IRS and get a summary of our W-2s which we did. Finally, after a six months I was contacted last night for additional information. I contacted FAFSA and they said they released my financial aid a day after I filed my application, so it is not the government holding up mine and my wife's financial aid but Ashford.

Ashford managed to get my G.I. Bill taken care of in no time. What I find funny is our daughter will be graduating this year and attending college this Fall. It took the University, she will attending three weeks to process her financial aid and she filled out her paperwork way after we did. I do not have an issue with the academic side of Ashford because I find their classes very user friendly and he instructor are very dedicated.

If the Financial Aid Department was as dedicated and willing to help as the instructors I think Ashford's complaints would go down. This entire incident has been causing us a ton of stress. The not knowing what our status is, trying to work full time, go to college, and deal with the time it takes to resolve this issue.

Even though my previous classes were taken in the 1980's and I had no way of knowing what they would, or would not, accept. I'm in debt because of their lack of communication. I was told that I could complete my degree in 18 months. In reality, it took 24 months and I incurred $20,000 in student loan debt.

Periodically throughout the academic period, any excess funds are disbursed and he would receive a check for that amount. There are 8 classes per academic period and you are thus required to pay for 8 classes. He has paid for 8 classes, but he failed one. He was sent a letter by his academic advisor stating that retaking the course was an out of pocket expense and they would reschedule it for a later date.

His financial advisor, however, refuses to disburse the rest of his funds, stating that they are allowed to keep his money because he failed that one class. He is not on academic probation and the circumstances surrounding his failing of the class are currently under investigation. His grade mysteriously dropped over 20% overnight, resulting in the failing grade. The financial advisor, however, still refuses to send the money, even though he (my boyfriend) is supposed to receive it.

This "required" class turned out to be nothing more than how to use Microsoft Word and PowerPoint with a week of Excel thrown in for good measure I guess. Financial aid is a whole other nightmare. I am qualified for Pell Grants because I get Social Security Disability in the amount of about $850 a month. I was very clear that I live on a very small pile of peanuts and that buying textbooks would be a major burden on me but they insisted that texts were an out-of-pocket expense. To finish out the 2009 school year I had to use student loans but I did not see dime one from those loans until just after Christmas.

I am still enrolled at Ashford. I currently have nearly 70 credit hours and have yet to take a 300 level class of any kind. I have been considering speaking to an attorney to explore my options especially since I have found out the school I want to attend for my Masters will not recognize Ashford's degree.

Then they kept pressuring me to apply for student loans, even though I really didn't want them, I agreed, since I didn't expect much (less than $1500 for the entire degree). Well, was I in shock when I received a statement. All student loans maxed, and they received grant money. Every time I attempted to contact them, I would again get very generic answers, how I agreed to loans etc. Oh, yeah, have I mentioned that the first class I entered was computer basics for idiots? Nothing was transferable, just their way of sucking you in. The second class was just as dumb. I didn't learn a thing, other than the ** you can submit the higher your grade is. It was like a giant gossip corner.

Responding to other submissions, it was **! During this time is when I learned about the whole financial thing. Then trying to withdraw was even harder. They actually tried to get me to take a 3rd class so that financial aid would pay for most of it (and I, of course, left with the balance). Now almost 2 years later, I have a company calling me, who won't tell me what it's about other than it's in regard to Ashford, but in order to find out what it's about, I have to give them my social security number and full birth date. What do they think I am, a complete moron?

I looked this company up online and it says they are a collection agency (and not a very reputable one with multiple complaints). Now, I don't know why they would have a collection agency calling me since I have no record of any money owed them, just my student loan. I personally think they received federal Pell money for not only the spring semester, but summer. Is there a way to check on this? I'll tell you, it's very tough to get your money back from them. (or back to loans in my case). It's very tough. Stay away from Ashford!

I told them I want to withdraw and get this mess figured out, and they told me if I withdrew I would no longer be eligible for the grant funds. So, in order for them to keep giving me the run around on my grant funds, I have to keep attending this screwed up school, and make my bill bigger! Does anyone know who I can talk to that will actually do something about this? I ask to speak to someone above them with more authority, and they said there was no one above them. They are as high as it goes! Surely these people are not in control! If anyone knows who I can talk to, please post it!

Getting my tuition refund required over two weeks of near constant phone calls and emails to the staff at Ashford. I find it shocking that Ashford, who claims they are an accredited university, could process my payment in 1/2 day but required 14 days of multiple emails and phone calls from me to finally credit me my money. I will never return to Ashford based on this experience. If this billing and invoicing process is any indication of how Ashford runs its systems, I feel so sorry for its current students.

This failure to communicate promptly, and the finger-pointing and run-around are all signs of a scam. A quick search on the Web reveals many similar experiences from people dealing with Ashford, and I am not surprised to see Ashford University rates C- at the Better Business Bureau. I hope through this review I can prevent others from making this same mistake.

They counted my emailing him as class attendance, therefore, they gave me a grade of "W" and charged me $1062.00 for the class. I complained and was told to submit proof of hardship for a refund. My standing was okay, so they re-enrolled me in the course in question which I completed with an "A". There was a break for the winter holidays and class resumed in January. The university introduced a new virtual classroom setup. This crashed my computer and took over 2 weeks to resolve. I am behind in my class now and have had to fight to keep from having a grade penalty. My trust is wavering, I am not sure if I should withdraw and find a better institution or finish this course? I'm sure they will charge me for it no matter what!

Then when I asked my Academic Adviser to get in contact with her, she sent me an email that was letting me know that they both had an attitude. I was just worried at the fact that my account was stating none as my financial aid. This was not right at all then the funds that are supposed to come to me has been sitting there for almost two months with no results. This school academics are great but its financial aid really sucks.

This caused an undue hardship on me because they attacked my emotional side, my age and my determination to complete college. They used that to bait me into attending their school and after taking a few classes, they blocked me with no warning. Now, I am fighting to get this debt relinquished and my peace of mind back. But right now, it's another uphill battle that I was not prepared for at this time in my life.

Three days into my third week of class, after repeatedly calling, I finally got in touch with someone to actually talk to me. As it turns out, I had been lied to, misinformed and manipulated from the very beginning about my student aid and tuition coverage. When I tried to find out more about my federal student aid and what else I could do to resolve the matter, they kept trying to change the subject and get me to take out multiple interest loans. When I continued further to find out more about my federal student aid options, they kept transferring me to other advisors and giving the runaround.

I called around locally and tried to get advice from the local board of education, my old high school and a semi-local technical college. They were all very suspicious and told me not to enroll or sign anything further and disenroll ASAP. It took 2 days to get into contact with them just for that.

In addition to this, I was constantly harassed by Ashford University to pay them $16,271.00 even though I was still attending school. They then put me in a collection agency named, Caine & Weiner, who also harassed me by calling me all times of the day and night even at work. The economic damage is that I need this money to continue my education because books are very expensive. It is very frustrating for a university to take tuition money that I will have to pay back to my lender, Wells Fargo, and this money isn't being used by me for the school I am currently attending.