South University Reviews

Savannah, GA

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About South University

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South University offers degrees in health care, business, criminal justice and information technology. With a history dating back to 1899, the university has expanded to provide flexible learning options, including online and campus-based programs.

Pros
  • Supportive faculty and staff
  • Flexible online learning options
  • Structured curriculum for success
Cons
  • High tuition costs
  • Poor communication from administration
  • Inconsistent quality of instruction

South University Reviews

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    Customer ServiceInstallation & SetupStaff

    Reviewed April 1, 2019

    This is the worst college to ever attend, and my experience at this school was terrible. First, the teachers crammed information daily, about 100 Powerpoint slides and you’re tested twice a week. The teachers were very unapproachable and extremely unhelpful. I also felt that some teachers were extremely racist and only helped favorites, so we were forced to do a lot of work with minimal guidance. The teachers used intimidation tactics during class which created a stressful learning environment and made it very hard to learn and focus.

    Also, at the end of quarter the teachers played with grades for whom they wanted and their favorites throughout the year. Also, most of the decent professors are in Savannah, and most of your classes are on a screen where you press a button to ask questions. The technology is very outdated and malfunction most of the time, which takes time away from the instruction and causes confusion. Financial aid was a different monster. We received incorrect information and the financial aid person for the pharmacy program was active military so when we went to answer questions we never received an answer, and no phone calls were returned. She was also very rude and when asked questions she seemed to not want to answer and provided incorrect rushed answers.

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    Staff

    Reviewed March 14, 2019

    I attended South University 2 years ago. I could not get disability help. I was bullied by teachers, students, my FSFA Account was hacked more times than I can count! They lied and mislead me on all accounts! Now because of Argosy University closing due to the Dream Center Laundering money $38 million and $51Million told including Argosy, South and the Art Institute, and Argosy losing their accreditation and closing. South University won’t leave me alone and keeps tried to force me to go back. I refuse. South University Fired Rick Bunning my Academic Adviser the only good person there. He single handedly taught me Windows 10! He refused to let me ever give up! All the rest at that school because of the Dream Center who doesn't care about your disabilities are Pusillanimous Polecats! Don't go to South University. They are **, and liars! Also harassing me and won't stop! I Grade South University an F! 0 Stars!

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    Coverage

    Reviewed March 9, 2019

    In 2014 I completed all of my required courses necessary for a master's degree. Upon the completion of required credits I needed 3 credits to earn my master's degree, I was getting good grades as I approached the final 2 or 3 assignments my grades changed and they told me I failed the class and I had to retake the class if I wanted my master's degree. That FINANCIAL aid would not cover it I need to pay out of pocket. I disagreed with their decision and withdrew from SOUTH UNIVERSITY.

    I enrolled in another online university in an effort to earn the 3 needed credits necessary to graduate. I contacted South University to find out which class could I take and TRANSFER it into their school. I was told no outside class would be accepted I will have to earn the 3 credits there. Refused to return to SOUTH UNIVERSITY. I had to start all over with a completely new degree. Because of them I started 2 more years of online studies. That I didn't need all I needed was 3 credits, THEY ARE CROOKED CROOKS. Only after the money.

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    StaffProcess

    Reviewed March 8, 2019

    1- When you have 3 or4 class less they want to fail the student because they took your money and no integrity for student. 2- Dr. ** teacher is on cart to make student drop and fail the class. 3- They need a big investigation. Is a Fraud school. Only want your money $$$ and almost at the end of the program say that you fail, and then they have your money and you lose the master. 4- If somebody want to look for a lawyer let me know, please.

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    Reviewed Feb. 25, 2019

    I attended South University for about 4 months using a scholarship, a loan and a grant and still they required me to pay out of pocket. Long story short I was unable to pay weekly as required which resulted in me being kicked out of school abruptly. Now I am stuck with an 8,000 dollar loan. No degree. A big fat tax offset among other incurred debts via my dealings with this particular university. I'm paying out money for loan I feel I never got to fully use.

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    Process

    Reviewed Feb. 12, 2019

    If one reads all the negative reviews, there seems to be a common thread of "personal problems" and the like. My experience with the online program was excellent. My wife and I both enrolled in the RN to BSN program at the same time. We were given a map of the classes we would need from start to finish and it never deviated. I did not encounter any problems with classwork or instructors, and took the max load of two classes at a time and finished in just over a year with a 3.95. My wife went on to immediately continue in their FNP program and has been satisfied with it, as well. One needs to be a disciplined, driven student to complete these types of online classes. Life does happen, but why would anyone expect the school to bend over backward because of it? Do your due diligence before attending any school, and read all the fine print to prevent "surprises" later on. Very happy with South University. SUO, BSN 2017.

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    Customer ServicePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Feb. 3, 2019

    I have been a part-time student in the online MPA program for a little over a year. I enjoy my classes and interaction with instructors. I have good contact with my admissions and enrollment counselors as well as my finance counselor. Until this week. I'm actually on my final course of my degree this term. This week something is different. I cannot get hold of anyone. Emails aren't returned. My financial aid posted late and I have not received any information about my stipend. I learned that the entire Arizona online support staff was terminated which supposedly is where my counselors worked. This is a part of some buyout and change of for profit to non-profit status. I'm just trying to find out is the university closing, should I keep logging in and doing my work, what's going on with my financial aid. Anyone a current student and know anything?

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    Customer ServiceContract & TermsPrice

    Reviewed Jan. 29, 2019

    So I started at South University January 2016 in the Nursing program. I was making my monthly payment for about 2 or 3 months straight (barely making it) after that I struggled with keeping and finding a decent paying job to keep up with my personal bills as well as school. I finished the first semester and set out summer and I think fall of that year because it was too stressful to pay monthly with very limited income, and that’s if I had any. I went back in the winter, after paying 20% of what was owed for that 1 semester (mind you they were paid via Financial aid as well).

    Went through that semester with the same dilemma when it came to money and stuck it out to the summer and when I started back the FA guy had me sign a whole other contract adding my new monthly balance with my old and I was very upset and I showed it to him saying that makes no sense when I don’t have the money as is being a single mom and working for little to nothing, but of course he didn’t care because it’s about money and nothing else.

    How can you focus on school when you have to worry about paying them every month? Fast forward to 2018, I had already planned on going back and spoke with the lady from FA and she told me I had to pay about 220 to start back and I was willing to do so, around tax time they decided to put it in collections and suddenly I owed them a little over $7,000 for pretty much nothing. Can you say inflation. I’m not paying $7,000 when each semester I took 2 classes each time (4 semesters) so what was my financial aid paying for?

    Now I’m still getting calls from the collection agency and today the collector said that it’s been in collection since June of 2017, how when I never received anything saying it was and why were they still asking me to pay them for something that was given to a collection agency? I am now attending school for the same degree (bachelors) and I don’t have to pay a thing out of pocket at Strayer not to mention I get a refund back every quarter. Explain to me how one school offers the same degree in the same length of time and this school gives you money towards getting your degree at the end, while the other charges you out the tail to better your life making it difficult to focus on your school work.

    Bottom line they do not have your best interest at heart and there is no reason for them to charge what they charge, you’re better off going to a historical college like Princeton or Yale for what they charge. They need to be held accountable financially and when it comes to their reputation. There should be a law against taking advantage of people trying to do better.

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    Staff

    Reviewed Dec. 5, 2018

    This school is unethical and treats students so poorly. I am suing them for the abuses they have done to me and encourage anyone else to do the same. Join the fight against this schools treatment against students. It is appalling and beyond ethical to students and destroying our school systems. These schools caring only about taking our money and not the students. It's time for students to take back their rights and stop allowing this school to abuse their students. They expelled me for advocating against their wrongs. I was severely sick with tumors getting treatment in the hospital and what they put me through was so beyond inhumane.

    They did the most abusive behavior to me while I was so sick in and out of consciousness being injected with chemicals in me and just gave me barely a minute to get out of the hospital before expelling me. They name called me. Said I was basically a disgrace because I was being treated in the hospital on medications the doctors were giving me for my tumors in my uterus. It was so distressing and this is representatives in the school doing this that represent disabilities and I was in a nurse practitioner program. They do not take care of their own but ridicule them when they are deathly ill. They do not care about you at all. It's a reason to find to get you out and take your money.

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    Customer ServicePunctuality & SpeedStaffProcess

    Reviewed Nov. 11, 2018

    I applied to South University after they said all my classes would transfer in to the FNP program. They literally had me into a class within 3 days of applying. HOWEVER, they did not inform me that there is no time off AT ALL! You actually get charged for taking off. I needed at least one week to just get back to my home in NC that was flooded during the hurricane and they began sending me emails that "I withdrew". I called every department which seemed to be readily available when signing up for classes but no one would return calls at all when you need to find out what is going on. The classes can be online but there are a few that is impossible to do online with no instruction. This is self-taught and their discussion groups is a joke. It has no test preparation involved at all. I would not recommend the program if I had to do it all over again.

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    Customer ServicePriceStaffProcess

    Reviewed June 21, 2018

    I was in the BSN program in High Point North Carolina. I was kicked out after failing one class. The nursing program director allowed too many students into the program so they have started nitpicking to lower the amount of students in the program. I had three more months and will have to figure out how to start over. I'm in a massive amount of debt and cannot seem to get a phone call or email back from the nursing program director. Most programs will allow you to take a class over. She just doesn't care. She told us that we weren't likely to pass the NCLEX. That offends me because I know that I can pass the state test. Another student was told by the dean of academic affairs that she made too many c's in the program. They never told any of us that we had to make a's and b's, but now use this as an excuse to deny reinstatement. They also allowed other people back into the program who made c's. This is extremely unfair.

    Really read about these schools before you attend. This school is way more expensive than most programs as well. The school tours will make everything seem amazing. I was paying $600 a month when I started the nursing program. They make you pay these large payments while taking a full load. DO NOT GO HERE! The nursing coordinator is also extremely rude to almost everyone and talks to you like you are trash. When I had to take a class that was taught by my nursing program director she never answered my email or taught. I had to teach myself in any classed that her or the nursing coordinator taught.

    There was a lot of drama among the staff for the nursing program as well. I don't think students should know when someone has a problem with their secretary. THIS SCHOOL IS A WASTE OF MONEY. I WISH THAT I HAD READ REVIEWS BEFORE I WENT HERE! My Pell Grant is now maxed out and I don't know how I will pay all of this debt off working a low wage job. Please heed my warning.

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    PriceStaffProcess

    Reviewed May 2, 2018

    I would recommend this program for many reasons. Raising 3 kids, moving between states, and not having patience to deal with technical difficulties, SU advisers/professors/and staff have been very accommodating and vested in students graduating and passing the state boards. I passed the boards, received a job offer today and will be working as a FNP in a couple weeks. The school is very affordable, and most of the instructors are excellent. You get what you put into it. Be prepared to find your own clinical rotations. The school works with you if you are having trouble.

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    Reviewed April 19, 2018

    Go somewhere else to get courses on English and Math. I wanted to become a Paralegal, was told it would only be 18 months, and $5,000 in total. I told my financial advisor that I was 52 yrs old and didn't have any income. I didn't have any classes for becoming a Paralegal just English and Math which I could have taken at my local vocational school for a lot less. I understand that English is important for becoming a Paralegal but all 18 months and $25,000 later? After I finished the 18 months I was told it would take me another 2 yrs to get my degree. Now they keep emailing me to come back.

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    Reviewed March 27, 2018

    Never attended because I was lied during the chat session. They told me the MBA was AACSB. I was happy to hear that but I had my doubts. So I did a quick Google search and found it was actually ACBSP. I asked the recruiter/advisor during the same chat session if she is sure it is AACSB? Because I just checked online and it says ACBSP. She apologized and said, "Yes it is actually ACBSP." This itself is a huge red flag, so no thanks.

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    Reviewed Jan. 19, 2018

    DO NOT ATTEND THIS UNIVERSITY. I was sweet-talked into enrolling in the BSN. I was told ALL of my credits DISCUSSED before enrollment were APPROVED and that I just needed to take a couple of more classes. After enrolling, they said to me that I needed to take more classes; in which case you have no option. Tried contacting counselors — referred me to registrars — referred me to director of the program... so on and so on, I did not get any help or resolution. My tuition for two classes was over $4,000, and THEY WILL NOT RELEASE YOUR TRANSCRIPTS. BEWARE OF THIS INSTITUTION.

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    Staff

    Reviewed Jan. 19, 2018

    I initially entered the university in 2010 after leaving service. Since then and up until about 2015 I earned my associate and bachelor in business. The staff at the school were remarkable around the time frame when Dr. ** (I believe his name was) was president of the school. I did work study so I was really accustomed to the environment and people at this time. I cant remember the actual year when the staffing changed and Dr. ** left, but that's when the family oriented and willingly helpfulness of the university seemed to go downhill.

    Financial aid is run by some young guy who may not even speak to you versus the retired marine who did it a few years back. I still remember the prior president coming out to marathons with the veteran students and running with us. I started to see the university and its staff being more "numbers" oriented and "robotic." No one cares to get back with you in a timely manner unless you're initially trying to get into the university and the professors are getting less and less human like over time. The way things are going, possibly professors wont even have to leave their beds and can instruct students from home via a computer or an actual robot that walks into the classroom. SMH.

    The registrars are basically non-existent versus those like Mrs. ** who had an open door policy for years. She always had a welcoming voice and smile on her face ready to figure out your problems even if she was busy. Even when she was expecting she still worked hard. The registrars now are just policy jargon repeaters. As a way for instructors to not get blamed for being a horrible teacher or professor they will constantly state like the mantra that "I am here to make sure you do it correctly while you self teach yourself." Horrible ideology in my opinion.

    Maybe I'm illiterate in university legalities and how operations must need to be conducted to keep up with demand, but I can tell you, it's not the loving environment it use to be. Some may say a university shouldn't be "loving" but like I said previously, the loving and family oriented environment in the past is what made it motivating and helpful for me to obtain two degrees. I'm sure others would agree.

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    CoveragePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Jan. 10, 2018

    I first came to this college requesting a degree that would allow me to someday become a physical therapist. A salesman there (admissions advisor) sat me down and explained that I as a single mother can get grants and loans and I should be a nurse instead. He sold me on the nurse degree. I had a baby and worked full time and took their "nursing prerequisite courses" exhausted! I worked so hard to finish them. Once I was finished I was told that getting into the nursing program (the next step) was GPA dependent. My GPA was high and I got a letter saying I needed to take a course over again! I was devastated and then I asked that they just sign me up for a regular Bachelors of Health Science.

    They signed me up for this BS in Health Science. I took all of the courses! I went in and they told me they added 6 more courses and so sorry my Pell grants wouldn't cover or my loans and so now I owe them out of pocket and they have me in collections! I have 152 credits of college I worked so hard for and will never be able to use. That is over the standard amount of credits. My credit is totalled fubar and I am at wit's end. Don't go here unless you have a GI bill to use. I am really defeated.

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    Customer ServicePriceStaff

    Reviewed Jan. 3, 2018

    I decided to attend South University because the school created a Physician’s Assistant program which became the only program in Richmond, Virginia. I came and spoke with current director for their PA program at the time which was Robert **. He went over my classes and reassured me I was on the right track but I needed to finish my degree along with some additional classes. In order for me to apply, I wanted to guarantee my chances in this competitive program and enrolled in South University to finish my remaining courses and complete my degree. Many of my classes transferred in from a community college and they used some of those classes to conduct my degree audit.

    I registered for classes and my advisor was Ms. Rosuany **. She made sure I was registered for the correct classes for the first year. After finishing up the first year, thinking I would be graduating (only because they said I would be done with course track I was on) they said, “Oh you have 15 more courses to take.” This is the first time the advisor and register sat with me individually to explain the detailed degree plan which consisted of 180 hours (way more than a regular bs degree). I was frustrated and upset but that did not matter to the advisor, she sat there with a straight face, not caring at all as she went over it again, as if I was not understanding that I had 15 more courses.

    Now that I have 15 more courses, my financial aid had to be re-evaluated which of course I had to start paying out of pocket. The advisor registered me for the classes, which I then found out that they made me take an additional class that was not needed and instead of letting that go towards my degree as a class taken, my next class would be free of charge because I paid for a class that was not needed. After about 3-5 weeks of taking more new classes my advisor emails me to ask me which degree I was pursuing. Mind you, she knows who I am and we went over a degree audit and now we are back at registering for the new 5 week courses and she’s asking me which degree audit did we decide to do.

    Also when I was in her office, we spoke about future plans, I told her I was going to the school to apply to the Pa program and she said these are the necessary classes you will need, this is the degree you will want to do. Over the course of the year I took 15 classes not 15 hours but 15 classes between Jan-Dec. I continually checked in every 5 weeks when registering for new classes to make sure I was taking the correct courses and that I was going to graduate. Ms. ** assured me yes! September I was ready to get my final three courses to graduate, of course the final three courses I needed were not available. Throughout the year, I have never had a break or wait time to finish my courses and surprisingly this time upon completion my courses are not available.

    I explained to my advisor that I needed to take these classes sooner than later because I am due in October. She told me there was nothing she could do, that the classes were not available til The beginning of October (when I was due) and that I needed to communicate with my teachers. At South University when taking an online course, you have to check in, log in, or post something twice or three times within the week if not you will be automatically dropped from the class, it does not matter if you email, skype or call the teacher, it’s out of their control. She did not care, she did not respond to my email about how I was worried because I do not want to be taken out of the class. Again, she does not care, this is merely a paycheck for her, she cares nothing about the students.

    I kept my classes, I had my son on October 15, 2017 and I successfully finished the three classes with a newborn. I finished my degree in December of 2017. I then needed to get new information for the PA school, which is something that is not marketed. Every week or so Dean ** would send out an email about information sessions, campus changes or activities at the school. Not once has there been any information or meetings about the PA school. I emailed her to see if I could get information about the program or who would I speak to, to continue my studies. I finally got another email from someone that takes over the enrollment of the PA program information session. Erica, helped to attach a document to fill out and send it back to make sure I was registered for the meeting, I did.

    Of course no response if I was registered until I emailed twice more to make sure I was on the list to come. I came to the information session which only had three other people, because it is not marketed, so of course no one would come. The session was informative, took a tour of the area where class and clinicals were instructed and before I left we had to fill out the exact same form that was sent my email that I supposedly needed to register for the session. The women that were conducting the meeting also said “we look at your grades but we also look at your training, patient care hours, resume, GRE scores, and interview. We take in account everything because that can put you above others. If you need help with the reviewing of your courses to make sure you have what you need email Erica”. I took the advice. Emailed Erica, of course emailed her twice before a response and she then tells me I need four additional classes.

    Now if you could imagine I was very confused because I have just graduated from South University why would my courses not be what they are looking for. It’s because the courses they offer are not the courses that are accepted by the PA program but indeed the community college has the ones that are needed. I emailed Dean ** after that email to see if she could register me for those classes. It was the holiday so I did not receive a response but I decided to go to the school and talk to them in person. When seeing Dean ** she explained to me that these courses are needed with labs and South does not offer those classes with labs, and that they don’t offer biochemistry at all. I told her I wanted to take classes there because I am already paying out of pocket so I should continue.

    Just like a credit card yes it’s more interest, yes it may cost more but because you can make payments that may be easier. But instead she thought I did not understand so she repeated that it’s cheaper to take courses elsewhere but elsewhere it may be cheaper but I would still have pay out of pocket to South and to a community college. She also told me, after looking at my gpa that I would not have a chance to compete in being reviewed into the program. I said I know what my gpa says but because I transferred in my credits my gpa added with my South university classes makes it lower but the core prerequisites needed for the Pa program (which is what is reviewed) are A’s and B’s. She proceeded to tell me that I needed a backup plan, which is obvious when completing applications for any medical program.

    She asked ,“What kind of nurse are you? A CNA?” Which was racial profiling since I was **. She then said I should stick with that and do a LPN to RN program and look at being a nurse practitioner because they do the same thing. I told her I have spoken with some of the faculty in the PA department and she said they are part time, they don’t know anything because they are not here. I ended up leaving her office in tears having the understanding that I was not good enough, I have a pointless degree, and I should look at other programs because I would not get into their PA program. Don’t go here or waste your time like I did.

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    PriceStaffProcess

    Reviewed Dec. 16, 2017

    I just completed the Nurse Practitioner program at South University. Overall the experience was good. My academic and financial advisors were great. All advisors checked on me constantly to make sure things were going well. The program is challenging but very doable. The only difficult part was having to find my own preceptors for clinical but other than that it was a good experience and I would recommend South University. Even the price was good.

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    Verified purchase

    Reviewed Oct. 18, 2017

    I attended for just under a year. All I experienced was trouble. I was enrolled from February 2014 to January 2015. I was told in the beginning that my financial aide would cover everything. I found out after the fact, that it didn't. The reason I had to drop out was due to missing a final. I was giving birth to my son and in the hospital. It just went south from there (haha south... guess they were aptly named!).

    I was working towards an AS in Allied Health and Science, so I could have the background desired for a medical assistant. I am now almost $10,000 in debt total, between Great Lakes and SUO. I am only just now finding out that they lost their accreditation. I have also just now found out that quite possibly they didn't refund the unused balance to Great Lakes. If anyone is doing a class action lawsuit- I want to join please! I will be seeing about a personal attorney in the meantime. Just run the other direction. Seriously. RUN.

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    Reviewed Aug. 24, 2017

    I have read so many awful reviews of South University that it almost had me in tears wanting to quit. However, I have never had any issues getting in touch with any of my advisors. I have had no issues with financial aid. I just completed my BSN and I am starting the FNP program next week. I have spoken to MANY current students who have also had no issues and are almost ready for graduation or who have recently graduated and pass their exam.

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    Customer ServicePriceStaffProcess

    Reviewed July 22, 2017

    I graduated from South University with my BSN, which for the most part was o.k. but the online FNP program is self taught. Let me warn potential students. There is no support or teaching with this school. I am currently enrolled in the nurse practitioner program and it has been a nightmare. Advanced pharmacology and pathophysiology with no instruction. It's read the book then take a test. I could have done this independently. Second problem is the cost. Classes were expensive at almost 1600 a class. In midstream tuition cost changed to per semester, making the classes almost 2400 a class. You only take one class at a time so they consider this a semester. There is no one to talk to. No live person to get on the phone but you can leave a message.

    Lastly, the most difficult part of the practitioner program is arranging clinicals. Students arrange their own clinicals and there is no one to ask for help. I have tried several times to reach a live person and have to pretend I'm a new student. I am currently waiting to hear back from the clinical team if my clinical proposal will be accepted and I have 4 days left before the semester starts. If it's not approved I will have to wait another 3 months. I warn everyone to do their research. Look for a school that is supportive and wants you to excel and not just take your money.

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    Reviewed May 16, 2017

    Let's keep it simple. The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice is 180 credits!!! That's totally unacceptable as it relates to an academic experience and is totally established as an institutional practice to increase revenue. Standard BS and BA programs, both online and on-ground, at the majority of universities across the country are 120 credits. The additional 60 credits at their online undergraduate tuition is designed to provide a decent profit for them. Plus, there are a ton of programs across the country that will give credit for degree-relevant work experience. This allows students to leave college with a fully accredited bachelor's degree for as few as 70 hours of classroom instruction. I had a significant academic and financial investment in the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice before I figured this little jewel out. Don't make the same mistake I did. There are far better options than South University these days.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed May 9, 2017

    I have worked as a medical assistant for 23 years, prior to starting South University. I was told when I began and only reason I enrolled that I could get my associates in nursing. Once enrolled told it was an Allied Health and Science degree, which in turn will help me enter into my bachelor of nursing. I qualified for full maximum amount for Pell Grant and then remainder in student loans. Over the course of 2 years, I had 5 financial advisers, and questioned each of them as to the charges on my account. Classes that transferred to South University and I was being charged for them, then the classes I did take were charged numerous times. My ledger is ridiculously not accurate, nor easy to follow.

    My academic counselor was amazing, Megan **!! And I did have a handful of exceptional professors and have personal contact with them now. I finished with a 3.89 GPA, when I graduated March 8, 2017. I have not received my diploma nor can I get a transcript. I have a balance of $524 on my account that they are harassing me daily about, which includes $125 graduation fee (I am not attending the commencement service as I live in Texas). So I have questioned what is the $125 for, my diploma which they won't send me because I have a balance. In all actuality, I have sat down, and with a fine tooth comb went over my ledger, charges, Pell Grant money and student loan money, South University owes me over $3000.

    I have been calling now for 2 weeks, to the supervisor of financial aid Matt, no return phone call. Today I called the director of financial aid and left a message. If I do not get a return call by tomorrow evening, I will proceed to an attorney, report them to the student loan services, and multiple other sites to help stop them overcharging, manipulating, and not fulfilling their portion on my education with my transcript and diploma. DO NOT attend South University!!!

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    Customer ServicePriceProcess

    Reviewed April 24, 2017

    I gave this school one star because zero wasn't an option. In 2015 I enrolled in the RN to BSN program, big mistake. I completed all of my courses however I was constantly harassed by the Financial Department. I made my monthly payments, but they somehow always added in new charges. They even tried to charge me for a cap and gown although I made it clear that I would not be walking across the stage. Fast forward to now and I receive a call from a collections agency (I have STELLAR credit) reporting that I have a debt to South. Mind you, no one at South University including Megan **, who was my financial advisor, is able to explain why. I have even requested to speak to Megan's supervisor but to no avail. I have had calls asking me to pursue the NP program, but I absolutely will not. This school does not care about the students, only about money. Steer clear of this school at all costs or you will have serious regrets.

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    Customer ServicePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed April 22, 2017

    This place is the WORST!!! One day these morons called me and offered jobs but a little later it turned into school crap that I did not need. I told them I wasn't ready to go back to school and they did not listen at all! Next thing I knew a woman signs me up for classes and I try to tell her that I'm NOT ready to go back! She didn't listen, it goes in one ear and out the other! (I wanted to continue with my graphic design and get my bachelor's degree.)

    So fast forward 6 days later and my friend calls me just to chat and he tells me what this school would do to me if I stayed. My friend told me to drop out that same day or I would be screwed, so I did. I never looked back and if I ever go back I will choose a better college that offers me what I ask for. South University is just a college that wants your hard earned money and then fill you with LIES!!!

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    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPriceOnline & AppStaff

    Reviewed April 15, 2017

    This is a scam school. When you are in your general courses for a four year degree, it may not seem like it at first. However, once you are in your major's curriculum, everything changes. The teachers won't teach you anything. You are expected to read at least 90 pages per chapter and 3 chapters at a time within 3 days, and if you're full-time then add more chapters (often 3 or more) on top of that. Once in your majors' curriculum, the teachers that are suppose to teach the material, but they do not. On the class page they usually stick with the easier topics and want you to download some recommended software. But once they are asked questions on "questions for the professor", they do not explain the answer. It's as if they don't even read the books they recommend you.

    Also, the assignments they give you are outdated, recycled and have errors, so often you can't make heads or tails of the assignment and you are left to turning in an assignment and assuming what the teacher meant. Then there are the advisers. They will call you maybe once a month and if they don't call you, they send you an email that's just incoherent. And don't expect to get a call and get in touch with your adviser or get a call back in a timely manner. You can leave a message and will maybe get a call in a couple weeks, at their convenience because there is no sense of urgency. The adviser has changed my schedule twice already and it looks like they may have again, putting me behind even further on my expected graduation date. So, after I finish these classes that I am enrolled in, I am going to leave and I recommend that if you are reading this that you go somewhere else because this school is a scam.

    Finally, an even more convincing reason is the tuition. When you are going for 4 years it will amount to $60,000 or lots more and you won't graduate any sooner than anyone else going to a cheaper more reliable school. Matter of fact, you go year round with no breaks and don't graduate any quicker. The school’s website is horrible. You'd expect that they would be able to create a decent user experience based off of how much money they make. But the website is always down and the ebooks are always having problems. This school is horrible and there is a special place in ** for whoever is involved in leading this scam school.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed April 11, 2017

    South University was the first job I worked at right out of college. I had a friend that worked there and got me a job. They train you well, to be honest, it was the best training I ever received but I quickly learned why. They tell you in training that the school is accredited and if the students are doing what they are told then they will make it through. They give you the tools they sell the education and you buy the lie that you are helping people. As I entered into the role of Admissions Representative my goal was to help people. I worked so hard for my education and it meant a lot to be and I wanted to help others do the same. The longer I was there, the more I realized I worked at a call center and I was a salesman. I stopped trying to sign people up. instead, I would be completely honest and transparent with them. This was frowned upon but I did not care. My integrity meant more to me than my job.

    I stayed there for under a year because I needed the paycheck and they do pay well but I didn't sign anyone up for months unless they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. Finally, I waited for the buyout. if you don't perform the way they want you to, you can either take the buy out or you have 30 days to get your numbers up. The buyout is worth about a month's pay. I needed that to support myself while I searched for a new job. I took the buyout and I told them I was embarrassed to work for them.

    I hadn't signed anyone up on purpose. Most people were kind about it and they understood. To be honest I think some of them felt the same way, they just didn't stand up the way I did. Others buy into the lie and feed into it as well. I am glad that I do not work there anymore and I am always doing my best to help those who are looking for an education and steering them in the direction of their local community colleges and state universities. Stay away from for Profit Online Schools.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed March 16, 2017

    I said I was unable to start until July. I'm unable to retrieve my mom's tax information for FAFSA application for 2016-2017. Also, I'd get a better Pell grant because I'd be an Independent. My Admissions representative refused to accept that as an answer. She has me tell her manager my story, and the financial aid advisor. Each asking questions more personal. They get paid the same whenever I start. The financial aid advisor requested to speak to my mom. (I'm 24. It's none of his business.) I called my Admissions representative back. Told her I felt violated by the personal questions, and her refusal to listen, I asked to have my application withdrawn. She didn't even apologize. Also, when the first time I called her, she put me on hold for 5 minutes, after our conversation started.

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    Reviewed March 8, 2017

    I took 3 classes. I received zero credits. I was told (practically guaranteed a nursing) from a sleepy salesman who had told me I won a scholarship. I was vulnerable and going through a divorce at the time. I learned the hard way about signing my name to documents over the Internet. I felt cheated and scammed right away but there was nothing I could do. Now they are garnishing my wages at work. I still don't have a degree. I'm working for minimum wage. This place sucks.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed March 2, 2017

    I started my NP at South University in 2014. I was harassed daily via telephone to enter by the admission advisor when I was hesitant to do so. I finally did and my academic advisor was after the first semester, when I was a "pain" to be nonexistent. I never heard back from the original recruiter. The courses were quite overloaded with material and 11 weeks was too short for the volume expected. I was successful. The classes are poorly written as well. The practicums were a nightmare.

    This university expects the student to download all their paperwork, find suitable practicum sites within your state, yes a background check (not horrible but you pay for it upfront along with a drug test). Let me start with the drug test. The lab they wanted me to go to was over 4 hours ride one way. Seriously. One way. I had to argue the point. Won that one, but the students have to have them done yearly as per GA SBON rules, as I live in ME, why? ME SBON does not require this and I am not practicing in GA.

    Practicum sites, after calling over 55 sites, not finding one, had to drive almost 3 hours one way for practicum sessions 2/3 times a week. Paperwork for said sites is a nightmare, lest you upload them incorrectly, to the wrong person (they don't talk to each other), or better yet, they have a site for this process. The student has to submit double paperwork as well, all going to the same person, via their school site and fax machine from the practice. I had no access after the first practicum. Now that was fun, and told them over and over, and over and over, I have all the emails, including the academic advisor too, who evidently does not read his email, or only the ones he chooses?

    The student arranges it all, everything. They do absolutely nothing to assist the student and basically tough luck. They don't care. If you don't submit paperwork, takes them a week to respond, they pull you from classes, you lose your financing, and on it goes. They accept absolutely no responsibility for remaining understaffed, herding students through the practicum process like a bunch of sheep, it is just wrong! They are one of the most dis-reputable FOR PROFIT schools I have encountered. They demonstrate no ethics or veracity in their business dealings. They should be fully investigated and shut down. They are profiting from student loans and sending bills to students after the fact.

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    Customer ServiceStaffProcess

    Reviewed Feb. 18, 2017

    I was studying at this school for a year until dropped out my class due to a professor who treated students from different nationalities different to those who were born here. The academic counselor support was never received. This school is just about getting your money and then let you on your own. They introduce new software programs the same week of the assignments without previous preparation leading to low grades. For the NP program, they do not help you to find your preceptors, and overload students with material that do not increase learning in contrast reduce it.

    I had a professor who brought her past experience to class as a threat and made two to three students to quit their class. She embarrassed students in common classroom discussion, directly made inappropriate comments about former students in my class mentioning about those students' experiences in a negative way, not to mention about the bad attitude toward ** students in her class. This is my experience, and I recommend those from other nationalities not to take classes with Dr. ** at South University.

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    Staff

    Reviewed Jan. 28, 2017

    My experience with South University was bad and they suck at telling the truth big time. I was enrolled in two classes and only passed one of them. And the teachers for each class were not good at all.

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    Customer ServicePricePunctuality & Speed

    Reviewed Dec. 22, 2016

    After reading most of the posts the general consensus is that South University IS FRAUDULENT. Now, after evaluating my personal experience I can honestly and confidently say, "They are right!!!" The entire post section about this school is all basically the saying the same thing. This school is quick with the pen and even faster with their words. The admissions are very friendly but do not fully explain everything.

    My story (short version) went for one class for 4 weeks. Did fine then started my second class. Due to issues with the class and advisor I decided to drop the first week of the second class however unaware that because I was counted as present for the first week I would be charged $1,140.00. I contacted my financial advisor. He said he would look into it and call me back the following day around the same time. I am still waiting on that call back. We all know how that will go. If a class is $1,700.00 how does one week equal out to $1,200.00 bucks and if someone says a credit hour is $400 an hr then why is the first week so expensive?!?! Especially if I am not even using these credit hours! For the money you might as well go to Harvard! Very disappointed in the educational system for allowing this type of institution to continue this way. It's clear that something is very wrong here.

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    CoveragePrice

    Reviewed Dec. 10, 2016

    Say you never read the reviews because you started 5 years ago in a 5 year criminal justice program. Pretend you were recently nearly homeless and desperate to change your situation, so you are on federal grants and loans, which you are told would cover the entire cost (estimated at $30k). Then you graduate, with more than $50k in loans. Now you are told you owe the university $900 to get your diploma because the loans didn't cover everything. So you get on a payment plan. Then, suddenly, with almost no notice, you are supposed to come up with an additional $1600 (over $2000 you now owe to the school) before you can get that diploma or official transcript. And it's 2 weeks 'till Christmas and you have kids and no job. No job because you graduated in November and haven't gotten any interviews yet, in spite of applying daily to multiple jobs.

    I can't get a GOOD job because I don't have transcripts that show I graduated with a 3.95 GPA, with highest honors. I can't pay this off without a job. See where I'm sort of out of luck here? No transcripts means no job means no ability to pay for the transcripts. It's a vicious circle. I can't believe an institution that promised career services and job placement now wants SO MUCH MONEY from me while I'm trying to find employment (without career services help because it's a straight-up JOKE there).

    Get out while you can. Take the financial risk and transfer out of this school. I was NOT aware of the problems because I never had one until I tried to graduate after jumping through all the classes and learning everything for myself because it really is self-directed learning. Instructors guide you a little, but most of them are juggling several online classes and don't have time to explain anything. You get points off for APA mistakes, but not for plagiarism. It's true - I complained of a fellow student copy/pasting something and *I* was the one who was made to look like the fool somehow. It was beyond horrific. I worked HARD for this degree. I did the work and studied my butt off to learn without instruction, and now I'm faced with hardships because the university won't work with me, but will take me to collections and court. I would NEVER recommend South University Online. It's an absolute joke.

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    Customer ServiceStaffProcess

    Reviewed Dec. 7, 2016

    I am in my last semester at South University starting in 2 weeks. Every class has been a fight tooth and nail for consistency and assistance. Professors don't read responses and give perfect scores for pitiful work one semester, the next semester they doc you a point for this and that, then won't tell you what exactly you did wrong. Admin personnel don't hear your concerns and say whatever it takes to pacify you.

    The practicum process is as close to impossible as it can get without actually being undoable. No wonder the pass rate is so low. The board pass rate is high, but only because you have to be stubborn and determined to make it through this gauntlet of a process. They lose your paperwork, send out ridiculous demands at the last moment before deadlines, and do next to nothing to assist the student in reaching the goals. This past two years has been one frustration after another. I will NEVER recommend this school to anyone!! With God's help I will be done with them in 90 days!! DON'T DO IT!!

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    Sales & MarketingStaffProcess

    Reviewed Nov. 9, 2016

    I attended South University, Cleveland for a year and a half before being admitted into the Physical Therapist Program. I maintained a 4.0 GPA and was assured I would be successful in the program. There were 21 of the best students accepted into the program at the beginning of the program, and by the time the first semester was over, there were only 14 left. This was not because the program was too difficult. These top students were used to difficult classes. The head of the program, also the professor, was unprofessional, unfair, and taught with intimidation. The ridiculous and unrealistic assignments he administered made it virtually impossible for many of the students to be successful.

    After losing many great students, the professor adjusted his grading style to allow the remaining students to get through the semester. South University gets you into the PTA program, takes your money (which is 3 times more that other schools), and does nothing to help you be successful in the program. If you are thinking about earning an Associates Degree in the PTA program from South University, Cleveland, please reconsider! There is a big chance you will not make it through the program, and you will not know it until it is too late - they already have your money. They are a rip-off, scam school.

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    Reviewed Oct. 31, 2016

    I wish I had chosen a different school. Be prepared for a bad online experience. You do all your own teaching. The instructors only grade your assignments and offer no teaching whatsoever. They are not usually Ph.d. and do not know what they are doing themselves. They are more concerned with technicalities than you learning anything. Also it is apparently alright for students to simply copy and paste their entire assignments straight from websites and turn that in as their own work. If you report it you are the one they are mad at, not the student cheating because they want the money. You won't learn anything here and I don't think your degree will mean anything either.

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    Contract & TermsStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 29, 2016

    Attended South University Virginia beach, VA. My classmates was the best part of my time in school. I met so many good people. However, when it comes about learning experience some of the instructors were really vague about giving information. Then the online assignments were a little challenging. The instructor will place a question that would only have an answer but when you submitted the website will warned you about plagiarism. That was almost unavoidable, especially when it comes to definitions of terms or describing procedures. I had to talked to my professor and academic dean about that topic several times. Nothing did happened. However, it was an ok experience. I did learn it just issues with submitting paperwork and a few staff members that were not as good teaching as others.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 14, 2016

    When I started this school in August of 2015, everyone there seemed to be very interested in you and kept in contact with you. As time goes on the concern grows less & less. When you call you find out that your counselors & advisers are no longer there, they have been changed and you are never notified of any changes. I have actually had to call and demand to speak to management or administration to get my contacts to call me back. I once sent an email to an address that I happened to find online & within minutes I had all kind of people calling me back. You really have to stand up to these people or they will just push you over.

    Just today I was put in a class with another teacher that when you make a post all she does is ask the same question to every student. I immediately called my adviser & told her to remove me from that class & place me in another class. I told her I had already been in a class where the teacher did this & it is not a learning experience when a teacher posts the same questions to every student, to me this is lazy on the teacher's part. My adviser tried to persuade me to talk to her. I told her, "No." I have tried talking to these Professors before & the ones like that try to make you look stupid & I was not having it. I told her if she couldn't make it happen that I needed to speak to management. It happened. Just beware before you enroll into this University...

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    Reviewed Oct. 3, 2016

    So I was enjoying my time in school. Struggled with the math parts due to 15 years being out but was doing ok. Then I got into a car accident and dropped classes to recover. I found out days later that I was kicked out so I filed an appeal to be denied. I sent in all the information proving I was being truthful and nothing. Now I have all my loans kicked in and they charged me for all the classes I didn't take. Single mom trying to make it through school to better our future and because of all this can't continue school elsewhere because of the fee I have to pay back which is $4010. South University screwed me. I am writing this to warn others. Don't enroll waste your time because if God forbid something happened to you while attending they will kick you out and fine you.

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    Reviewed Sept. 27, 2016

    There have been some "diploma mill" schools in the news lately, but I can confirm South U is not selling diplomas. If anything, a diploma is going to be hard to achieve here. The classes I've had so far are incredibly challenging, and I'm comparing this experience to my experience taking classes at Rochester Institute of Technology. I did read some bad press about a low graduation rate, and now I know why!

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    Reviewed Sept. 14, 2016

    I was a student at this school for around 8 months and to be honest I really enjoyed the school while I was a student until the end. The classes are actually very easy because most of the instructors really don't check what you actually write. They use pre-made replies. I've had several reply post from instructors that had nothing to do with what I wrote. It's good if you just need to pass classes and get a degree, but if you want to actually learn something you will be on your own. My problem just came recently when I decided to change degree plans, due to finding out that I will be taking on a new job within my current career field and that my new employer will pay for my college if I'm taking a degree plan that is aligned with my job field. After checking with South University I noticed they did not offer the degree plan I needed to take. I also noticed that they no longer offer the degree plan I was currently enrolled in.

    I found a different university that offered the exact degree plan I needed and wanted so I submitted my withdrawal paperwork so that I could withdraw after my next class was completed. Even though I was still enrolled in that next class and was doing the coursework for that class, I received a letter from the VA's office stating that since I withdrew from South University a month prior, I have been overpaid and must pay that money back. While still taking classes with South University they sent the paperwork to the VA telling them I was no longer enrolled in school there. I have completed 3 weeks of class work with 2 more weeks to go, for a class at a school that according to paperwork that was sent to the VA I no longer attend. I will be contacting the VA's office in the morning to discuss this issue with them.

    Oh and just about none of the classes I took in the 8 months with South will transfer over to the new school. So my advise if you're still reading this is, if you enroll make sure you stay with this school. They will try and cheat you and punish you for leaving and your class you've spent all that money on will not transfer. But if you plan on staying with South until you graduate then this will be an easy school to pass, as long as your employer or future employer will recognize a degree from South University. Because even if they would have offered the degree plan I needed and wanted to take my future employer stated they would not pay for or recognize a degree from South University.

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    Punctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Sept. 10, 2016

    This is in reference to the online degree option. The academic advisor did not inform me that I had to have a nursing license in the state where I reside. Being in the military, I am not required to have a nursing license from every state I am stationed in. I did not find out until classes had already started. So when I did not get the license on time, I was disenrolled. Furthermore, the financial aid advisor did not know how to use the TA, and the dates for classes did not match the dates for the classes on GoArmyEd.com, so my classes were not paid for. This was an awful experience for me. A waste of time.

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    PriceStaffProcess

    Reviewed Aug. 31, 2016

    I live in the Columbia area of South Carolina. Originally it had been my goal to attend a local college and obtain my Registered Nurses Degree. Unfortunately life had other ideas and I had a baby right out of high school of 2013. Turns out my baby was very ill and had to get a transplant at Duke hospital in North Carolina. With this in mind, I still wanted to get a higher education so that is why I turned to South University Online.

    There are no online schools that are not "for-profit schools" and with this in mind I knew what I was getting into when I began attending courses online. I know it is expensive but you have to expect that. Another aspect of online school is that there is no hand holding. It is basically a self-taught experience when it comes to online school. You get guidance from your professors, and good discussions from your peers in the classroom. It is a way to get a lot of material learned in a short 5 to 10 week course and still be considered a full time student. As well as not having to pay for any of my student loans until I finished school.

    Going back to the account of my personal life, my sick baby that had to undergo a transplant, the process ended up taking the whole year of 2014 to the start of 2015. The transplant failed and she passed away February 12th 2015. I was forced to take 3 months off of school so that I could grieve and set up a new life back home in South Carolina. All of my professors, and advisers were extremely understandable and helped me out with taking a leave of absence. There was a period when my student loans people contacted me to start setting up payments and I had to explain my leave of absence and my intent on returning to school. My advisers helped me fill out the forms to show I was back in school and turned in all of the necessary forms and schedules to defer my payments until graduation. Everything went smoothly and worked out.

    Since then, I have been finishing up with my associates degree. I have 20 weeks left to go and should be finished by January 2017. Granted I believe I have an estimated of $25,000 for my associates degree when I get done, but to me with my roller-coaster of a life, I am willing to pay what it takes for a school that is going to work with me and help me out in my time of need. Where as an on-campus community college you have so many absences and get kicked out or dropped for so many other factors. I would recommend South University Online to any of my friends or family if they could not easily attend a local college or university. It is expensive but to me it is worth it.

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    Staff

    Reviewed Aug. 15, 2016

    Hi, I am a graduate student, counseling student at South University in Columbia, South Carolina. My name is CA I am studying to be a counselor. I have an older woman in one of my classes named Robyn **, she is between 49 and 57. She is also a professor adjunct in medical assisting. I am concerned because she bullies this quiet girl who does nothing to her. The girl asks questions in class and this older woman laughs, makes fun of her embarrasses her, and ridicules her. I get that she is trying to make this young woman feel less about herself. I hope someone does something because not even the dean, professor teaching the class, or even the chair will do anything.

    I know the psychological effects of bullying and I do not want this young lady to be another statistic affected by this bullying. I also do not want any other altercation to occur. The older woman is very childish and insecure from what I see from her behavior. I think she is jealous of the young lady... This is just very unprofessional for this faculty to be acting like this. Maybe she feels she can easily get away with bullying because in this classroom she is the student, and being faculty she can switch roles to do her bullying. Maybe I should just transfer to University of South Carolina or somewhere else... This is just ridiculous. You would think bullying would stop in high school or be just between students, but a faculty bullying and ridiculing a student and being a student is just distasteful, unprofessional, and out of line. I hope her superior/supervisor would step in and remove her. It goes on every class Mon and Sat whenever.

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    Price

    Reviewed June 29, 2016

    I enrolled in the RN to BSN program at South University at the Tampa, Florida campus in February of 2016. While it wasn't my original plan, I was able to take all of the required classes online. After completing the necessary classes, I have transferred to the RN to MSN program in the FNP tract. I started my MSN classes this week. I am able to take two classes online and one, advanced pathophysiology, on campus. Since my initial interaction with South I have been absolutely satisfied. I have read many of the complaints on this site and I feel that I should respond to give another side of the story. With South University, or any proprietary institution, there are three main things to keep in mind.

    First, they are a business designed to generate income. To that ends, the admissions advisers are evaluated on their enrollment figures just like a car or furniture salesman. They want to help you get enrolled as opposed to non-profit schools who are trying to weed you out. Second, they assume you are there because you are driven and goal oriented. No one there is going to hold your hand. If you feel you need a little more support, consider a local community college.

    Third, it is expensive but accessible. For-profit schools, like South, give many people the opportunity to pursue an education that otherwise would not be available to them. For instance, the local community college nursing program acceptance rate is less than one in five. If you don't have a 4.0 and a lot of volunteer hours you are simply not competitive. Without options like South, many aspiring students dreams would stop there.

    These types or institutions are not for every learner. You must be self-motivated and able to take responsibility for your own learning. The online instructors are more guides than teachers. The digital text and supporting media are excellent when students actually use them. As with most things in life, you are going to get out of it what you put into it. I would start over at South again and I certainly would recommend it to friends and family. It has been expensive, but they have given me opportunities that I would otherwise not have had.

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    Reviewed June 28, 2016

    I was at South University for a year or more and was doing well. I had spine surgery and had to take 2 months off. I was making my monthly payments and on time. When I returned, I had some financial issues due to not returning to work as planned. I asked the College to Please work with me. They kicked me out and told me I had to pay over 8700.00 to get back in. I want to finish and get my BSN but I can't afford to 8700.00 all at once... I'm very saddened.

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    Customer ServicePricePunctuality & SpeedStaffProcess

    Reviewed June 23, 2016

    I am currently attending South University MSN-FNP program. Another comment said this program was not accredited, but it is in fact accredited. The advisors were initially very helpful (some still are) but others require multiple emails before they will respond to questions. I chose this program because the MSN-FNP track is full-time but you take one class at a time. The classes are very condensed and a lot of information in a short period of time; however, this allows for nurses to continue to work at least part if not full time. Working full time is very challenging if you want to give adequate time to studies. You can also start the program at any time which is convenient. The price is honestly quite average for MSN-FNP programs.

    I wanted to do a DNP program in-state which would have taken a year longer and cost more. Sometimes I regret not doing that. Consider that in-state programs, medical students, and PA students are ALWAYS given preference at clinical sites and "South University online" sounds a bit like a sham. This piece has been a challenge, but I have found at least two clinical sites so far.

    The classes so far have been hit or miss. Some of the professors are quite good while others respond to papers and discussion posts with incorrect grammar and "text message" type replies. So, some are professional while others just seem annoyed that students are asking questions. The research class that I am in is especially awful with a professor that is very disconnected from realities of clinical practice and expecting students to have her research/PhD knowledge. She is possibly one of the worst educators I have ever experienced.

    There are no audiovisual class components which is very challenging since the "lectures" are a bit of a joke (written summary of text reading which a student could compile in a matter of hours). The texts so far have been alright, and luckily almost all texts (minus one) are available in digital format and included in tuition costs. This is a big positive (on the texts) however I would highly recommend the University to include audiovisual teaching or ANY teaching for that matter.

    Students basically teach themselves information with little guidance or teaching from the professors themselves. Some of the information is just required for accreditation purposes (theory, research, etc) and I am not terribly worried if I cannot recall certain nursing theoretical concepts. That said, the assessment and real, concrete, and practical classes should certainly have an audiovisual component. I have suggested this in every single end of class survey and to my advisors with no response to the comment.

    The practicum portion is entirely student-driven with minimal assistance from advisors. I have not started practicum yet, but this is the portion I am looking forward to the most. This will have little to do with South University since this is student and preceptor driven. Anyway, I am struggling through this program; however, I have talked to students in similar online programs with similar mixed experiences. DNP programs do have a much larger research focus (no thanks!) and claim to have more clinical hours; however, some of these "clinical hours" are really not dealing with actual patients (come to learn from other students). So, this MSN program requires 780 clinical NP hours which seems pretty standard and solid to other MSN programs. All in all, could be a much better program and needs improvement. I feel like I have spent too much time and money to turn back now!

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    Customer ServiceInstallation & SetupPunctuality & SpeedStaffProcess

    Reviewed June 4, 2016

    I was looking for convenience of online education to finish my BSN. I was a diploma nurse and this seemed like a good fit. I did graduate from South University with honors... which was not hard to do. I paid a total of 18,000 for two years of bad classes. The degree edit was changed twice along the course citing that the board of Nursing changed the curriculum and two of the classes I already took were no longer counted. This caused my graduation date to change not one but twice. I was aggravated but pressed on knowing I needed to finish. On a weak day I agreed to begin my MSN there at South University. It was just easy I was familiar with the online setup and the transcripts were already on file. I started shortly after BSN graduation. I was three classes in to the nine necessary for graduation and I received a dreaded call from the counselor. She proceeded to tell me the school lost their accreditation.

    I asked what does that mean to me. She said "You can no longer continue." She said "I mean you can continue but you will have to pay and your degree will not be certified." Ummm... who would do this? She told me that only two way to lose accreditation: one by the quality of the education and two by mismanaging financing through student loans. South was disaccredited for financial reasons. She then said "We don't want to lose you as a student. You can wait one year until our accreditation renews." I would never wait a year for starters. I then began my search and found many universities. Only one would transfer my 6 months worth of credit work. Only to find out later they would take none. So now I am out of options. I had to start over my MSN program. What a nightmare.

    I should have learned my lesson. Lastly they told me they needed payment for the three classes since the student loan disbursement would not release the fund for the classes I took. The second nightmare began between me and the credit agency as they turned me over to collections for three classes that were not counting and disaccredited. Run, run for your life. Do not be wowed by the ease of admission to the university. They are a poor excuse for a college. I will never recommend them ever!

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    PriceStaff

    Reviewed April 26, 2016

    I approached South University on January 4th, 2016, looking for information about their BSN degree. They were very efficient in providing me a path of success, and even though it was very, very expensive, they assure me that I qualified for grants, and Federal Student Aid, to the point that I wouldn't even have to touch my GI Bill, so I accepted, enrolled in the quarter, and began my path of education. During the month of February (almost half way through the quarter) I began receiving notifications from financial aid, telling me that I have to fill a 1040 amended Tax return form for my 2014 taxes because my "social status" was different than my current status. So I brought it up to my accountant's attention, and he told me that I don't have to, because that's from 2014, and I applied for financial aid for the first time ever (at South University) in 2016.

    So basically, they insist on my need to amend my taxes. Now I owe them almost $5000 in tuition fees. I explained to one of the financial aid specialist that my military situation had changed (from SELRES in January to Active Duty by March), to which I was told "great! now you can use your GI Bill or TA", which leads me to believe that they don't know exactly how the military benefits work and feels more like they just want to get money from wherever they can, other than from wherever they have to. So why am I filing a complaint? Why do I feel like I was misled? Basically because I feel like all that efficiency getting me into a classroom, and getting me set up with Financial aid, only turned into a nightmare, since according to them, now, unless I file a 1040x amended tax return form, I will be responsible to repay that extremely high tuition cost at once. Why misleading?

    Because it is truly a false sense of security, when the first day your are told that you qualified for everything, only to find out that perhaps you don't. During my second meeting with a different financial aid counselor, I was told that I had been selected by the federal student financial aid department for verification, and that's when the red flag came out. Now I have to wonder, why didn't South University financial aid counselors caught it on day one? If they had done their job, it would had never made a difference if I got reviewed or not by the federal financial aid department. If they had told me from the beginning about that situation, I would had never applied to that school. I believe is totally unprofessional, very misleading, very irresponsible, and simply a disgrace to the educational system. A total shame to the community.

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    Coverage

    Reviewed April 20, 2016

    I attended South University for almost 18 months in their MSN program. During my third semester I was told that the prior semester tuition had not been paid because the SCHOOL DIDN'T PROCESS MY FINANCIAL AID CORRECTLY. I was told I would have to take out more money in loans to cover that semester if I didn't want to risk being dropped from my third semester classes. I can say regarding the education that it was high school level at best. I would be embarrassed to say I graduated from South University. That is why I withdrew. I did not feel that the classes I took were preparing me for advanced nursing practice. Now, I am seeking admission to a not for profit nursing program. I am on the hook for the classes I took and now owe $20,000. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL AT ALL COSTS!

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed April 6, 2016

    This school is terrible. If you have any problems do not expect to be resolved in your favor. Just want to make money. Students are not interested. Nobody read your email. They have finances very disorganized. You never know when you will have your financial aid. Ahhh. Stay away from department to the class of physical assessment in the program nurse practitioner. They are bad dogs. NO recommend this school to anyone.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed March 3, 2016

    A few weeks ago, my husband did some online job applications. Well they led up to being called off the hook from educational institutes trying to get enrollment! Well, my husband was not interested in going back to school but I was. I had been considering the idea of back to college for a few months now. I have 2 children and am still laid off for the season, husband just started new job and our family just relocated to a new community! This was perfect timing.

    Well, after being on the phone with the South University staff, I decided the school sounded pretty good. It would allow me to start almost immediately, offer me to have only a few classes at a time only lasting about 5 weeks each. This sounded awesome. So we begin the admissions process, Apply to South University Online. After awhile you begin to realize this is taking way longer than they made it seem. Then was directed to Financial Advisor who seemed helpful in most ways, but not going over my reward or info. She asked if I had any questions, but at the time I didn't because I had already became familiar with the website over the weekend, I knew where to go to find all my info. Sounded like things were right on track and I was feeling good about starting classes tomorrow.

    Next, I go to find my class that I was going to start. Mind you that I never got to find out what classes I would even be taking or what classes I didn't have to because of past credits that would transfer to my program. I just began to get a bit nervous so, I decided to look up reviews on the school... I am really wanting to back out of this now. I am having a phone call tomorrow with the school to see if I have any questions in the morning. I think I may just have a few now!

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    Staff

    Reviewed Feb. 3, 2016

    I'm currently attending South University here in Savannah, Georgia where I'm earning my degree in Business administration. I have seen good and bad comments about the university and its misconduct with students. For one thing, I never had any problems with the university, but there are staff members who really do need a reality check and understand how to handle business properly.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Jan. 21, 2016

    I started South University - Masters in Science in Nursing in July 2014. Everything was great until I had a problem with scheduling. Staff members NEVER followed up. I continuously had to call, getting the Vice President and directors involved. Poor satisfaction.

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    Customer ServicePriceStaff

    Reviewed Dec. 23, 2015

    I had a great medical terminology teacher, but math was terrible and I'm usually good at math. The teacher rushed through the whole thing and I barely passed. I think my classmates failed. There was only me and one other person who seemed to kinda get it. The teacher showed favoritism to this one guy. We didn't have access to our math lab over break and then we had an exam the next class. When we told the teacher about it, she shrugged her shoulders and did not care. I had to go to the Dean. There were times I would email her and get no response. I would have to message her multiple times when I had an issue. They don't show care for the students' education.

    The only one who seemed to care was my admissions advisor and they fired him shortly after I began school. I don't know the reason so I won't speak on it. Then I got hit with a large bill that was about twice the amount you would pay at another college even after taking out loans and receiving a grant. It's not worth it, especially for the price. This was a huge mistake for me. Don't make the same one. Do your research and find a better school please. I went for one squatter, won't be returning.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Dec. 22, 2015

    I tried to withdraw from South University. In the process I enrolled at another school, and asked for my financial aide to be returned. I was then redirected to several different folks and none were able to assist me. Their whole goal was to have me change my mind. The reason for my withdrawal was the lawsuit against the college regarding the recruiters, and their accreditation. I wanted to save the 60 credits I currently have, and not be associated with a school that could in the future be a worthless degree.

    I am still waiting for the supervisor to call me back, and help me to get my COD updated. This has been a nightmare for me. Imagine your educational goals and employment goals being messed with because you want to protect them. I would advise anyone that is looking for an education to not enroll with South University. This is a for-profit school and their goal is not your education but your money.

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    Punctuality & Speed

    Reviewed Dec. 16, 2015

    I began attending SU online back in 2011. I signed up, was told to take out loans, was told to sign the promissory note for my loans and then told that I would be able to attend school, no problem. Although I knew I was entitled to Microsoft Office (taken from technology fees) I had to literally argue with the school about receiving it. Finally I'm able to get it, I complete all my assignments on time and I even receive raving reviews from my peers and professors on my work. I attended the school for all of 4 weeks before I was locked out of my account. When I inquired about it, I was told that I did not send back a financial aid form and therefore was removed from my classes.

    Mind you, I had to sign up, take out loans and prove my identity and NOT ONCE was I asked to mail in any information. Not only that, but I specifically told my advisers if it's not a form I can sign online, I cannot send information in. 3 years later I cannot attend school anymore because Financial Aid says my loans are in default. South University wants to force me to pay 2 grand, and I can't even further my education to get a high paying job in order to pay off my loan. They literally screwed me over. I'm going to reach out to my attorney about this because this is just wrong.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Dec. 11, 2015

    I cannot begin to explain the degree to which this school was the biggest mistake of my life! Please listen to what I say and make note so this does not happen to you! I have lost a 10 months and thousands of dollars and felt ashamed that I did not listen to my gut or the other reviews that I had read. I thought everyone will jump to the Internet to complain. I will finish even though their graduation rate is only 7%, by far the lowest I was able to find. I'm an A student dedicated. The manipulation, schemes and lies have actually caused me to have chest pain. I was repeatedly told by the admissions counselor whose name I will never forget that I did not need anything but the 12 core nursing classes to complete the Rn to bsn program. When I only had 5 of those classes left another 12 classes appeared on my schedule. Wow that's the first rn to bsn to last 2 plus years when I have taken almost all of them.

    The admissions counselor wanted nothing to do with me at that point. Referred me to my academic counselor who began to give me papers to help argue some of them once I found course descriptions all the while being fake and neglected to help. I would have a manager and the so called recorded phone calls up and doing some work. It is game! Please listen. I dare to see if they will respond with anything in writing and to do your research.

    They just settled a 99.5 million dollar lawsuit for a reason. They have a 7% graduation for a reason. I will be happy to share my experience. Someone must protect online students and adult learners from them! I contemplated being done and doing what I needed to stick to my timeline and doubling classes and then I realized I do not want a degree from this school at any cost. I would not take a degree from them free of charge. I am going to contact and work as hard as I can to ensure this does not happen to others. If you concerns or questions please contact me!

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    Punctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Nov. 23, 2015

    Back in 2011 I signed up to go to online school. The person who ever was doing the sign up process he was completely sales man, but either way it didn't matter to me because I wanted to go to school. I wanted to do Associated degree on Computer science and I was told FAFSA will cover my all tuition and fees. About week later I had to go to my country for personal emergency reason. So I call the administrative that I need to quit school because the country I am going to neither have internet to continue education and I don't know when I am coming back. Besides that country doesn't provide electricity properly. Out of 24 hours you might get 5 hours electricity.

    I came back to USA May 2012 and receiving a letter for Great Lakes who is loan servicer. I never opened the mail because I thought it a scam, but I end up opened on 2013 one of the mail and see a loan of $10,999 loan under my name. I tried to contact school regarding this. They do not even want to talk to me about it. This school really a rip off and SCAM. I attend school for a week and got billed for $10,999. I am going after school. Going to hire lawyer. Is there anybody else who thinks this school is fraud please contact me as well. Thank you.

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    Customer ServicePriceStaff

    Reviewed Nov. 15, 2015

    This school is horrible, the cost is outrageous, the counselors are uneducated, unprofessional, and unwilling to assist students. In the beginning, you will receive calls constantly until you start questioning prices, your financial aid packaging, or course transferability which none of their general college courses do. When I received a academic scholarship in the amount of 1600$ (amount of one class), I was so excited. Only to find out that when I had informed them that after I completed my 9 courses for the academic year, I would be transferring to a traditional college and wanted my financial aid stipend to be mailed to me. I was first informed I could not have both, either the stipend or the scholarship. I choose my stipend since I had a student loan of 10,000$ and Pell grants in the amount of 5000$.

    But with classes costing 1600$ each, it left 400$ which at this point I was aware of, only to have my financial counselor lecture me that this money was only to be used for educational purposes. What a joke!!! So I have 400$ to cliff test out of my general studies (English comp I and II and 7 others). The 5 week courses are hard to keep pace with, it is a full time job if you actually do the assignment as you are supposed to. Most of the discussions I found difficult to fully participate in because most of the students couldn't make up complete sentences, let alone spell. I am in my last class of 9 and have books of emails between myself and my academic and financial counselors which proves how uneducated and unprofessional each is. I asked for copies of my placement tests and the name of each, only to be flat out told that they can only give me screen shots. I do not suggest anyone attend this school. Not worth the money, hassle or headache.

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    CoverageSales & MarketingStaff

    Reviewed Nov. 10, 2015

    This school is a ripoff. Academic counselors are sales people that will say anything to bolster their sales! Then they're shady in ethical practice are all covered in their policies and guidelines. It basically says "If we screw you it's your fault." Don't get screwed. If you're looking to go back to school deal with a school with integrity!

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    CoverageSales & MarketingPrice

    Reviewed Nov. 4, 2015

    My experience was similar to the posts from others; I enrolled in the MBA program. The recruiters are salesman that only care about signing you up and making commission. I was told that my first semester would be online, but thereafter on, campus courses would be offered. I was also informed that my financial aid (FAFSA) would cover all of my tuition, neither of these turned out to be the case.

    Once enrolled, I was simply registered for online courses and never heard from anyone regarding program guidance or had any human contact. I couldn't reach the program chair and the courses cannot even be considered school. There is no lecture or any material other than reading a book on your own, writing papers, and doing pointless online discussions. I stayed for a few quarters and kept asking why there were still no on campus courses, I was lead on and campus courses never happened, I assume this was just a sales pitch.

    Put simply, you pay Ivy league prices for far less than a community college education. The WORST part was that I was told my FAFSA was covering all my tuition and I was continuously enrolled in courses. After I stopped attending (to attend a real program) I received a bill for $11,000. I now have a bill for $11,000, student loan debt, learned nothing, and am having to obtain an attorney on top of full-time work and school.

    This is a company (not a school) that will say anything to make money and clearly do not fear lawsuits. Do NOT enroll. Tuition will not be covered under the graduate prices, you will not learn anything comparable to any real school and this huge waste of money may ruin your chances for further funding at a real university in the future, as it did mine. If anyone else out there is forming a lawsuit I would love to join.

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    Contract & TermsPriceStaffProcess

    Reviewed Nov. 2, 2015

    Many of the reviews sound like they were written by young people who do not understand that when they sign anything they are contracting – making an agreement that is legally binding. I am not so young and do understand that, but did not understand that although I told the person who registered me for classes that my end goal was to provide services to veterans. No one told me (and now I fault myself) for not learning that while the school is accredited that the counseling program was not (it became so last Summer - 2014). I also fault myself for not shopping around for the best program at the best price. South is EXPENSIVE and offers nothing that cannot be found at other universities at a better price. The bottom line is that I should have been more careful and I hope reading this will insure everyone is before choosing a college – once you have signed ANYTHING, you will be stuck for some money.

    South Finance counselors and registrars are given rewards for signing people up – numbers count for them so they say things that they should not. One example, incoming students during my last year there, were told by the registration folks that they could be licensed to prescribe meds by completing this program. Our, then new, program director, did not believe this until so many students confirmed it. There was no way EVERYONE was making it up. The bottom line is that NO MATTER WHAT you are told, if they are not willing to PUT IT IN WRITING, it is not true. Several of us consulted an attorney about suing, but he said that unless we could find a former employee that was willing to support our allegations it would not be successful. I admit I did not even try to find one. BUYER BEWARE.

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    Customer ServicePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 10, 2015

    Hi. I am very disturbed by my experience with South University Cleveland. To be honest I didn't do any research beyond looking at it to see what BBB said about them. They said they were an accredited school. And their reviews were good. I didn't see all the negative reviews until I went looking. Backing up to the beginning,

    This past March I was online filling out applications where I sent up by phone what I thought was an interview. It was not, the man I talked to was Will from gitgats, he was a career advisor. First thing he asked was if I ever thought about furthering my education? I said, "Of course", but I can't afford to at this time, I don't want to owe money and go into debt when this is over. He said. "Not a problem". He went on asking me questions, answering his questions, he had gotten in touch with Kim from South University and we talked for a few minutes. Was talked into meeting her and seeing the school. Figured what was the harm? Thought I would check it out and say, "No". Um, didn't happen.

    They pulled out all the goodies. Said all the right things. She showed me around. I loved the place. I met the Dean, the career person who sends out the job sheets. A few other people. They were all smiles. I felt welcomed. We went back to Kim's office where she started getting out a folder full of information and a few days later I was back being enrolled in school. Then we talked about payment options. That's when I informed her of my job situation. That I could not pay anything toward school and that I didn't want to owe money when this was over.

    She was sneaky and said all the right things. She said that if I had to pay anything, it wouldn't be much and it would matter since I would be making so much money. She said how they would help me get a job in the field I was going into. She never said when or was very specific about it. But lead me to believe it would happen soon. But the sheet of part time jobs ended up being jobs from around their area and for jobs I could get around my area. They didn't help me there. I then signed up for "financial aid" I remember signing for that because it was online. They got my tax statements as well. So they knew how much a year I made. So they used what I would be making in the future and gave me two BIG loans. Nothing was said about loans in the meeting at first.

    When the financial aid papers we're ready, Kim sat me down and discussed it all with me. From my understanding the financial aid and pell grant did not need to get paid back just the loans but they never called it that so no warning bells went off. By this time they should have because I did ask for a dollar amount as to what I could be looking at for repayment after graduation. She said I'd have six months until repayment. I fully didn't understand the papers or what I was signing and the felt pressured and deceived into signing. While I take full responsibility of my part in this mess with the school and the loans because I signed. They had my transcripts from my last college and must have known that I had a little learning disability.

    I think they took advantage of me. I am very upset and dissatisfied with my experience here. I just want out of this loan. So far I haven't really been able to get the full amount of what I owe. The school sent me an email and they want me to do their exit counseling and that link leads me to the financial aid site. I'm very concerned that I never even had financial aid in, think it was all in writing because when you put in my information to go to my page, they said I'm not there. Right now I am pulled from the school but my page should still be there since technically my account should still be open since I haven't made a payment. I couldn't get o there before I got pulled but things happened so fast I didn't get a chance to ask about that.

    Anyway I'm still at the beginning of finding out just what I got myself into. I'll know more this next week. So far I know I owe 6000 and I think the number may go up. Unfortunately I have no way of paying this especially since I won't be getting my good job anytime soon. I'm stuck in these stupid dead end jobs that are getting me nowhere. Thanks to this school my credit was all I had now I'm screwed. Not happy about this. Any help or ideas would be appreciated. I am looking for people for a class action suit. I'm not looking to get money, I just want my credit good again and to owe the school, financial aid and the loans company no money. That's my idea of a perfect world. Thank you for reading.

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    Customer ServicePricePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Sept. 6, 2015

    Before the untimely death of my father, I let Kassie ** know that I needed to skip this IT course due to my computer; she coaxed me into staying in the class stating it wouldn't matter if there was a computer or not--BIG MISTAKE! Fast forward to the day my father died. Dr ** told me I would only have until the end of the course to turn in work--wow! The end of the course was in 5 days! Lastly, as well as strangely, I would never hear from my academic advisor, David **, until I didn't post for class. When he did call, there was not empathy in his voice, just told me to send over the death certificate and contact the professor-- things happen to people all the time. Oh did I mention my mother just passed February 2015 and that they would have been married 46 years! Strangely enough, there are constant phone calls from Dave **, the academic advisor. I would not recommend this school to anyone! $1608/class is extremely expensive! BEWARE!

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    Reviewed Aug. 13, 2015

    I was enrolled in Jan - asked to be dropped because of work and instead I was withdrawn from all classes. I attended a course on Sat for 4 hours and was charged $1,295.00. I'm a single mother of 3, can't get transcripts until that is paid either.

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    Price

    Reviewed July 29, 2015

    I went for 2 semesters and ended up dropping because of personal reason and got slapped with a $1000 bill. I barely make enough money to pay the bills I have now and I want to go to school to better my life and make more money so I can afford to pay off my debts and live a little but because of this debt I can't go back to any school because South won't give me my transcripts. On another note they are ridiculously expensive, almost 20K for an associates in Medical Assisting whereas you can go to a Technical College and get the same degree for maybe 3K. Do yourself a favor and do not go to this school.

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    Reviewed July 18, 2015

    I do not even attend South University and I was charged 2900 dollars for tuition. I have no sign in password or student ID but yet somehow South university online says that I owe them 2900 dollars. I attend J SGT Reynolds and I signed paper work, have a class schedule and even have an student ID at South university. I do not have any of these things. I have not filled out any applications except to receive more information about the school that is located in Richmond VA. I do not have a major with the school and I do not know what major they have placed me under. I am majoring in paralegal at J SGT Reynolds in Richmond VA.

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    Reviewed July 11, 2015

    First off I attended South University for about 3 years with the help of financial aid and never had a balance. But when I had to withdrawal due to pregnancy issues I suddenly had a balance of over 2300 dollars. Now a year and a half later I tried to re enroll and was told I couldn't due to the balance. But not only that they won't even release my transcripts to another school, so I lost 96 credits towards my bachelor's degree. But also if I was able to enroll it would have been into another program because my degree was no longer offered. Trying to talk to them about the balance was pointless because I either never spoke to a person or the person I was speaking to couldn't explain it at all. This is the worst online school that I have ever dealt with and would not recommend it to anyone.

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    PricePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed July 7, 2015

    Very misleading. I was a young single mother, made very little money and when I looked into this school, they really sugar coated a lot. I did not realize the amount of debt I would inherit after graduation and only receiving an AA degree. I took one class at a time as I worked full time and raised my daughter. I attended school from January 2009 and finally finished my AA December 2014. I borrowed $38K and now I owe over $64K. That is almost double.

    How can this be? I cry thinking that now I could NEVER help my daughter when she goes to college, that I still can not even get a decent paying job with an AA and can't afford to go back for my BA. The school wasn't what I imagined a college experience should be. They kept changing counselors, I was withdrawn by mistake and at times it was a nightmare. They gave me classes I didn't need or told me I didn't need classes I actually needed. This is a debt I will always have. I can't afford the $600+ payments a month they want in order to make a dent in this loan.

    I only make $36K a year and my 15 year old daughter isn't cheap. Feeding her, clothing her, paying for her after school programs so she won't sit at home getting into God knows what while I'm at work and whatever else as a mother I pay, and with these loans on my back it's very depressing. I left school to help my ex, then he left us, and then I went back to finish my degree but now with this loan on my credit, my debt ratio is too high that I now I don't have decent credit so I'm just screwed all the way around. If you decide to go here, though it may sound like it's easy, and a great choice, just know it's costly, they are not honest with what it will cost you and it's a business. Not a school that cares about educating.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed July 6, 2015

    This school is a rip off financially. They take their own time refunding students money left on their account, and when you try to reach out to advisors or business office workers, they rarely or never return calls or emails. Only continuing here because I'm almost done. Worst experience ever!!

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    Staff

    Reviewed June 24, 2015

    I started this particular school in 2010. I was there for almost a year and during that year I had been very unhappy with several things. The tuition was outrageous but to be fair most tuition for online universities is outrageous so I won't say much about that. What I was very dissatisfied with was the fact that you could not get a hold of anyone in admissions, guidance, or the professors. The last straw for me however was the fact that I had failed a math class one time (I am horrible with math) so I was enrolled in it a second time (and according to the school guidelines you can take a class a total of three times) however I withdrew from it (before the classes began so it shouldn't have had any effect on my grades) because of a death in my family. I didn't think I would have the patience to handle that particular struggle so I withdrew and enrolled in a different class.

    The next semester I went to register for it (so registered a third time but only my second time that I had taken the class) and I was informed that I was being dropped from the school because I had already taken this particular class three times. According to the guidelines you were able to take a class 3 times, I had technically only taken it once. Yet they withdrew me from school, denied my appeals, and refused to give me any of my transcripts from the school (not that it would have mattered because none of them would have transferred). What horrified me was the fact that before I withdrew from the class I spoke with two different advisors and they both told me that I had nothing to worry about since classes hadn't started yet. I regret more than anything in my life going to this particular university because of the debt it put me in without getting anything in return. I wouldn't recommend this particular school to my worst enemy!

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    Sales & Marketing

    Reviewed June 21, 2015

    I went to this school and had several issues with financial aid constantly changing my funds. They requested more funds than I needed and I received two refund checks. I dis-enrolled after completing my semester and had them sign a paper stating I had a zero balance due to other reviews. Two weeks later I received my transcripts that I requested noting my account balance was still at zero. Following term came and boom now I have a balance of 990 and have someone harassing me for the money. How can I owe money when I had a zero balance upon dis enrolling signed by the financial aid advisor and was able to obtain transcripts. Someone really need to investigate this school because this could be a scam and the consequence is other individuals pay them money after dis-enrolling.

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    Customer ServiceCoverageStaffProcess

    Reviewed June 18, 2015

    I am appalled at the seemingly questionable practices and ethics of this "University." I am an administrator at a public high school who oversees our Guidance Dept. and deals with student college admissions daily. A sweet former student, ** who was staffed into our ESE program into his adulthood as "Educable Mentally Handicapped (EMH)" and who continues to volunteer at our school for life/work experience was admitted into South University without any college placement test or high school transcripts requested. ** was walked by phone through the financial aid process by the financial advisers at South University and then scheduled into SIX (yes, 6!!) courses by phone from a college adviser for a semester.

    Clearly, when you speak to ** on the phone you realize that he is a prime candidate to be vulnerable to agreeing to things he may not understand. He was told that all of his courses would be paid for through his financial aid without understanding that he would need to repay the majority of the bill which was Fed loans. Due to his intellectual disability he did not realize that the bill for the semester which totaled over $14,000 was over $9,000 in federal loans and the Pell grants only covered a little over $5,000. The school financial adviser had so "kindly" helped him process all of his aide to be paid to South University after two weeks into the courses. Luckily for ** he asked me to look over the paperwork prior to the courses beginning and I was able to explain that he would most definitely owe a large sum of money that he would not be able to repay because his disability money each month barely covers his living costs.

    After LOTS of time trying to even explain what a loan meant, he asked me to call South University and help him back out of the admissions and courses. We called together and the reviews speaking about the bullying process of this institution seem to be what I experienced. Once the first person I spoke with realized I was a professional who had a substantial amount of knowledge about college admissions and I was not going to be bullied or talked to as if I was not knowledgeable, I was then transferred to someone who tried to escalate the tactics. After having to be very blunt and direct that ** wanted to withdraw his admission application and be removed from courses, I was told by the admission adviser that I would have to talk to a supervisor because they didn't know "how" to withdraw a student or how he could be dropped from the courses.

    From the website there was no way for ** on his own to drop the courses for which he was registered. It clearly had to be done by someone at the school and they seemed to be confused how this process worked. After repeated demands for the supervisor to send ** an email stating that he had requested his application to not be processed, classes to be dropped, and to confirm that there would not owe any financial obligations before I got off the phone, the supervisor finally sent the email (this was after an hour and half on the phone). After the school repeatedly placed me on hold, I guessed they realized that I was relentless and capable of getting outside agencies involved due to the student's disability to make sure he was withdrawn prior to courses beginning and financial obligations being owed.

    This student would have most likely not been capable of completing these courses just a few weeks into the semester, and the school would have received $15,000 for their admissions process they so generously offered. I will continue to follow up to make sure this student is not taken advantage of and I hope anyone that may be considering applying really looks into the practices & services offered from this school.

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    Staff

    Reviewed May 7, 2015

    While I don't begrudge the education I received, the lies and deceit that constantly come from the admissions staff border on pathological! They lied to me about their for-profit status, lied about what transfers and what doesn't, and let's not talk about the outrageous tuition! STAY AWAY FROM SOUTH UNIVERSITY!!!

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    Reviewed April 25, 2015

    Accelerated MBA program in 12 months. Classes are just over 4 weeks each, alternate Saturdays in class and online hybrid. Difficult but you learn a lot.

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    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPriceStaff

    Reviewed April 15, 2015

    By far the WORST place to work or attend as a student! If you are even considering South as your choice for either of these reasons, think again! South is on probation with SACS which is the accrediting body they have been accredited by. Check it out for yourself. They may lose their accreditation within the year, and then where will you be? Do you really want to pay their absurd cost of tuition, go deeply into debt, and invest all your hard work, time and money, only to have credits that won't transfer anywhere and have no value at all?

    South is in terrible financial trouble, and may not even be in existence soon... then what? South has multiple lawsuits against them from both students, employees, and shareholders alike. Google it. South is nothing more than a large call center with many employees that are trained, advised, and pushed hard to get you to enroll. The Admission Reps are held accountable DAILY and HOURLY for production. They are trained in strong arm sales tactics, and you are nothing more than a tick on a greaseboard to whomever sold you on South. I bet the AR doesn't even tell you the cost of tuition...

    They offer to waive SOME prospective student's application fees ($50.00), but do NOT offer the same thing to each... fair and ethical? Not if you're the one getting charged while your buddy does not... Each and every call is recorded, even personal calls. They claim it's for compliance, but in reality it is their proverbial "card up their sleeve" to be used anytime they want you gone. As a student, you better like writing papers, because two large papers are due every week, along with 4 substantial postings. They sell you on "only one class at a time!" yet in reality, that one class becomes a second job...

    The interaction is non-existent between you and your instructor. Just try to ask a question or get help on anything... good luck with that. What to do if you need help? The instructors are not there to teach, just to guide the class and grade your papers. I hope you like teaching yourself, because that's what you will be doing at South. I was a long term employee and a student at South University until I was asked to do something unethical and quite possibly illegal by my direct supervisor... again, for which I refused multiple times. I was given a BS reason, and was terminated. I am currently pursuing legal actions of my own and have the proof of my claim... It's your choice of course, but think long and hard before you enroll as a student or become an employee with horrible company... GOOD LUCK!

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    PricePunctuality & SpeedStaffProcess

    Reviewed March 15, 2015

    I want to start off by saying that you cannot rely on every negative review that you come across. My overall admission experience was awesome. I had a very clear understanding of what would happen before it happened to make sure I was enrolled on time. The program I'm enrolled in has the appropriate accreditation, and I was able to transfer credits from another University. I chose SU because it was convenient for me. The staff there specifically told me what counts as attendance and that I needed to be in class four days out of the week.

    I am grateful for my finance counselor. She encourages me every time I have spoken to her. My file had to go for review due to an unusual enrollment history otherwise I would not be able to attend. She provided me with information to apply for a scholarship that I could use. It was applied to my account. I have taken advantage of the counseling they provided to me also. The online university has been a true blessing to me. I know someone who had car issues and they are back enrolled. I have a clear breakdown of my tuition cost. If you experienced issues with the portal they have a knowledgeable technical support team to contact.

    The online part of the university is as expensive as any other online college. As far as plagiarism there is a tracker every time you turn in your paper. I have a 4.0 GPA and I've completed a substantial amount of work more than I would have completed going to a physical location. If you had internet problems they imply in every course to have a back up plan. Last, if you were to withdraw for a reason know the consequences do not blame the school. Of course you will have a balance I have one with financial aid. The orientation class would have given you an experience to see if it was for you or not. I am enjoying my time and look forward to graduating on time.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Feb. 19, 2015

    I decided to attend South University to finish my Bachelors in Healthcare Management and liked the idea of online classes... First thing first, every month I had a new academic advisor and financial counselor. The best one I ever had was when I first started, and after that it was impossible to get anyone to ever call you back. To make this long story short, I ended up being dropped due to low GPA. I appealed my decision with medical documentation because I was having health problems that semester and it was still denied. What does it say? I wouldn't recommend anyone attending here.

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    Online & AppStaff

    Reviewed Jan. 29, 2015

    No warning at all, just dropped! I went online this past Monday like I did everyday to check what was going on in my class, and to work on my next assignment due Tuesday night. When I got on the South University Online website I noticed something was wrong! I saw my name and my student I.D. but that was all. My grades (All A's!) were GONE, my credits I had earned in my first two classes (8 credits!) were GONE, my class, and next class I could usually see were also GONE!

    I could not get into any of the places on their website that I usually could, so could not even work on my assignment, or submit it to the Professor's drop box. To say I was freaking out is an understatement! I tried calling my Academic Counselor to find out what was going on. I could not get a hold of anybody, and just kept getting her voice mail! I finally called their tech support to see if it was a problem with their site. Nope, not a site problem, but then the tech guy said, "I can't even see where you are enrolled in South University Online right now!"

    WHAT? I have taken two classes, and almost done with a third, and you can't find where I am enrolled? He said I'd better talk to my school counselor, and he transferred me to her. To my great surprise she told me that I had been DROPPED from my classes, because they could not prove I went to an accredited high school. Come to find out, they had been practically harassing my friend Elaine ** who works in the office where our school records are kept, and kept having her send things to them to PROVE I had graduated from an accredited school.

    She sent them EVERYTHING they asked for, and went above and beyond to satisfy them to no avail! I had NO IDEA that this was even going on, because the last I knew, everything was FINE with my transcripts. Not only did they DROP me, they also took away my 8 credits that I worked so hard to get, and my class I was in I was also going to get an A, and another 4 credits. It was like the last 14 weeks were for NOTHING! I found out this school does this, and other shady things to many online students after doing a search online about South University Online. I wanted to share this in hopes this does not happen to someone else too.

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    Punctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Jan. 26, 2015

    I would not recommend this school at all for anyone to attend. I do want to start off by saying that the adviser was really nice and she help me out a lot. I started class on time and had all my books. I completed my assignment on time and started off with very good grades. I was going to the library everyday to do my work because I didn't have internet access at home. Well I was involved in an accident and it totaled my car and so I didn't have a way to go to the library to do my school work. So I was calling to notified the school about my situation and it seem like didn't anyone care, because I could not get in touch with anyone. Well they finally sent me letter, because of my in-completion of the work, so that I could tell them why I wasn't attend the class anymore. And so when I wrote what happen, I guess it wasn't good enough because they didn't accept it.

    Well long story short, know when I try to apply for other colleges, they want you to list every college you have attend and they want the transcripts. Well now I have $2,000 and some hanging over my head from South University because they were so inconsiderate, and I can't get a transcript from them, which they want me to pay, which I'm not going to do. I give this school two thumbs down. I do want to warn everyone to research about schools before you attend them, I wish I had.

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    Staff

    Reviewed Jan. 23, 2015

    I have attended SU since 2010, but had to withdraw for about a year due to personal and work reasons. I had a 3.5 gpa, excellent student. The school seemed fine for about the first year or so, but then noticed major derogatory changes. I always had a different counselor. I am now in so much debt with just a few credit hours left and furthermore than said I had a $965.00 dollar balance and threw me in to collections without even telling me that this needed to be paid? Needless to say it has affected my credit negatively. Please someone, tell me what to do?? I cannot afford a lawyer right now, but definitely do not want to continue here. Thanks.

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    Contract & TermsSales & MarketingStaffProcess

    Reviewed Dec. 30, 2014

    This institution is a complete and total scam. The admissions representatives are more "used car salesman" than anything else. The department heads not involved in the actual teaching side are clueless beyond all belief and are not even aware of most of their own school policies. After many of their financial aid staff left (gee, wonder why that is...) they decided to contract out their processing to a third party company that has been slapped with so many lawsuits over the years for abusive practices I'm almost sure the federal court judges know their lawyers on a first name basis. In point of fact they are still holding funds that are mine that should have been distributed a long time ago. They are NOT fully accredited for every "degree program" they offer. Most of your classes will never transfer to another institution because they are for the most part absolutely useless. They also openly discriminate against those with disabilities. Avoid at all costs.

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    PriceStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 29, 2014

    First let me say, with the exception of a couple of instructors, I had great professors during the 3-1/2 years I attended SU on my way to graduating summa cum laude with my BS in Healthcare Management. However since I started college at the age of 43, if I'd had even the slightest idea that I'd wind up with more debt (including interest) than my house cost, I would have never started!!!

    I had 25+ years of accounting experience when I went to talk with an "admissions advisor" and told him of my interest in healthcare management. SU was the only college/university of the 6 local schools that had a program specifically called Healthcare Management, although I now know I could have gotten essentially the same degree at one of the extremely good public universities and it probably would have only cost about as much as my SU! Anyway, he assured me that adding a BS in Healthcare Management to my accounting experience would provide me with limitless career, not just job, opportunities! As you can probably guess, almost 4 years post graduation, I have not found that assurance to be anywhere close to being true!!! Since graduating I have been doing the exact same type of accounting work I was doing before starting at SU, not having the opportunity to utilize anything I learned while earning my degree... only now, including interest, I have over $100,000 in debt that I won't be able to pay off in my lifetime!!!

    Tuition went up 10%-15% EVERY year while I was there! Also, they didn't release the list of required books until less than a week before classes so you didn't have a choice but to get them from the bookstore. All they sell are brand new books (they don't buy back books even though the spine usually isn't even broken) and I never got a book that was less than $100, and that was for a paperback book less than 1" thick! They do not offer book rental and every time a new edition of a book comes out they start using it the next quarter even if it's a book that's used for two different classes - so you have to buy the new book the next quarter unless you have a professor that gives a flip about their students and will tell you you don't need the new book - because after the first week of the quarter you can't return books to the bookstore even if they're unused unless they're still in shrink-wrap, and very few come that way to begin with!

    The same goes with not being able to drop a class after the first week - two classes - which is not enough time to figure out if the class and/or the instructor is what you need!!! After graduating, even with all my accounting experience, it took someone from the Federal loan servicing program to look at all the different accounts listed under my SSN to tell me what my loans totaled! I had a good experience while at SU and I learned a lot, but ultimately it wasn't worth it and I wish I'd never done it!!!

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    Process

    Reviewed Oct. 1, 2014

    Teachers' falsely information and grades and not fired. Director of program did not do anything about it. Teacher withholding information and not allowing student to view records. Director of program wants you to repeat course so you can pay again for class. Each individual students are treated differently and nothing is being done. South fails students unintentionally so students can repeat class. Trust me do not do your MASTER in NP with them. Trust me!

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Sept. 22, 2014

    I was pursuing a master's degree and during my very last class, I was accused of plagiarism. My academic advisor at the time called me personally and told me that the school was just looking for an excuse to obtain more money. There was nothing wrong with my paper. I tried to fight it but no one was willing to listen to me. Do not waste your time and money. They did this to several students who graduated with me.

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    Customer ServicePriceStaff

    Reviewed Sept. 21, 2014

    I wish I would have come to this site before going there. I just had the most horrible college experience ever! I am older and after raising four children it was my time to finish my degree. I had just come here on vacation to see my daughter and check out the area. I wound up applying for a job and was hired immediately at a hospital. I was so happy! I decided to check out some schools here and was interested in the OTA program. I went to South and it looked so impressive!

    My admissions counselor was great, I really liked him and he was THE ONLY one who wanted me to pursue my issue while I was attending. I was afraid to out of fear of retribution. Anyway, they got me to sign up for school. $4,000 for two classes! I was so happy though to be moving, I just thought I would do it because I wanted to become an OTA so badly. So, I run back up north, give two weeks notice, pack my stuff and start my journey to Florida.

    On my way down, I blew my engine on my 2008 Hyundai Sonata and was stranded in Virginia for four days trying to figure out if I should get my car fixed. I wind up leaving my car behind because it was going to cost around 5K for a new engine, rent a car and finally make it here. I thought I had another week before school started. Well, no one told me that my online Medical Terminology class started a week earlier. I arrived on a Thursday, went to speak to my counselor and was told then that my medical Terminology class started the next day.

    So, I am freaking out. I am unpacking, starting my new job on the following Monday and have a deadline by the next day to submit my assignment. I had no internet connection at my house yet. So, I eventually make it online and just saw that we had to write an autobiography. So, I was relieved. I did not get a chance to read through the entire syllabus so I just wrote my autobiography and emailed it my my professor.

    This guy was such an absolute jerk, I cannot even begin to tell you. He was nasty, pompous and so arrogant. We were suppose to write it to other classmates and respond to other people. So, I apologized and told him I had just moved and that I would do a better job. When I would ask him a question, he either told me to refer back to the directions or made me feel like a complete idiot. One time I emailed him about something and said have a "nice weekend Professor........" and his reply was "I AM DR..........."!

    The work load was absolutely ridiculous. I got to the point with this teacher that I was so stressed out and beat down by him, I just could not take it. He graded me horribly and I know it was because I kept asking him questions and he did not want to be bothered. I had a great GPA prior to attending this school. I wound up just losing it with him and called him a very bad name. I was ashamed at myself for losing it. It was so out of character but I knew that I was going to probably wind up with a C in this class and there was no reason for it.

    Only when I called him what I did did I get a phone call telling me I violated their conduct code. I have heard so many other students complain about this school. They are overpriced, they won't transfer a lot of your credits and want you to repeat classes and the online classes are ridiculous. I will say however, that there is a lady that teaches College Algebra and she was the nicest and most helpful teacher.

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    Reviewed Sept. 17, 2014

    I graduated from South University this year with 700 (graduating class was 2,200) other happy students. We had a wonderful time. ** I chose SU because many of the courses offered there were not available at other colleges. Yes, there were some challenges; however, their courses are worth every dime. You'll receive what you put into it. It's that simple.

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    Punctuality & Speed

    Reviewed Aug. 29, 2014

    I was briefly enrolled at South University and had to withdraw within 2 weeks of the start of the program. I made my intentions clear about withdrawal. I have made several attempts to obtain withdrawal information. I have not received withdrawal information and I continue to be graded for a course that I cannot finish. When the school had to obtain information from me, I co-operated in a timely manner. I do not understand why co-operation on their part cannot be timely.

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    Customer ServicePricePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed July 28, 2014

    I am a 20 year legal assistant and felt it was time to progress my skills with a degree after raising my children in their teens now. I started the Paralegal Program and made it very clear of my availability time for this education. I am a single mother, travel 150 miles a day to and from work and I was clear on my time limitation of this education, about 20 hours per week. I was very clear on my time limitation. This was reiterated several times with the University representatives. Well, it was one lie after another. The classes start off slow and advisable but within two weeks the hourly curriculum requirements become outrageous. First, there are 2 weekly assignments, lectures (which are read, there are no live lectures), lesson readings (100 to 150 pages per week) and understanding the lesson plus you must answer to at least 7 students twice a week with specific understanding of the lesson that is acceptable to the professor.

    At first, the weekly assignments were about 5 to 6 hours each, so 11 or 12 hours on the assignments are acceptable, that would give you time for all the rest of the weekly requirements. But, after two or so weeks, the classes obviously become harder, the assignments now read 11 to 22 hours each leaving no time for anything else and forget it if you don't understand the lesson. This school sucks you in long enough to charge you big time. I complained to the professors, administrators, representatives who assured me that this was the place for me with the time I had and would be respected but all fell on deaf ears. Nobody cared. Not to mention that the software that was required for the classes, crashed my computer costing me $ 200.00 to fix the problem. I immediately withdrew. With the above, after the third week and already being behind because of the required time for the 2 assignment alone, not to mention understanding the course, all the promises of tutors, and research help, and all of the available study help they offer, is ridiculous, because there is no time for it at all.

    So as you may guess, I received a bill for the 2 1/2 weeks in the amount of $ 1,165.00. I will not pay this amount and was clear to them that first, my computer crashed and they were very untruthful amount their representation of South University so I offered them $300.00. They continued to bill me for a YEAR without even an answer to my offer. Nothing. Now it's in collection and I have made it very clear that I will be filing a complaint and refuse to pay them a dime. No one called me about my offer to them and this makes this institution unacceptable as an educational institution. Don't let them fool you. With the above, many students were trapped with a hefty tuition bill and complained about the same thing that happened to me. These student are full-time and having issues so they were lied to also.

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    Reviewed July 8, 2014

    I have only been enrolled for four days and just found thirty one plus reviews and all very bad! It says I owe over $8,000. They say this South University is a SCAM. I need assistance in this matter. Who should I contact, state attorneys office to start. In the reviews, it states when you try to withdraw, they become abusive and call your contact numbers constantly. HELP.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed July 4, 2014

    The only thing I wanted to do Is better my life for me and my kids - that's it. So I went back to school, did my research for schools online. This school and Kaplan University pop up. I tried Kaplan out, didn't like it so I gave South University a try. Got lied to from day one how good the school is and they have good programs. Well... they lied real good for me to enrolled into the school. The professors are so unprofessional. It's ridiculous. I had a 4.0 GPA the whole five weeks in the class. Guess what the professor Gave me a failing grade and made my GPA drop to a A to a C.

    I try to appeal the grade but South policies and guidelines are so messed up I couldn't even appeal the grade and the class was over so I went to my academic advisor - no help. They never pick up their phone. They always unavailable. Tried speaking to a supervisor - they unavailable. I can't win for losing then leave a voice mail, even email them. Still no answer. I wouldn't recommend this school to my worse enemy. If you considering this school keep looking. This school is a waste of students money and time. Glad I withdraw. Took me over a month to withdraw from the school. Couldn't get in touch with my grad team. Well I don't have to deal with that anymore.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed June 24, 2014

    I have been trying to contact someone about withdrawing from my classes for two weeks and they won't send you a email saying what you need to do. They want you to call ten people and no one answer... I would not recommend South at all.

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    Reviewed June 13, 2014

    I could not get my official transcripts from South to transfer to another school because I was unhappy with South. Now the two years I attended at South do not count and I have to start all over again and repeat classes I already had. They will send you the unofficial transcripts but that is no good.

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    PriceStaffProcess

    Reviewed May 24, 2014

    I have been a student at South University for several years online. Before attending here... I have taken courses at other for-profit schools such as U of Phoenix, etc. Graduated from others schools to include Yuba College and from the USAF. EVERYONE has their flaws. After I needed to seek a new career because of an injury... I discovered this school (South University). Yes, they sold me on the idea how this school works with you... And for the most part they do. I will now place my experiences with the school into "pros and cons".

    Cons: Pretty much I knew going in... I need to complete about 90% of the work. Very little of my classes transferred... But hey, I'm coming from a technical background. The classes are mainly 4 credit hours. Why? I guess to look good. Therefore most colleges require 120 credit hours for their degree... They require about 190 hours! I started in late 2009 and was told I will take me about 2 1/2 years to finish... Of course I had to drop 3 classes and fail 3 other classes. I'm now slated to finish June of 2015. Classes are expensive! I feel like I'm in grade school.

    The only professor I did not like, my A&P I, totally unfair... Normally you have about 3 days to read "X" amount of chapters and answer discussion questions. Trust me, the questions are complex enough and it takes some time to do. Most questions are 1-5 long... But this professor acted like you knew the material all your life! Honestly, he would give on top what you have about another 30-50 questions! Who had that kind of time to do "busy work"? Make a long story short... We students got together and filed a complaint. His practices have changed 100 fold... But look at what we had to go through...plus you had a lab that is 2 credit hours... But you did about 6 credit hours of work! But you do come out of the class smarter... Some of the classes have weekly quizzes, the A&P classes, math classes, etc. I rather answer discussion questions and write a report than take a quiz. This is supposed to be about "new ways of learning".

    Pros: The professors are great and they grade very fairly. Using APA is a must. Classes are 5 weeks long. But the science classes are 10-11 weeks long! So far... If you fail a class and have to repeat it... Save your work... There's a 70% chance you will see the same questions. If you a VET, the post GI Bill will pay for schooling. The school is recognized by department of education.

    Overall, the school isn't bad... I would say, at least from the online department... They are very helpful. I do not know about the other programs... But the health science program is very interesting. It's just that math and science is not my strong suit... But they are there to help and it has been very interesting. I'm looking forward to graduating. I have given it 4 stars... For me, 5 stars if all the classes such as math did not have weekly quizzes. I have less stars for cost... Just too high... About $1,300 a class! But if I had to do it all over again.. I would have picked this school first.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Feb. 28, 2014

    This school is horrible, I mean anything to get some money from you, they will try. First I went on winter break December 19th supposedly my student loans didn't come in till December 23rd. I decided not to come back after winter break because they were telling me I would have to pay over 4,000 dollars for school because I didn't get enough Pell grant. Total bs, I know. Well I decided before it could get any worse to drop out of school for good. Rewind to a month later I receive a bill for over 4,000 dollars and I'm like Wth, this was my reason for dropping out of school. I called Teresa ** in financial aid, said it was a misunderstanding that will be corrected.

    Okay rewind to today I get a call from a billing department saying I owe this balance. I'm like wtf, this has been taken care of. Well well it wasn't Teresa ** and South University is total rip off. I am unemployed. Why would I pay money to a school that I am attending won't receive a degree from at all. Her alternative was for me to ask the student loans to dispense funds so that balance could be taken care. Her exact words were, "Or you could just owe us and you won't have to worry about interest payments." **. If I couldn't afford it then why would I be able to afford it now. Teresa ** is a liar and a money hungry **. I can't believe I still have to pay. Well, there goes 2 years of school down the drain.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Feb. 14, 2014

    I completed two courses at South University. Upon beginning the third course I realized that the full-time program was more than I could manage in addition to full-time employment. I was already enrolled in the third course, but withdrew. After withdrawal from the course I noticed a deposit to my personal checking account from South University. Two week later I received a call from South University's Recovery Department that I owe a balance for the last course of $2200. I don't understand their accounting practices, but I question why I was issued a stipend when I was no longer enrolled in the course and had an outstanding balance with the school. The school offered me a 40% discount off the $2200 if I made a payment within two weeks. If the school would have applied the stipend to the account, with the 40% discount I would have only owed a little over $300. I should have followed my gut instinct when I received the stipend versus using some of the money on personal expenses. Now I owe the larger amount. Anyone interested in the online program please get a clear understanding about the financials. Pissed in Oklahoma.

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    Customer ServicePricePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Feb. 12, 2014

    I have been attending South University since 2011 and was lied to from the beginning. Even though the admissions counselor that told me lies got me in the door, I refused to be put off by her alone. I LOVED the professors there and loved the smaller classes. The West Palm campus was very helpful throughout the first year I was getting all of my pre-req's done for nursing. Until I became very ill in my pregnancy...

    They would not withdraw me over the phone, even though I was in the hospital and not physically able to come to the campus to withdraw! I was not able to return to class due to complications and they did not withdraw me (even administratively which is supposed to be done after 3 consecutive absences) until the end of the 11 wk course!! I only attended 1 week of the course but was charged for the whole thing even though the drop period is within that beginning 2 wks. They charged me for classes I did not take and then charged the VA for them as well!

    After moving to Tampa, I decided to give South another try and was very impressed when meeting my admissions counselor here. I began classes quickly and loved most of my professors. The only thing about good about the Tampa campus is the professors! The financial aid staff and everyone not in a classroom have the worst customer service! My FA counselor has been changed 3 times and I STILL cannot get a hold of the guy. They did not add my yellow ribbon into my financial aid "package" that still is not completed.

    They have different rules than all of the other campuses about what they charge you when you drop a class, even one you NEVER sat in! This campus does not have a student dean or an academic dean. They didn't have anyone who could help answer my questions and I had to ask for one of heads of the programs to get somewhere with my problem. After this last class, I am leaving this school. I cannot imagine how a school that is SO expensive could not want to keep their students in the program.

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    Sales & MarketingStaff

    Reviewed Dec. 15, 2013

    The recruitment officer promised a program that was "user friendly" to the adult worker trying to obtain an advanced degree. She lied. Another coworker and I enrolled, only to find that we were unable to comply with the assignments required with the impossible timelines. I notified them that I am withdrawing from the program 3 weeks into the program and they told me I needed to complete my "Exit Counseling" from student loans.gov. When I attempted to do this, the site stated I owed "26,000" dollars. I am appalled. I am angry and I want to warn anyone who looks at this "university" for any sort of education to be aware that it is a Ponzi scam. They want your money.... only your money. That is the education I got.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Sept. 30, 2013

    I contacted South about 2 days after my enrollment saying didn't want to do this anymore. Don't have the time nor the money. They kept contacting me saying just give it a try. If you don't like it, then you can quit. I DID the wk 1 assignment with him on the phone because he kept pressuring me that it is so easy. He told me he didn't want an email on Monday saying that I didn't want to do this anymore and he would call me and go through the rest with me. He never called so I emailed him again saying I do not want this and to stop everything.

    So now they are billing me for that first week. Over $400.00. I sent two emails to other students on my biography. 2 maybe three lines. The class was named strategies for success. For $1608.00 are you kidding me? That's not a class. Especially when I was going to surgical tech. I told them I wasn't going to pay it and they said they were going to send me to collections then. This university is crap! Any answers in what I can do???

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    Price

    Reviewed July 26, 2013

    Do not consider spending your educational dollars, or your financial aid dollars, at South University. Do NOT do it. It is expensive. It provides none of the benefits that you would receive at another competing college. The admissions department is comprised of used car salesmen. The financial aid department is comprised of collection agency workers; nobody who will actually provide aid to your financial concerns. Some of the prerequisite classes are fluff with no substance. Why take a class that requires you purchase a $100 textbook when NO reading from the textbook is necessary?

    When a non-licensed teacher has been hired to teach classes at South University, you are under the rules of the school. If you find the class has inadequacy "issues", the general studies dean and academic affairs dean will not allow you to drop the class. That will result in money wasted. And if you receive financial aid, that is wasted government money. Spend your financial aid money on a real college that has less of a need for PROFIT. Stay away from any of the "EDMC" collection of schools.

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    Installation & SetupStaffProcess

    Reviewed June 6, 2013

    I enrolled in South University's MBA Program. The Academic Adviser did more talking than she did listening. I graduated summa cum laude in my BA program at another university, so I am a committed, hardworking student. The tutoring service is useless and takes hours to pilfer through, and I ended up with a nontransferable C in statistics, so I am now having to take it again. I am livid. The course instructions were difficult to find and often conflicted each other. One of the instructors did not grade the coursework, giving all students kudos even though they had different answers; they were MATH problems. I am sick that I wasted GI Bill money on this university.

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    Staff

    Reviewed May 15, 2013

    The staff is very uncaring. They are stealing money from the government and should be investigated. With 109 credit hours completed, I was told my financial plan was maxed-out. Instead of sending me a stipend, they tried to take it by enrolling me a new class that would give me a balance to pay other than giving me the stipend that I was due. I complained to them about it and they looked like they had erased the balance and hopefully, I get a refund soon. We need to file a class action lawsuit to get some of our loans decreased.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed May 11, 2013

    I paid in full for the one class I took. The second class was so absurd I told them I was withdrawing. They would not return email or phone calls. I paid $300.00 in full of my own money. They eventually sent me back a refund and zero balance owed. Then after I quit, they sent me a stipend check that bounced. I owe nothing and have been fighting this for two years with fed Loan. My dream of an education became a nightmare. And even though I have a receipt that shows zero balance, they have now come up with a fraudulent ledger showing I still owe $400.00. I do not owe them; I do not owe Fed Loan. I will not pay it. I may have to get a lawyer to get them to fess up. Robert ** is a crook and, I believe, he is lining his own pockets with Fed Loan money that the student never sees. Do not go here.

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    Staff

    Reviewed April 10, 2013

    Don't be fooled by the "new building" and friendly "recruiters" and different stories on financial aid. Suddenly, my FA excess check went from $1500 stipend down to $150. I dropped of course and was then treated like persona non grata, and the admissions director even suggested I just wanted the money and not to learn. They are not above board. Watch out, it's a no name university and it's Mickey Mouse.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Jan. 25, 2013

    South University Columbia is a school of opportunity. Not for their students but for the financial gain of the staff i.e. John South. According to the financial aid department at SUCOLA, they never have a response to the length of time it takes to process an individual's stipend, as they have outsourced that job to a third party. No one will ever answer who the third party company allegedly is and/or contact information. However, there is a great inconsistency in SUCOLA stories. They alleged that this third party company was hired to process the student's refund expeditiously. Yet, it can take up to a week, sometimes longer, to receive a stipend. There was an active lawsuit against EDMC for allegations of predatory practices for financial gain. Under these allegations, it is stated that EDMC, a company associated with private institutions such as South University, enrolled students based on numbers and not on the merit of the student's ability to comprehend their studies.

    Also, the allegations state that EDMC would cut a portion of the paycheck to the recruiters i.e. South University based on the number of students that was enrolled. So the motivation for South University is seemingly money. I have inquired with Savannah campus as well and I have yet to receive a call back as to why a specified date is not provided when a student will receive their money. Most colleges will provide an estimated date of disbursement. SUCOLA provides you with inconsistent answers; some of which to smoke screen their underhanded practices. If you ask Walt **, the Director of Financial Aid, a question, you will receive this ambiguous, inconsistent, contrite response. The experience has been one that I would not wish on anyone. The professors lack the motivation to really teach the courses. Attending this university appears to be equivalent to attendance to an elementary school. Students can write short, choppy sentences in a graduate course and receive a minimal of a B-, all for the almighty dollar. Get them in, take their money, and watch them fail. If you are thinking of enrolling to SU, think again! Save your time, money and brain cells for a more established university.

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    Reviewed Nov. 1, 2012

    Only 44 credits left to graduate and locked out - I, first of all, have never heard of an SAC-accredited school needing 182 credits for an undergraduate degree. Second of all, I have discussed my tuition balance and had my tuition bills reviewed by many finance counselors outside of South, and it does not add up! I have not spoken to a finance counselor after leaving several messages. I need to sue and file a grievance.

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    Staff

    Reviewed Oct. 26, 2012

    I took classes in March through June believing I had financial aid. I was granted $3,500 by the state, but the school would not release my money to me. They wanted my husband's taxes for years we were not even married. After sending in taxes over and over again, they still want me to pay for my classes. I don't have $4,000. Why are the financial aid officers the only ones to talk to in these situations? They have me in collections, I mean do what? Why? I've been taking classes since 2009 and 2 classes graduating. I thought this was a good school. Now I know it's not.

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    Reviewed Oct. 16, 2012

    I'd been attending South since 2009, up until Sept. 2012 when I was withdrawn without being notified. I'd called my advisor several times, and sent out emails, but didn't receive a call back or email. When I finally did speak to someone, I was told that I was dropped because I didn't meet the letter grade requirement for a class. Mind you, I have 92 credit hours invested in a BA of Science in CSI. So, I gave the supervisor a piece of my mind. Now that I'm attending another university (AIU is awesome), I sent a transcript request in 6 weeks ago. I was wondering why AIU hadn't received anything yet. Well, I emailed my old advisor tonight to find out why. She stated that the reason my request hasn't been processed was because I owe them $783 for a class that I wasn't in for 72 hours that they withdrew me from without notifying me, which is something that South is good for doing.

    I wouldn't recommend this sorry school to my worst enemy. It makes no sense for a student, yet alone a veteran of the US Army, to be treated so unfairly. They don't work on the weekends and then when you call them, they don't call you back. It’s like they just forget about you. You'll get dropped out of a class without being notified, which is unprofessional in my book. I'm a single mom with a 2 year old son. I served my county for 9 years and fought in a crazy war, so that they're sorry behinds could be free and have a job to go and this is the thanks that I get. It’s all good because one thing is for sure - you can't do people wrong and get by. South University Employees will get their come upping, just wait and see. As far as I'm concern, they can play in traffic during a lightning storm wearing aluminum foil around their head, wrist, ankles, and feet.

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    Customer ServiceCoverageStaff

    Reviewed Sept. 13, 2012

    I have been a student of South University since 2008 and hadn’t had any real complaints or problems till last year. For one, it seems as though my financial advisers are being traded every month no lie. I can also affirm that you have to run them down for them to respond. I've had to get my academic counselor to dispatch me through for a financial advisor on two occasions. I have also had to practically fight for my stipend on three occasions with it taking almost three months and a lame excuse that I signed a document saying I didn't want a stipend, which I never did, especially since I have been receiving stipends for nearly four years. The other times my advisers had to call their managers to see what's wrong, to which I was told it was a problem with accounting. When I asked could I speak to them, I was told that students weren't allowed to.

    This year has definitely been horrible since tuition is higher and I have been given two different graduation dates due to me having all required credits; however, I was informed I still had to take this last class. My financial advisor before told me everything would be covered but then this new one said I would owe over $4,000 because my subsidized loans were over limit and they had to pay it back. But I already knew I still had subsidized, and Pell which came through.

    Now I am showing a refund and who knows how long it will take. Hopefully, everything will be straight when I graduate. I saw this and just had to share my experience. I have been blessed with excellent professionals that grade straight from rubric as well as an excellent academic advisor Erin; however, the financial department is horrible and seems to be scandalous.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed May 13, 2012

    I enrolled in the RN to BSN program in June 2010. I completed ONE class and was forced to drop (before the add/drop date) because of financial and personal reasons. I am currently repaying a federal student loan in the amount of $800 for one class. Last year I received a letter from a collection agency stating I owed South University a little over $1000, as if the $800 for one class wasn't enough. I never received a statement or bill from the university prior to this collection letter.

    I contacted South University and was told this was for the 2 or 3 days I was enrolled in the second class, although I dropped the class before the add/drop date, contacted the instructor, and financial aid about leaving the program. I was never told I would have this outrageous bill. I have over the past year tried to resolve this issue with South University to no avail, whether it be unreturned phone calls, emails, or "I'm sorry but I can't help you". I feel like the amount I am being charged is obscene and borderline abusive.

    I do not feel I owe this university anything, in fact I feel like the federal government should get a refund of the $800 loan they paid the university for the one class I did take. This is consumer rape and based on the negative comments I have read posted by others regarding South University, this is quite common. I am finally at a point in my life where I am financially ready to purchase my first home but cannot because of this and the adverse affect it has had on my credit, thus the adverse affect it has had on my life. I would appreciate any assistance or guidance anyone has to offer in this matter.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed April 5, 2012

    I noticed on my financial aid ledger that it claimed that I was sent x amount in stipends this past year. I noticed that it was quite inaccurate. I thought maybe they owed me some checks. So I emailed my financial aid advisor asking him when I could expect my next stipend check. This was back in February. I also called and left him a message or two. I didn't hear anything back so the following week, resent him that email, and called and left a message again. Still no answer. I then emailed him and my academic advisor of this, and she told him to email some answers to me, which he finally did. This was around a month later. He told me in an email that they made accounting errors and that I owed them x amount of money, and that it was due in the next two weeks or I could not continue on with my education. I emailed back, asking why this was, why he was just notifying me of these problems that took place the prior year, and why am I only getting a 2-week notice.

    And on top of that explaining that I did not receive those checks. I told him I wanted him to check into where they were sent, if in fact they were even drawn up and if they were sent to what address and where were they cashed. I have yet to receive an answer from him. Now that due date is here and I am locked out of my class. I have never been treated so unprofessionally by being ignored, and I wonder if I would have even been notified at all that I was going to be suspended, if I wasn't so persistent with inquiring about this. I am looking at withdrawing and enrolling elsewhere. But you better believe I'll do more digging into the reputation of the next school before I enroll.

    South has been nothing but a huge disappointing nightmare from day one! For all you that have complaints, I do feel that a possible class action suit should be brought up against South University. Something needs to be done. "Shafted" South University students, feel free to email me at **. I set this email up just for this purpose. I want to hear from you. We need to bring some serious attention to these issues. I know I am not the only one. I look forward to hearing from you.

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    Staff

    Reviewed March 26, 2012

    Recently, I was dropped from South University due to the fact that my name was changed to an African name. Even though I have all the documentation that shows my name change, the college refused to admit me back. South University received information from the Department of Education that my name was changed. They didn't let me back in school with their excuse about my financial aid where my new name was not showing. All my necessary documentation is available. I asked to present them; they refused to see them. They have billed me $14,000.00 fee in order to return to their school. I refuse to let someone else predict when and how I get an education. I have tried to resolve this matter with dignity.

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    Reviewed March 20, 2012

    No money, no degree at South University - I have 40 credits from graduation and I am told that I have maxed out my student loans. I am asked if I can pay $5882 out of pocket. If I could pay for my tuition out of pocket, I would not have needed to take out student loans (subsidized and unsubsidized), Pell Grants and the Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant! I am a single mom who works full-time and only making $26,000 a year. I have a house payment and a car payment! Thanks, SUO, for not making my dreams of graduating come true!

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed March 5, 2012

    South University staff are lying dogs. They are always lying about stipend amounts and the teachers give you whatever grades they feel like giving you. My academic counselor is not an understanding or helpful counselor at all. Some time back I was having problems with a BIOI teacher during my first session about how she was grading my papers. I e-mailed the teacher and then my academic counselor about the problem. The academic counselor sent me an e-mail saying call her to discuss the problem, which I think she should of called me because I had already discussed my problem through e-mail with her and the teacher. Finally, I completed the class and received a D, which I thought was a passing grade for BIO until I had to retake it. My academic counselor did not call or e-mail me about this matter she just simply reassigned me to take BIO without talking it over with me. After I re-took BIO again I talked to my academic counselor about withdrawing from SU. She asked why I wanted to withdraw, and I told her it’s because of me having to take BIOI back over and the digital books. She said, you can buy physical copies. But I told her I couldn't afford physical copies.

    My academic counselor then became rude and asked me how am I going to afford books at another college, and I told her I wasn't planning on attending a new college. I then told her again about the problems I had with my BIOI teacher, and I asked her is there any way she could review my work that I turned in for the first session and compare it to the second session because there almost exactly the same. She then asked me why she would do that because that lady is a professor and she can’t tell her how to grade her class. I was supposed to receive a $1,700 stipend but because of having to re-take the course I will now only get $271. I would like to have that teacher and the school investigated.

    I also had problems with financial aid counselor The problems I'm having with my financial aid counselor is he will tell me that I’m receiving my stipend on a certain date, and then when I e-mail him again he will tell me a different date, and its the same thing about the stipend amounts. When I first was assigned to him, I e-mailed him the same document 5 times because he said I had on file that I filed taxes for that tax year. Since then, I have requested new a academic counselor and financial aid counselor but, I would still like to have my financial aid, my grades, the school, the teacher who failed investigated.

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    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPricePunctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed Jan. 25, 2012

    South University has charged me over $80,000 for tuition, for online courses, some of which I have not yet taken. I've attended South University as of 2009. They keep blocking me from taking courses that have already been paid for by the federal government. They claim that they did not receive any money from financial aid, however after reviewing my student account, they have received over $67,000 in tuition payment, and now, they are saying I can not take anymore classes, because I owe the school $14,000. Every 2-3 months, the financial counselors and academic advisers change, and they never document previous conversations accurately.

    I was told by the current financial counselor that she and her manager was working to straighten out my account, however I have left 3 or more phone messages, and sent emails, and have yet to get a response. When I asked for her supervisor's email address, she refused to give it to me. She stated he will give me a call by the end of the day, however that was two days ago, and I have yet to get a return call. I looked at my account, and they have charged me double for classes that I have not attended, and they have digital registration fees adding up to be anywhere from $70 - $212, over and over again.

    No one can tell me what's going on with my account. I was taking a class that was 11 weeks long, after completing 8 weeks of class, they withdraw stating, I didn't log in to class for two days. I explained that I had some family matters to take care of, and I had notified the instructor, but they completely looked over it. South University is a complete scam, and I wish I had known this 3 years ago. I have wasted so much time with this school. I feel victimized by the educational system. How could the government let such things go on continuously. This is unfair to students trying to get an education, and find a job at the same time. These people are obviously pocketing student loan money.

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    Reviewed Nov. 20, 2011

    I had applied to South University, because I was looking for top schools to finish my degree. I was told by Joshua that my $50 application fee would be waived and that I was accepted into the school. Great, right? Wrong!

    South University signed me up for classes (I mean, what kind of school does that? In most cases, you get to choose the classes). I sent my transcripts in and I still had to take classes, even though in most cases, up to a certain amount transfers in. I keep getting a bill sent by South University for $50 for my application fee, as well as $1,116. I keep being told that if this isn't paid, it'll get sent to Collections.

    First off, if you don't attend any classes, why am I being charged this amount? Second off, the classes were chosen for me, so am I getting paid because the couple different advisors that had enrolled me into all those classes? How am I to get out of paying this, if I never attended the ** school! Granted, I did sign up for FAFSA, just to see what kind of financial aid I would get. Has this happened to anyone else?

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    Reviewed July 8, 2011

    Hello! My name is Roszalia E. **. I signed up for online classes on May 13, 2010 with South University. As I was signing up, I told my finance adviser that I was on supplemental income known as SSI; and I asked if they have any program that I could fill out on the application so I would not have to pay back the loan. They said that they did. When I asked that question, they started sending me bills telling me what I owe. Now, they are calling and threatening me. All I ever got was a bill and I had not been in school but two weeks.

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    Reviewed Nov. 16, 2010

    I was told I could get a grant to take online classes. My major is Marketing and I was enrolled in Business Administration. I was sent a bill from Direct Loans, $3,962.29, because they paid South University. I told Joshua prior to registering that I didn't want a loan. He claimed this was a package and I wouldn’t be applying for a loan. I spoke to someone named James at Direct Loans 800-848-0981 ** who informed me that I would be responsible for paying the money. Amanda **, at 888-444-3404 ext. 22323, and I spoke in May 2010 and this was supposed to be resolved by them returning the loan which they did not.

    Joshua and Amanda are in the Admissions Department. I was told to speak to Jesse ** who is in the Financial Department. I submitted (2) faxes to Joshua on 11/13 and 11/15/2010; no response. The form submitted to Amanda by me in May didn't mean anything. I had to have a cyst removed and couldn't perform and asked for a withdrawal, still not realizing I had to pay a loan that this wasn't a grant.

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    Reviewed Sept. 15, 2010

    I paid the school over $12000 in grants funds and when I had to withdraw from school, I got a call and email from Dennis ** stating they were going to turn the balance over to collections. Not once did I get a call or letter stating I owed the balance. I would think that since they got $12000 I would not owe them anything, just the Department of Education. I paid on it as I could, but it is wrong of them to threaten me and turn it over to collections after getting the money they got. This is going to be on my credit report if not paid and they cannot tell me what it is for.

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    Reviewed Sept. 13, 2010

    I have had a similar situation with the FA Dept of SUO, better known as South University on-line, mother company EDMC. If anyone is interested, look for this company on-line,and you will find numerous class action suits pending and building against them, as well as, GAO Investigating them. The GAO did an undercover operation and found this company and all it's subsidiaries to be guilty of fraudulent, misleading, misrepresentation and in some cases down right defrauding the government and the tax payers of misleading information on the FAFSA reports.

    My personal experience was as follows. The Financial Dept had made a verbal and in part an email agreement with me concerning the balance of my Pell-Grant of 2009-2010. Since I started late in the fiscal year, and could only go part-time, there would be a balance left out of this grant. This balance had been promised to me, so that I could afford to acquire a Laptop, WiFi Service out in rural America. The deposit alone was for $400 for the WiFi service. I made the purchases in lieu of this agreement.

    I took out a personal loan, to cover all the extra expenses and to assist in my living expenses because of the agreement. I had two different EDMC Advisor to confirm this agreement, since they had changed my Advisor during the processing time. As far as the academic experience I have no complaints. I ended up with a GPA of 3.67 just wanted to put that out there since the census is the student/employees that are complaining cannot cut the mustard, not so.

    Back to the financial aid, and the agreement, I was to receive the balance of my grant, at the end of June 30, 2010. After the fiscal year had ended. I began attempting to make contact with my FA on or around June 17, 2010 but as usual had difficulty to get her to respond either through email and or voice message. After much ado, I did eventually receive a email from my advisor, on June 24, 2010 about 3:30 pm central time. I was then informed that they had just made the decision (without my consent or knowledge) to return my Pell Grant of 2009-2010 back to the government.

    They then explained to me that they had gone back and had removed my payment from my tuition payment of May 2010; that had already been paid for and had been posted as paid since May 14, 2010. So this bill had already been paid for for over 30 days and they decided they wanted to now apply my new grant of 2010-2011 to this debt. So they basically sent back roughly $1,700 of my old grant and were going to apply my new grant to the old debt, which of course would deplete my new grant faster than it should be.

    I now, understood why they couldn't pay me the balance of my grant that they had agreed to. They had already sent my grant money back. Now this opens up a lot of questions. They have now breached an agreement and cannot pay me the balance I was counting on to repay the personal loan I had made.They have done this completely without my consent or knowledge, and they were basically draining my new grant for old debt; therefore, playing out my new grant early on, and I would then have to make the tuition cost out of my pocket once that happened.

    They pretended that they were doing me some kind of favor mb saving me $33 because the new grant allowed more money. That made no sense because they had just sent back roughly $1,700 of my old grant money. Nothing was adding up; I decided I didn't like the way they were treating me, and I surely didn't like the way they were Advising/handling my money. They act like it's their money. I decided to withdraw, they explained if I did withdraw, they would charge me directly for all the old debt that had already been paid for, as well as the rest of the quarter that I haven't even taken yet. They also informed me that there would also be additional charges for the days the college closes down, at least on-line, anyway between the two classes within this quarter.

    They closed the on-line site down, for updates, and no student is allowed to access the Campus Common, and/or their classes. You cannot access anything but they are going to charge you for it, anyway, at least in this case where I was withdrawing. We are allowed to access our classes three days early to review the course work and assignments, but the actual class doesn't start until three days later. I did eventually request that all communications be in writing through email and/or mail.

    They ignored that and continued to call me, and try to get me to converse with them on the phone. I refused to continue any form of communication on the phone because of the inconsistency of all the information as well as not being able to document all they say.I did explain to the Financial Dept that I would be appealing their charges of $2,500 for the school, in addition to what I now would owe the government for a non-usable item. Within a 30 day period, they proceeded to email me twice, call me twice, and sent two letters, all claiming my debt was severely past due, with some serious consequences. They also continue to invite me to re-enroll as a solution to all of this.

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    Reviewed Jan. 23, 2010

    I attended South University and submitted all the required documentation and was not allowed to commence classes until I was informed to do so and all documentation had been received. I was informed via letter and telephone I was clear to commence as all documentation and financial aspects had been completed and on track. I commenced my first two classes and completed with excellent grades. I chose to keep abreast with my financial. I contacted the loan institute who informed me the university cancelled the payments with no reason to the loan organization or to myself. I contacted the school and was spoken to very rudely and even abused on a number of occasions with no resolve.

    Every second day I receive abusive phone calls that state I owe $3,000 and it must be paid in two weeks. Hmm, I don't know about most people but I am a student.I don't have liquid cash like that in hand and especially when the college cancelled my finances without notice. I contacted a number of education departments and they, I thought, resolved the issue, until I was asked by my new university for the transcripts. I followed correct procedures and was told I could not have them as the fees are outstanding with South University.

    I contacted a department head and was told the fees are now cancelled and waived. I had nothing to pay and I would get a transcript in the mail, lies from them yet again. I was told today that not all documentation had been received and I was not supposed to commence classes ( I have a letter stating to commence and all was in order). Now it's as though they make excuses no matter the situation. I am fed up and need help finding a solution as I need those classes for my new university and to stop them from abusing me further (South University). Where do I stand and what do I do ?

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