South University Reviews

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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???

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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 ?