Ashford University - Review

First of all, I'll start from the end of this mess and work my
way back. I had originally tried to contact either G.T. or S.E.
(initially Mr. T.) on numerous occasions (they work in
collections for the "university"). Sometimes a few times in the
same day. I would not hear back from them, except for a voice
mail occasionally asking for payment. The original problem
stemmed from a misprint on my financial aid upon enrolling. I do
admit that that was a mistake on my part (my wife was trying to
be helpful by finishing my financial aid form for me, but listed
my birth year as 1971 instead of 1970!) Though I thought I had
fixed the problem, after talking with D.Y. the
original "salesman" employed by Ashford University, I guess the
changes would not go through or save to my financial aid
application. I was then contacted about two weeks into my second
class stating that there was still a problem with my financial
aid that needed to be resolved. At this point I was told that I
needed to call the Selective Service and show proof of
registration. When I contacted the Selective Service the first
time, I received a registration number over the phone and called
to give the number to the financial aid office at Ashford
University. I was then told that I needed to get a registration
card from the Selective Service and provide it to Ashford to
show proof of registration. I called the Selective Service again
and requested to registration card and was informed that it
could take (I believe they said up to eight weeks) to obtain
this document. My "academic advisor", Y. M., called me to see if
I had the proof of registration card a couple of times and I
stated that I was still waiting to receive it. When I did
finally receive it, I sent it in the mail to Ashford. I heard
nothing else from them for about a month and assumed everything
was taken care of.

In the meantime, I attempted to contact my "academic advisor"
about a problem I had with an instructor stating he had received
an assignment to late to grade. I had sent the assignment
originally the night it was due and noticed about a week later
that the assignment still had not been graded. During this
period of time, my mother had just had surgery. I attempted to
contact the instructor by e-mail and left a toll free phone
number he could call me at. He just sent me an e-mail back
stating that "he doesn't accept assignments more than four days
past the due date, unless pre-arranged". I guess I should have
had my mother pre-arrange her surgery for me. I attempted again
to explain the situation that I had sent the assignment in and
also said that all he would have to do is look at the date the
assignment was created to see that I was not lying. I understand
what some teachers have to go through listening to lame excuses.
I was a teacher. I KNOW!!! This however was legitimate. He
refused once again to grade an assignment that took about twelve
total hours to put together.

So at this point, I was concerned that I was no longer going to
receive an "A" or possibly even a passing grade with the little
bit of time left in this course. So, I call my "academic
advisor" about this situation and left a message. I heard
nothing back. I called again. I heard nothing back. I called
again...well you get the story by now. When I finally did get a
hold of her, she explained to me that they where closed due to
the wildfires in San Diego. Wait a minute...these guys are in San
Diego?!?!?! I was led to believe that the whole program was
based off of their Clinton, Iowa campus, which is why I chose
them in the first place. Nothing against San Diego, but I live
here in the Midwest! That was kind of a b.s. deal, but I
figured "well, I'm sure it is just some way they outsource the
legwork portion of the university work to an outside source".
Now I am finding out they are pretty much separate entities!

Well, In the meantime, I THOUGHT everything was taken care of on
the financial aid end, anyway. Instead, once again, I receive a
call that they still did not have my proof of Selective Service
registration card. I then obtained a fax number and faxed it to
them. Once again, they said they did not receive it. I faxed it
AGAIN (ACTUALLY TWICE!) and asked for a return call this time to
let me know that they received it. This was at Thanksgiving. At
this point, I was about to begin my third class. I called Y.M.,
my "academic advisor", after she had sent me my revised schedule
for upcoming classes and left a message for her to call me. I
never heard anything back. I called again. I never heard
anything back. At this point, I was not going to take the next
class without a having this matter resolved. Besides, she
enrolled me with the professor of my second class again, the one
in which I had stated to not enroll me with again! So, I never
logged into my third class. When I was e-mailed a notification
that I needed to log in by Y. M., I attempted to call again. I
had to leave a voicemail again. I never heard back again.

I then got a couple of collections calls from Ashford. When I
would attempt to call them back to resolve the situation, I
would have to leave a voicemail. I would never hear back. By now
we are into JANUARY! Finally, I get a message from somebody else
named S. E.. I try to call him back. No response. He finally
calls me on a collections call and reaches me. I explained the
whole Selective Service fiasco to him and told him that I have
been actively trying to reach G.T. to no avail. During
our discussion, I asked him to find out if the Selective Service
card I had repeatedly faxed was there. I also stated that I
could fax it to him directly (IMMEDIATELY) if they could not
find it. All Mr. E. was worried about at this point was
collecting cash, even though I explained to him the numerous
times I attempted to call (he finally admitted that I did) he
still tried to act as if I WAS AVOIDING THEM! He actually tried
to say that he called me personally and left a message a couple
of times once on January 29th. I never received a call from them
during this time period! Rather than attempting to fix the
problem, I then explained to him, that at this point, I am
pretty irritated with the poor communication and that I may just
have them take the financial aid out for the two classes and
provide me with my transcripts, so that I could finish the
program elsewhere. Instead of being apologetic or even
attempting to be somewhat helpful in resolving this matter, Mr.
E. states that now all of the sudden, since I am not an active
student, financial aid no longer applies and I have to pay for
the two classes out of pocket. At this point I was extremely
mad. I would have more than likely continued if I though there
could be some type of a resolution to the matter. I basically
just wanted open communication with the university staff and
wanted an assurance that this would take place. I still have no
problem in resolving this matter, but I want SOMEONE FROM THIS
UNIVERSITY TO ACTUALLY CALL ME. It seems that when they were
attempting to "sell" me on enrolling in classes, I had no
problems at all getting a hold of D. Y. I was assured that
financial aid would take care of the classes. I could talk to
him with no problem for an hour at a time about the program I
was thinking about enrolling in. He was very helpful. By the
time I was enrolled in my second class however, all
communication vanished. There is still a lot more to this story,
but I will leave it at this for now.

Still at this point, don't get me wrong; I am not convinced the
entire program is all bad. I really liked my first instructor. The curriculum did not seem substandard and the actual setup of the online learning environment has some definite
benefits. Also, overall, just maybe the Ashford University
online staff as a whole does an excellent job. Unfortunately, I
think I have just happened to deal with some of those that where
not so great. I am still pretty angry at the way everything has
been handled, but would still like to find a way to resolve this
matter. I think what has really irritated me the most is that
the last two times I called (February 28th and March 5th) I
called and left messages on how and where to send payment to so
that I could re-enroll (I was only going to take one more class
and then transfer my credits elsewhere) and never heard
back....again! One of these calls was to G. T. and the latter was
to S. E.. I know that there must be SOME good people working at
the university, because the gentleman that I talked to on Feb.
28th was very apologetic and sent me over to Mr. T's voicemail.
He assured me that I would hear something back. Unfortunately,
It never happened. I then called Mr. E., I left a message with
him asking him where I could send payment. I never heard back.
GET THIS...the next week I received a letter from a collection
agency! I have sent a similar form of this letter to Ashford and
the collection agency. Of course at this point, the clown at the
collection agency is only concerned about how to get me to
settle with him so that he can get his cut. I have no problems
paying for the two classes that I took, but all I asked and am
still asking for is an apology and I will mail the check in
IMMEDIATELY. Until then, I will let everyone I know what a scam
this "university" is.