if your considering applying to collins college, please have an open mind and read what I went through with dealing with them. when a friend of mine first told me that he was accepted to go to college, he told me that I should apply, as there could be a course that would interest me. after looking through the different options, I decided that Game Design would be something that i would like to pursue as a career. so after speaking with someone(who, by the way, is not there anymore, and neither is any of the previous admissions directors) about whether or not that i could be approved for a loan, they told me that I would have no problems getting into school. they told me to fill out the FAFSA, as well as loan papers for Sallie Mae on top of the near one inch thick stack of forms, almost everyone asking for your personal information. well, the process to get approved for everything was so fast(about a week and a half maybe) that i never got to read the fine print. under the certain requirements like credit score, bank history, family income, etc; the loan company, Sallie Mae, failed to let me know that i would be shelling out THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS A MONTH for this "accredited education" that actually wasn't so accredited. oh, also, upon letting the person i've been talking to at the school know that i'm moving from texas to arizona, i would need a place to live. i was told, "not a problem at all." well, if you had any type of record as far as criminal is concerned(hear me out), you will go through hell and back to even get hints of possible apartments. and the ones you DO qualify for are in an area where gunshots are passed off as "construction noise". right...

so my friend and i get there and, by the grace of God, find family of friends who will let us stay there for a while. so that part was okay. but when it came down to the school in whole, thats where i started to realize i maybe had needed to wait on a few things. my classes were what i like to call "free time". for the most part, i wasn't really challenged on anything(oh, i had switched my major to Media Arts by now, the other had code programming that i didnt want to go through) so i spent most of my time doodling on photoshop. i think i did one big assignment in my first class and it wasnt even difficult. well, everything was going fine as i had accepted that maybe college was just this dang easy, until i needed to register for my next class. here's where all the complication starts.
It turns out that i missed the part of the loan process that mentioned that because of the co-signer of my loan(my brother) and his credit, i had to PAY collins college $200 every month to stay in school. wait...what?! i thought the loan thingy took care of this? apparently not so. so i had racked up about $1000 in back fee's that i never knew existed(about 5 months in so far) and im told i cant register for another class until i pay something. mind you, all i had as far as a job was working part time at the mall for minimum wage. HALF of my paycheck would go to school if that were the case. so im officially kicked out by this time. then, i start getting calls from Sallie Mae, telling me that it was time to pay the piper for all the school loans i had taken out. i say okay and ask them to tell me how much i owe them...over $15, 000 dollars. i nearly died when they told me that. apparently, i had had a Stafford loan taken out as well as TWO private loans taken out that i was well unaware of. both have about a 13-18% interest area, so thats a good chunk added on. at the rate i would pay, it would be around 2017 before i paid everything off. the whole time, i was told that there is some mix up and that i shouldve been told of my payment situation and all the more the school could care less if i was in debt because at least they filled their pockets.

now if your reading this and thinking, "well, kid, you shouldve read the fine print and did some research on this before signing your life away", trust me, ive already heard it. and oh, all three loans werent actual school loans. school loans are the kind of loans that i RECEIVE personally and i give them the money, not the other way around. i never saw a dime of it.

so let me break this into an easy bullet list of what i experienced/felt/seen/know

1. they lie about how much the school is
2. they are NOT accredited whatsoever except for one little school in Ca.
3. you are not challenged by the teachers
4. the teachers are either: drunk, drinking, hungover, lazy on a daily basis
5. they lie about having new equipment. most of the cameras break down on the scene of filming, costing you your grade for "equip. neglect"
6. they only want your money
7. its $60, 000 a YEAR for tuition that isnt worth a dime and you get NO job placement
8. the school stinks, literally.
9. admissions rep. always quit, therefore you never deal with the same liar twice
10. did i mention they steal from you multiple times?

all in all, i hope whoever reads this will take the time i never did to look into a school that had to change its name once to escape embezzlement charges. yeah, think about that