Kaplan is the biggest joke of a university!!! I did nothing but argue with them from day one of my 2yrs with them. They would not send me money left over each term, instead, they would keep it and say I had none left, which I did...The class content was always screwed up and I would write the Professor about mistakes I found and she in turn would turn the complaint in, of course, Kaplan knew it made them look bad when a student was always finding mistakes with the class and they weren't smart enough to figure them out in the beginning. I was locked out of my classes many times. This past March 2009, I was finished with my AAS in medical assisting and they told me I could not graduate because I had a fee I had to pay, which was false. They ended up dropping me from Kaplan, so guess what? I don't graduate and I am out $63, 000...But the joke is on them because I have hired a lawyer who is getting them on 6 different counts..We will win this because I have a the proof of moneys, student aid, etc...Kaplan will have to pay for my schooling and owe me 2.5million...

I had applied for college online classes through Kaplan University and was approved quickly!! After I got started, the classes were so demanding that I wanted to quit and go to a local college. THEY were so MAD!!! Tried to talk me into staying for the first ten weeks, gave me the quilt trip, claimed that I had to wait so much time to get my balance due...yeah right!! I personally called the Bank of America and quickly cancelled my loans because Kaplan stated that it was going to take 30-60 days before they could give me a balance-yeah wanted to get my loan money that I would have to pay back! Then I called them back and they said I had to wait 20 days and call for a balance. Just today I heard of this site and I quickly sent them an email and told them that I saw their name on this list and I wasn't going to pay JACK!!! For 2 weeks they were going to make me pay almost $1000.00!! I'm a single mother-they can think again, I'm not stupid!! Nice try Kaplan! I couldn't ever get anyone when I called and everyone I talked to had a different story-imagine that!!

My name is Patricia Wilhite, I was a student at Kaplan University, taking Criminal Justice. I almost graduated until they locked me out of classes. I was not informed that I no longer had Financial Aid. Instead Kaplan ran a tab to the tune of $8904.00, locked me out of the classes they had charged me for during finals, which ruined my GPA of 3.67, and caused me to fail the classes.

I do not believe that this is just to any student. I see them advertise to students, my advise is seek another University. Thanks to Kaplan I cannot get a degree because they will not release my transcripts, they ruined my credit by putting this bill against my credit.

I cannot afford at this time to hire an attorney to have this straightened out, however, I am seeking help. I do not believe it is legal to run a tab so high that students cannot continue their education. Myself and an adviser tried repeatedly to contact Financial Aid to resolve this however, no one would return calls or emails.

Here is a letter that I sent to Kaplan: No one has responded, I am not surprised.
Patricia M. Wilhite
17826 Rabbit Farm Rd
Spring Hill, FL 34610
727-421-6542
[email protected]

February 7, 2009

Kaplan University
c/o The Dean
888 7th Ave
New York, NY 10106

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter as a complaint of how unprofessionally I feel the financial aid office and the advisors are at your University.

I enrolled in you University in the summer of 2006. I chose the School of Criminal Justice. The admissions department sold your school as being top rate. As I pursued my education in this field I found that there was never an adviser available to help. My adviser changed several times so I never knew who I was to talk to.

Each class that I took was scheduled and books were sent. I was under the impression that my pell grant and student loans covered my courses. I was NEVER informed that it was not.

Kaplan kept enrolling me into each class of my course study however, in the summer of 2008, while I was at the end of my classes (Crisis Intervention and Juvenile Justice) I was blocked from finishing the finals without any notice of what was taking place. I contacted the school immediately and spoke with Brian in the adviser area. He told me I needed to speak with a Ms. Shepherd in financial aid. After leaving many messages and not getting any response I contacted Brian again. He sent emails and tried on several different occasions to contact Ms. Shepherd in financial aid, he never received a response either. As a result I received a low and failing grade in each of those classes, and was not able to continue my education. This is all within months of receiving my degree. If you look at my grades you will see that I am an “A” and “B” student not a “D” and “F”.

After persistent tries I finally was able to talk to someone to find out what was going on. I was horrified to find out that I was cut from classes because of an $8, 904.00, tuition bill. I was never informed that my pell grant and student loans were not covering my classes. Due to the lack of professionalism with the financial aid and advisers, I have lost my chance at a higher education. There is no way that I can possibly pay that kind of money.

Thanks to Kaplan University, I will not be able to finish my long desired dream of having a higher education. I believe your school sets people up to take their money and puts them in financial and educational ruins. Your school has since turned this amount over to a collection company and is withholding my transcripts.

I will follow through to inform others who may be considering Kaplan as an educational facility of what they may be in for.

I was never given the chance to say I cannot afford this, or I cannot enroll in anymore classes until I find the means to pay for it. Your school took it upon themselves to keep enrolling me until the $$$$ was so high it became impossible to pay.

I would also like to have the last two classes that I took removed from the amount and the grades, since I was not given the chance to complete the classes because I was locked out.

I look forward to your response in this matter.


Sincerely,



Patricia M. Wilhite

Cc: Kaplan Headquarters

Kaplan University first contacted me on Feb 12, 2009 via my online inquiry. The admissions advisor was very personable and friendly. After spending an hour on the phone with them the stated that I needed to fill out enrollment forms and forward those along with my FASFA information. I did so on the 14th and a week went by with no reply from the advisor or any one at Kaplan. I called the advisor and was told my email was mistakenly directed to their spam folder. They apologized and gave me a $1000 voucher to go towards my final semister before graduation. Basically a coupon for $1000 off the cost of tuition.

I then had to take an Academic Readiness test online which consisted of 30 questions upon which you get 8 minutes to complete. They do not expect you to answer all questions in the alotted time as the questions get more difficult as you proceed through the test. I submitted the test and the following day received an email from the admissions advisor that I did FANTASTIC and to give them a call so that we could begin registering for classes.

When contacted the advisor asked me how many questions I answered. Now I'm thinking if they have the test there in front of them they should know how many questions I answered. I replied that I had no idea. They said I got 26 right. I know for a fact I did not get through to 26 questions. I may have gotten to 15 but not 26.

They immediately transferred me to a class advisor who was to register me for classes but was told they could not find the results of the test and that my assigned advisor would call me the next day at 1:00. By 2 o'clock a call was yet to be received. I contacted the advisor and got the impression that they had no idea they were to call me. They stalled a while and then it seemed as though they were distracted. I was then told they 'might have to go into a staff meeting. Oh yes, we have to go into a staff meeting. I call you back right after the meeting.'

These red flags along with all the report about Kaplan help me to make up my mind to un-enroll from Kaplan University before I was out thousands of dollars like I have read about on Ripoff Report.com.

Thank you everyone who has been kind enough to share your Kaplan misfortunes with the rest of us. I'm sorry for your struggles but will pray that the Kaplan reaps what they sow!

I started Kaplan's MBA program in August 2007. I was excited about the emphasis program I chose, it was unlike any other school's program. My admissions advisor was extremely attentive (but not pushy like some have said) and Kaplan was one of the recommended schools from my company who would be reimbursing me for much of the costs.

The curriculum itself I've found to be appropriately challenging. I feel I've learned a great deal through the course discussions. Most professors I've found to be fair, but I have had one or two that I feel were not appropriately administering Kaplan's policies. I don't feel any class has been a waste of time and have definitely picked up lots of good information that I apply daily in my job.

My major complaint, and its big enough I struggle with recommending Kaplan to friends, is dealing with different personnel from the school. My academic advisor is absent about 95% of the time. Ignorning phone calls and emails. Randomly she'll send a "good luck this term" email or leave a similar message. But she never responds to my requests to her.

Worse than that, is dealing with the Student Accounts department. My company is reimbursing me for most costs associated with my program. When I started at Kaplan I was told I could be billed per term, rather than by month - and that I could have my tuition deferred until the end of each term so that the time between making my payment and receiving the reimbursement from my company was very small. Well, my billing kept getting switched to monthly (against my request/wishes and without my knowledge) and the tuition deferment kept disappearing off my account. This leads to 2-6 calls a day from Kaplan with a recorded message about "fulfilling my educational committment". When I answer and "stay on the line" to speak to an agent I always get disconnected. When I try to CALL the student accounts numbers direct, I rarely get a live person. On the rare occasion I DO get a live person - the minute I explain that I need to be billed per term because it makes it easier for me to file my reimbursement request - I get transfered to someone in business affairs who never returns my call. So, I normally spend 2-3 weeks of every month sending repeated emails to student accounts to correct their weird billing errors. And to be clear - I'm not a deadbeat. I long gave up on the tuition deferment attempts. Within 1-2 days of each terms charges being applied to my account - I make the payment. However - those amounts differ from whatever imaginary payment plan student accounts has me on - so they continue to cite me as past due even though my account balance is $0 for all but about 2 days of every term. The only person who ever DOES respond to my calls and emails is the financial aid officer assigned to me - which I don't understand since I don't USE financial aid - who tells me she has tried to change my account to per term billing numerous times and someone in student accounts always changes it back. I'm currently in my second to last class and can't WAIT to finish just so I don't have to deal with these ridiculous billing problems any longer.