I have never gone to school at Kaplan but You should understand about what I learned during the hiring process!!! I have a graduate degree in business which led me to pursue a position as a program chair for their IT program at the W. Des Moines Iowa campus. After a month of interviews and run arounds, and a powerpoint presentation, I received a voice message on my answering machine (by an assistant)telling me they were going in a different direction. How professional is that? I'm not overly concerned I didn't get the position, what I do have a problem with however is the lack of communication with me about the position status, and their overall professionalism. Some of the things they asked me in the interviews was how I would keep students in school because they are losing a high percentage of them in the IT program? I replied that it depended on the situation and the student. They replied that instead of trying to understand the situation, I needed to sell, sell, sell the program to the student and refuse their wishes (I later discovered that program chairs are fired for not meeting student enrollment quotas. Not graduation quotas. If you have 25 in a class, you are in danger of being terminated if more than 3 drop).This struck me as funny but I didn't think of it any further. Now I realize the kind of atmosphere I would have been working in (after doing more research on Kaplan) had I been hired. It seems they are more concerned with bringing in the money, and less about the students well-being. I'm also happy I didn't make the choice of ever going to school there. I'm not sure the degree would mean anything in the long run and I'd probably be deep in debt. I feel extremely sorry for the students that are going to enroll, and the students that are in the middle of the program. I hope anyone thinking of going to school at Kaplan or pursuing employment with them will read this message before they make a decision.

Kaplan University has the worst Financial Aid Dept. They have held left over money from my student loans and financial aid award. I have filed two complaints within the last 3 months with the Better Business Bureau and they still give me the run-around and ignore my emails and phone calls. I would quit now but am too close to graduating, but I will continue to file complaints with everyone I can until this gets resolved. I AM FURIOUS!!! I can see from several websites that they have a bad reputation.

Kaplan University Financial Office sucks, it makes you frustrated and you think its you but its them, I have had 4 FAO this term of obtaining my BA in Managment. They have told me that I have exhausted my funds for and that I owe them 6500.00 and the bad thing about it is that I am suppose to graduate June 2010. Until I can come up with 13, 898.00 I will not obtain my BA. I obtained my AS in Criminal Justice emphasis Corrections from them and had no problems but this time I am frustrated and going to the Dept of Ed and do whatever I have to do to obtain my degree.

I do not know exactly what is going on here with these financial problems, but I wanted to put in my two cents about student loans and other stuff. I have taken out various student loans over the years.

First of all, it is YOUR student loan. It is not Kaplan's. You are the one who signs the loan documentation, not Kaplan. Student loans are Federally regulated because the government kicks in interest subsidies on loans.

Before you even take out a student loan, you are required to go through loan counseling and to sign that you have done this. You should have received information, and/or gone through a training about what a student is and that it is a responsibility and needs to be paid back. This is a REQUIREMENT before taking out a loan. It educates you on the loan process as well and you sign that you have completed this course that takes a few hours.

Next, you will receive information about the amount of your loan and if you want to accept or decline all or part of your loan. Consider it carefully. This is not free money. You will be paying this back. Next, you will receive a loan document that clearly shows that you how much you money the bank is loaning you and the interest rates, along with many other important things about your loan. This is called a Promissory Note. It is a legal document and you keep this. Next, you SIGN your promissory note, either by hand or electronically and submit the note back to your lender. You keep a copy of your Promissory Note for your records. The loan is your record of everything about your loan. Finally, YOU receive YOUR loan check. You pay Kaplan with money from your loan check for your tuition. This is different from a grant, i.e. a Pell Grant, where the money does go directly to Kaplan. You do not see that money. That is a direct pay.

If this is not going on with your loan, I suggest you contact either the Department of Education, the bank who loaned you the money, or an attorney. The Department of Education has a website www.ed.gov and phone numbers to calls, and even numbers to call if you suspect fraud. You can also call Citibank, or what the bank is and request any and all information about your loan, but you should be receiving this information in the mail anyway I also suggest, before your sign, that you have someone else, besides you, look at your promissory note.

You will then receive information in the mail updating you on loan information and giving you the option to pay back the interest while you are in school. As long as you are in school, you do not have to pay back the loan. After you leave school for a number of months, you will begin paying your loan back to the lender, not to Kaplan. This is all very regulated. The government has a big stake in this.

I am really concerned at what am I am hearing here. For heaven's sake, you are getting an education, supposedly, but all I am hearing about is how you all spend hours hearing from or trying to get in contact with the financial aid department. In my years of education, I have rarely even had to contact them for anything. That's becaue they were doing things correctly and I was well informed of what was going on. You should be to.

If these procedures are not being followed with your loan, then contact any or all of the above I have listed. Keep records, and write down who you talked to, etc.

Things like money being sent back to banks, the school taking out loans on your behalf and without your permission, raising loan amounts, this pattern that seems to pop up again and again of the student suddenly owing thousands of dollars at the end sound like they are not on the up and up.

You signed a document to attend Kaplan, like I did, unfortunately, and the costs and terms of payment are clearly spelled out there. Go re-read that document. This document you signed for Kaplan is also a legal document and is your guide to what you owe. Also, your website area at Kaplan has a Ledger Card online of what is going on with your account. Read and review this, and dispute this is needed. Print it out too.

I really think Kaplan is taking advantage of your lack of knowledge about the loan process and I think that is fradulent and probably illegal. Please... educate yourself about loans even more than you educate yourself about anything else. This loan mess is going to ruin your credit history for years to come. This is no way to start your career.

Read that Kaplan contract before you even begin to attend Kaplan, because, unlike going to a real university, they are locking you until a whole program, not just a class, and you are stuck. I am reading that well less than half of the people finish the program. Stuff happens, people change their mind, like I did, so think long and hard before they lock you in.

And, remember, they are selling you a dream. Either a dream of how to get out of your own miserable employment circumstances, or a way to get into the work force, or the dream of doing what you really want to do. Well, also check out how so-called really really great your new career is before you step in. I do not see any careers at Kaplan that are any different from what is offered at other universities and, in reality, all careers have their up and down sides. THere is not magic career. And, also remember that a big part of education is taking on work study and internships programs. If this is important to your field, as it is to most all fields, then do not do to an online school. You are cheating yourself. So much fo the college experience is about the people your meet, your instructors, your classmates, extra curricular seminars, organizations, volunteer work. By sitting home and reading, you are cheating yourself really of the full education experience.

You will graduate without the benefit of tapping into the resources in your community, instructors who know you and can give you references, and people at your local university or college who can help you get a job.

And, they are making you sign on the dotted line before you really really have the chance to check out other options or make a truly informed choice. That is their biggest hope, because then you are locked in and they will make you pay for the whole course. No recourse. And, they are making it easy by throwing money at you. But, please remember, there are less expensive and better ways to attend colleges, and there are colleges with much better reputations. At this point, I do not even see a piece of paper from Kaplan as really having any value in my field. I would almost be ashamed to list this on my resume.

But, worse than this, is what I am reading about finances. Do your homework very very well. And remember, no one here who has gone, is suggesting you even attend this school. You have other options. They may require more effort, but start with your neighborhood first.

And, do not hesitate to call an attorney to discuss this. Most attorney's will offer a free consultation as well.

RUN AWAY- THEY DONT REALLY CARE!!!
I am a single mother who is trying to better herself through education to provide a better life for herself and her daughter. After learning about the benefits of online courses and believing that this was the answer to my dreams of wanting a chance at a better career I started the enrollment process with Kaplan University in early September/October of this year. My hopes and dreams of completing my degree at Kaplan University were quite grand when I first started the enrollment process with Ms. Jacquelyn. I informed Ms. Murphy that I had applied for financial aid and received notification that I was eligible for the Pell Grant in the amount of $5350. Ms. Jacquelyn informed me that I would be able to complete my Bachelor's degree online and that the Pell Grant that had been awarded would be enough to pay for tuition, books, and fees. I was told that the Sallie Mae loan was only needed as a precaution and would not at all be used to pay for anything and that it was common practice and procedure to open a loan with them in any case. However to my surprise I have learned that this was not at all true and it seems that I have been blatantly lied to and misled.
Admissions Representative, Ms. Jacquelyn spoke with me and my mother at length on several different occasions in regards to my enrollment with Kaplan assuring us both that I could earn my degree with ease and affordability she also informed me as well as my mother that classes were $350 per class with a $100 technology fee. Books would be covered by a Book Grant awarded from the school. She stated numerous times that the cost of attending Kaplan would be completely covered by the Pell Grant and that there was no need for the Sallie Mae loan. Ms. Jacquelyn stated that the Sallie Mae loan would only be opened due to common practice and procedure and because of the monies that I had been awarded from the Pell Grant that there would be no need to utilize the loan that was opened. Ms. Jacquelyn spoke with me and my mother numerous times about these things each time stating the same exact thing over and over. She contacted me so many times through use of my cell phone that my cell phone bill was ran up to an exorbitant amount and if needed I have proof of these calls per my bills. It got to the point that I had to finally turn my cell phone off and not take her calls, and I had to repeatedly ask her to contact me using my home phone number. She had no issue talking to me after 7pm central standard time. However, once I was finally enrolled in courses at Kaplan I did not hear from her again and when I did try to contact someone I could never make contact or get an answer. This is when I realized that I was just an enrollment number /quota for her, and she got me. At this point it seemed that I was starting to get the run around especially when those that I was able to talk to were not able to assist me. I spoke with Nicole from Financial Aid as well as Dafnie from Academic Advising who stated to me numerous times that there was no one else that could help me, that supervisors were not available, and that there was nothing that they could do for me, I was constantly told that someone would be in contact and to expect a phone call. I am a stay at home mom now and I’ve not left the home for more than 2 or 3 days during the last couple of months, and have been here to take phone calls/communication. Even when I request to know who the Dean of Students was they avoided the question, and would refuse to give me an outright answer. They stated that they did not even know who the Dean of Students was and just today it took (Ms. Dafnie) over an hour to research and find out the name of the Dean of Students as well as their email address. She refused to give me their phone extension or connect me directly. Both Ms. Nicole and Ms. Dafnie stated that they did not know this information. All that Ms. Dafnie wanted to do over and over was offer help, but no help was given and at one point she even brought up my child and tried to say that I was doing this because I did not have time for school because I am a new mom, which is completely incorrect and she was drawing straws. It was my understanding from the advertisements and from Kaplan’s representatives that Kaplan’s goal is to offer degree programs to students who have other responsibilities such as children, full time jobs, and other outside distractions. I felt as if I was being discriminated in her statement about my being a single mother and not having the time to complete my degree. Also, I felt like I was being passed off from person to person and that the issues and concerns that I had were not being addressed. Even when speaking to these individuals I felt like they were very rude to me and did not care at all about my feelings. It seemed to me that these individuals did not want to see my concerns addressed at all and just wanted me to go away. I was constantly lied to having been told that I would receive phone calls, emails, and communications which I have not received. At one point in time I was informed by Ms. Dafnie that her supervisor Ms. Natasha would be able to speak with me and the next second I was told that Ms. Natasha was busy doing other things and did not have the time for me. I wanted to bring to your attention to the fact that three weeks ago text books arrived at my home for two courses that I did not enroll in, Ms. Dafnie took the liberty and enrolled me in these two course with our my acknowledgment. I was told during the enrollment process that I could enroll in course at anytime and that I would be the one to choose which courses to take from me degree evaluation. NO ONE ever told me that my Academic Advisor would be the one to choose my next course enrollment or that I would have to file for a Leave of Absence which I was informed of after enrolling for the first semester. This upsets me tremendously I feel like I am having these courses SHOVED down my throat, and I don’t have any say in the matter. At this point I want to Withdraw from Kaplan and with a full refund.
After trying to get in touch with someone who could assist me with no avail I have filed a grievance with Kaplan University’s Compliance Department and was informed that my case would be resolved by today. However since filing my grievance I have been harassed each day with a phone call from Kaplan asking if I will make a payment towards a $1, 302 balance that I apparently now owe. I have had to inform those that are contacting me about the grievance because they are not at all aware of it. I am surprised to find this out due to the fact that Kaplan is supposed to be researching out my complaint. After receiving a phone call today about the balance that is due I took the initiative to contact Kaplan’s Compliance department’s representative, Shaunda who had been the counselor that was overtaking my case. All she could tell me was that my case had not been resolved yet. She did not apologize for not contacting me herself or not having an answer to my claims. She did not even seem to care. I have tried to contact her before today about the books that were sent to me. I had been informed by Ms. Dafnie that a shipping label would be included in the package that was sent to me, however no return shipping label was sent along with the books and I had to contact her again about the books. She informed me that a return shipping label would be sent to me. It has been three weeks and no return shipping label has been sent to me. I have contacted Ms. Shaunda about this and she also told me that a return shipping label will be sent. I have as yet to receive it and I am very worried that they are going to charge me further for these books that I did not sign up to receive. Ms. Shaunda informed her manager of my complaints today and after speaking with her manager about my complaints Ms. Shaunda informed me that Kaplan would reaward me $1, 339 covering the $1, 302 that I owe. However they will not honor what I was informed of in the beginning by Ms. Jacquelyn. Up until three weeks ago I had been informed that classes were only $350 per class with a $100 technology fee. Now I have learned otherwise. I feel that Kaplan should at least honor what was presented to me in the beginning or refund me my total tuition and other costs.
I am hoping that this can be dealt with soon and that a resolve can me made. I want to retain my relationship with Kaplan as positive as it can be, but at this time I will be looking for another school to attend. I really wish that Kaplan’s representatives were upfront and honest with me and my family. This could have been a great program for me.