Westwood College

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Category: Education

Contact Information
California, United States

Westwood College Reviews

July 12, 2007

Poor service!

I attend Westwood College at the South Bay campus in Torrance. I am scheduled to graduate December 15th, 2007 I have two more terms left. I was pulled from class July 11th, 2007 and asked to sign a piece of paper without an explanation of what it was. So I refused and asked to read it. I discoed that this piece of paper was an agreement stating that I will agree to pay 18% interest on $18,219.34 that I will owe Westwood College once I graduate. Depending on the amount of time I have to pay this loan back, the maximum being 180 months, I am looking at almost $40,000.00 in finance charges. Add finance charge to my balance owed and that jumps to well over $50,000.00. This is ridiculous. I would have to pay Westwood $50,000.00 aside from the other two Federal Loans (subsidize and unsubsidized Stanford loans) I have going to them to help pay for my tuition. I am near my max which is $23,000.00, so I am looking at paying nearly $80,000.00 for a degree that is useless.

July 11th, 2007 I spoke with a representative from the financial aid office and asked about the piece of paper they wanted me to sign. She informed me that I needed to get out of "this Westwood Loan" and apply for a private loan and I did and was not approved. She then instructed me to find a cosigner. I explained to her that I do not have any cosigners and the school was under that impression before I was admitted. I was then told that there is nothing else that she could do, and that I had the option of seeking other private lenders, but I had to sign the paper until then. I refused to until I can negotiate that ridiculous 18%interest rate.

Westwood's sales reps lied to me, Westwood's Financial Aid personnel lied to me. I was promised that I would be able to receive grants to help me pay for my education. I was told that Westwood College was regionally accredited, which was a lie. I was sold pure lies and scammed out of money pushed in to sever debt. I have sacrificed a lot to pursue a higher education and now I am being ripped off for it.

I am also experiencing a last minute notice of my financial obligation and status. They know that they are robbing student and the only way to get their authorization to do so is to wait until they can hang it over your head right before graduation.

I am in desperate need of help. Readers if you read this and could be of any assistance please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected], it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You for Your time.

June 25, 2007

Committed fraud

After I had numerous disputes and disagreements with the Westwood College staff about the quality of the educational program and professors at Westwood College I demanded an accounting from the college regarding my son's class schedule. They had him attending only one class but charging him for the entire semester's tuition. They told me that there was nothing they could do because my son had transfered with an AA degree from from Miami-Dade College, an excellent four year college {previously a junior college called Miami-Dade Community College}. By the way, they'll accept college credits from other educational institutions but when my son transferred to the University of Central Florida, UCF would not give him credit for one single class he took at Westwood College. UCF doesn't even recognize Westwood College or their curriculum! To make a long story short, during my son's last semester at Westwood College, the college could only sign him up for one class (although they demanded payment for full tuition) and when I objected, the college staff decided to terminate his enrollment, although I was given assurances by the Director that this would not happen. After his dismissal, the college staff told him that he was obligated to participate in an 'exit interview' during which time they gave him numerous forms to sign, one of which was a 'promissory note'. That is fraud! There is no other way to describe the deliberate deception on the part of the staff. Some people would argue that my son should have read every single document that he signed at the exit interview, but to be honest, how many young men and women after learning of their termination from a school program (through no fault of his own) would read multiple forms during an exit interview when the staff told them that the documents he was signing were necessary in order for him to get his transcripts.

Rey
Miami, Florida
U.S.A.