WTSP, The CBS station in Tampa, Florida took a close look at student complaints about for-profit colleges in this report. They talked to two former Westwood College Online students and shared several quotes from hundreds of email complaints they reviewed. The story comes just as the Senate began the first in a series of hearings about for-profit colleges and growing concerns about their explosive growth, student complaints and how much taxpayer money is going to them. During the hearing, the Department of Education’s Inspector General reported that 70% of their criminal investigations are of for-profit institutions, even though only 10% of the students pursuing higher education attend for-profits. Click here to read the story and share your comments about your experience at Westwood.
The CBS station in San Francisco, KPIX, profiled a Westwood student who complained to their Action Help Line about the school. The 23-year-old student, Christian Duncan, says he currently owes close to $80,000, and still does not have a diploma. They call his experience “one expensive lesson.”
The story also focuses on the huge boom in for-profit education in the past decade. They report that tuition is usually far more expensive than what public colleges charge, and the reporter says even some top-notch private universities are cheaper. She warns that students of these schools can get stuck paying the bill for a long time. Click on the video above to watch. We’re sure many of you can relate, from all the stories you’ve shared with us. If you haven’t already, you can click here to tell us your story.
I was approved for the pell grant but Westwood had the choice to either give it to me or deny it. After that I got a hold of Sallie Mae loans who also informed me that I was approved but Westwood cancelled them without my knowledge.
They continue to send me emails, mail, and call my phone and will not release my transcripts to any other college until the $10,000 is paid.
We were told it would be $3450 for a ten week course. She dropped out after only ten weeks when we found out the college had taken out a loan in her name for around $3000.00 that she knew nothing about. In the end she ended up owing about $10,000 for only twelve weeks.
I was ripped off, and taken advantage of by Westwood College Online. The school is a complete fake and phony! The financial aid department at Westwood Online NEVER could give me a straight answer on what I owed for each term. They are completely disorganized and the school should be shut down.
I’ll never recommend Westwood Online to anyone. Everything that you guys are investigating is True. The school doesn’t offer what they say they will, the financial aid department rips people off.
The President of Westwood Online should be ashamed of himself!!!
It seemed that the costs for the relatively limited number of courses I’d taken was very high, and I suspect that I was being charged for courses I did not take.
Posted by Jillian Estes on Aug 4, 2009 in Case Updates
If you’ve found this page, it’s probably because your experience at Westwood College wasn’t what you were promised and you’re ready to fight back! We’re here to help give you a voice, to let you know you’re not alone and to remind Westwood that “business as usual” just isn’t going to cut it any more. Every one of you deserves everything you dreamed of when you decided to go to college, and this is the first step in getting your dreams back.
We will use this site to provide you with updates about our class action suit. Any legal action is a long, slow process, but we’ll give you updates as frequently as we get them. For basic information about the suit, including what we’ve alleged and who is included, please see our FAQ Page. You’ll be able to find anything that is filed in the case on the Documents Page. Case updates will be posted on the blog as they are available, and they will be archived in the category “Case Updates.”Read more…
