My friend is finishing up his BIT degree at AIU. He was originally told that it will cost him $23,000 ... he just checked and noticed that he was charged over $36,000. Has anyone else been screwed like this? It is almost impossible to find out a breakdown of charges? What should he do? Thx -
onlinephd - Was it a case where the tuition rate increased during the course of the degree? I've seen that at numerous DL schools, including NCU and University of Idaho Engineering Outreach. I've read somewhere that college enrollment increases during poor economic times. Do schools follow the same roadmap to money used by the oil companies? I've noticed that the price of gasoline rises sharply just before major travelling holidays. Does this parallel schools raising tuition when the economy is down? Rick
Tuition hikes may have snuck past you. We recently got hit with a tuition hike at Nova but they emailed us (which I normally just delete) and they sent us snail mail. You should check with their Admissions and bursars office to verify why you were quoted one price and paid another. Did you look at your tuition per class each time you registered? I'm sure you were given receipts.
I hate AIU. There, I said it. I hope that doesn't offend anybody, either. It is regionally accredited and from what I hear from people, it's a pretty good school. They have pretty sorry business practices, though. I had a friend who attended the school (same one that said the course-work was good) who informed me of a pretty bad situation he was involved in. He wanted to earn an Associate's Degree in Information Technology from the online school they have. As you might have already guessed, he follwed the dream and received a nightmare. He was informed that the total amount of the cost of the degree (including books, etc), was going to be about $22,000. He was also told there would be no graduation fee but, of course, there was. They asked him to take out two loans (one from the Educaid (federal) and the other from Sallie Mae (private)). As he recently added up the loans, he found out he spent around $25,000. He received the Georgia HOPE Scholarship which was SUPPOSED to have made that $2,000 cheaper (but he still ended up with $25,000 in loans). Then, according to the Financial Aid office, he was to be awared gain in February (since last Februrary was when he originally received the HOPE Scholarship), and he received several e-mails (including one where the Registrar's office told him when the funds were received it would be placed back on the Sallie Mae loan, one e-mail that states his GPA is good enough and he is eligible to receive the funding, and another where a lady assured him he would have it creditied to his account soon). Just Sunday morning, he called and was told he wasn't eligible. In closing, he kept and has printed copies of every e-mail assuring him he would receive those funds....is there anything he can do? I recommended "Small Claims Court", but I'm unaware if that would actually help. Somebody get back to me about this one........ Cade
I received my BBA from AIU, and am currently an MBA student there. Fortunately, I haven't had any "hidden" charges added to my invoice. However, after reading this thread, I decided to check my invoice to see if there were any "irregularities"; fortunately, there weren't. After reading this thread, and some other threads, I have noticed that there has been a trend of negative posts towards AIU. Although I am happy at AIU, I can understand why someone would have a negative view of AIU. They market too agressively, there is grade inflation, and the tuition is very high. However, they have their positives too. It's convenient, the admin is relatively good (at least in my experience), and the curriculum is solid (I learned a lot). Other than the aggressive marketing practices, AIU has the same problems that many other schools (including tradional brick & mortar) have. My recommendation is if that if you don't have either VA benefits, corporate reimbursement, or are willing to take a lot out in school loans; I don't recommend AIU because of its high cost. However, if you have the VA benefits or corporate reimbursement, I highly recommend AIU because you can earn your degree so quickly.
Hmm I too am a grad of AIU. AABA and BBA. Currently enrolled in the MBA program to begin in August. All I can say is my paperwork is correct, has been for two degrees. What was said was done. What I signed was in written form and explained in regard to tuition increases between semesters. Expensive, yeah, but most universities are. Deep inside we all know its about the money and any institution of higher learning that denies such is full of poop. <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/1032.gif' border=0></a>
US $ 36,000 undergrad? Thats about 63,000 New Zealand dollars, wow for that amount of money, I would have able to complete a Unergrad, a Masters (MBA) or any other and a PhD. What a rip off US $ 36,000.00 for a undergard. Migara
I have not been charged any extra fees at AIU. I did have a little problem with HOPE but got that all cleared up. If you are having problems with hope, call AIU and ask for Tamatha Conaway. She is the associate director of FA and is in charge of the HOPE program at AIU. Email and telephone contact with her cleared up all of my hope problems.
Schools Not Free There seems to be a large amount of negative comment from people who have never attended the school. Yes, its not cheap but no college is. The prices are given to you when you signup, it a choice. No one made them attend the school. I'm happy with my school and the experience. For some folks free would be too expensive. S/
No its not about giving large amount of negative Feed BACK. It seem so extremely expensive for an undergrad. I for one is attending University in New Zealand. I have an undergrad in Finance Major from Massey University (www.massey.ac.nz) and now I am weighing up my Postgrad studies. I for sure cant afford US $ 36,000.00 Migara
I fully understand but.... I fully understand but the term expensive is relative to the person spending the money. I can only see the price of tuition going up over the next decade or so. I was fortunate to have the GI bill helping but it did not cover everything and I still have Federal loans but again it was my choice because I liked the program. Again, just my opinion. S/
Re: Schools Not Free While I agree that ultimately what matters is whether the student is a satisfied customer, as a cost-conscious consumer I disagree that no university is inexpensive. I'm getting through Charter Oak, tests and all, for about two grand. LSU has online classes that are only $211 each. Community colleges can be even less expensive than that. $36,000 start to finish wouldn't be the least expensive Bachelor's degree, but neither would it be the most. The question is whether we're talking about that or just about a degree completion program. -=Steve=-
For less than $36,000 U.S., one could get a bachelors and masters degrees from a Canadian or Australian (GAAP) accredited university (and have cash left over to start a doctorate). I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with AIU, but I certainly would think twice before forking over that kind of cash. I would rather spend a little extra time explaining to a potential employer why I chose to attend a foreign school than have to listen to my banker ask for payments.
AIU is playing games with him now .... either pay or withdraw from school ... does anyone have any suggestions ... should i speak to a lawyer, congresman, bbb ???? I think there are a lot of ppl who have probs with AIU ... meaning what they say and what they deliver ... thx
