Back again.... and what do you thinK?

Hello everyone!

I'm back from a weeklong trip to Oklahoma for a family reunion. It was actually a ton of fun and I'm really glad I went.... on the way back fh and I stopped at the Salt Lake City zoo and I got to see red pandas.... they are so cute.

Anyway, I also have a small problem that I'm hoping people can give me some opinons on. I'm currently scheduled to start classes with the Online Art Institute out of Pittsburgh on July 10th. I'm doing the Digital Design diploma. I have a degree in Journalism, but found I loved design and this seemed to be the best way of going about it without taking another 4 years.

But now I'm gettings some really weird vibes. There seem to be all sorts of little inconsistancies... they changed the enrollment forms, so I had to fill out the new ones and fax them back, but then one of the attachments they had sent was the old form, and they had me resend the form (the 3x). How my financial aid is working is a little weird, as is the payment schedule. (I was told I just needed to pay for the classes I was in, now they say to avoid interest I should pay for basically 2 class sessions at once.)

I'm not saying they aren't a legitimate organization, I'm just feeling worse and worse about this. I really want to design. I love what I've done, and this seemed the best way to continue my education in that direction, but I'd rather feel sure about this before sinking $15,000 into it.

Does anyone have any advice? Am I being paranoid? If I don't do this program I need to figure out what I am going to do... which will be postponed by a year, since I'm moving to Butte... and things are pretty limited there.

Sorry for such a long rant.... I'm feeling very insecure and unsure.

In this situation, go with your gut. I don't think your being paranoid. The school is sending you the message that they are very unorganized. You want the best education possible! You don't want to spend so much money on something that your not sure about. You'll end up regretting it. If you feel like somethings not right, it probrobly isn't.

I was actually in a similar situation, ended up ignoring what my gut was telling me and I've pretty much regreted it ever sence. Really trust yourself, even if it means your going to have to put this on hold for a while.

i agree 100% here. i went to a computer "school" that i had bad feelings about, and even my bf at the time told me he didn't think they were a good place. but i just really wanted to get some kind of training, and 8 months didnt seem so bad for the price they were asking. huge mistake. i didn't learn much, they were not only disorganized, they were dishonest. my final exam for one subject, i was terrible in that subject, the teacher didn't help much, was always too busy to answer my questions, so when it was test time, so many questions i just had no clue about. i guessed on over half the questions, and left quite a few of them blank. i was really depressed, knowing i was going to fail. imagine my astonishment when my paper was passed back to me with an A. She passed me! i later learned that that was done a lot, because if more than a certain percentage fail, they lose funding, or something happens to them, i can't remember what. there was also one classmate of mine who never did any work, and i was asked to lie and say he did, so he wouldn't fail his class (i refused).

if youre having second thoughts, there's a reason. i'd follow your gut.

Is there any way you can talk to recent graduates, to get their take on it? Most good institutions have an alumni page or something on their web site.

That is such a lot of money.
I really hope they don't mess with you

Glad you had fun with the family!

Do you have a state college nearby? Maybe you can go get a second opinion from their financial aid officer. I'll bet they could spot a crooked plan pretty quickly! And give you advice on where to go for a good education! If you aren't near any colleges, call the financial aid office at your previous school for advice!

Thank you all for your advice... keep it coming, I have no problem hearing more.

Their financial aid plan isn't the problem so much. Their plan is (I'm fairly sure) fair, given that they can't give me much financial aid since I already have my bachelors - but they are giving me a Subsidized Stafford Loan, which are always nice to have.

However - I started out with the intention of just taking one class, to see if the program worked for me. If it didn't, I was going to cancel my enrollment. Because I wanted to be finished by May, the financial officer is having me take two classes to start with.... (they divide their semesters into 2 5 1/2 week quarters and students take two classes at a time to maintain full-enrollment)... taking two classes is even okay with me. Somewhere I saw that I didn't need to pay for the classes until I was taking them, but I talked to someone yesterday who said I should pay for the full semester (4 classes) up front to avoid interest charges. This bothers me... the interest rate I can understand... my previous school (University of MT) charged interest on overdue balences... but having assumed that I could pay as I went and then to have that assupmtion shattered.... *grr*

Jenny, I am going to try and talk to an alumni... I've requested to do that before and they ignored me. (After I originally signed up, in January, they ignored me until just a month and a half ago. My admissions officer and contact there said she was busy with getting other students started, which I can understand... still it rubs me the wrong way.)

One of the worst things about this for me is if I do decide to cancel my enrollment, I have to figure out how to tell them that. I know that since I'm paying for it, I have the right to demand the best service I can possibly get or decide I don't want to after all... but I'm still of the mindset where I try not to displease people or cause them inconvenience. There are a few people who have worked with me on my enrollment now, and I feel bad telling them that I don't want to do it anymore.

Originally Posted by Kaleetha

One of the worst things about this for me is if I do decide to cancel my enrollment, I have to figure out how to tell them that. I know that since I'm paying for it, I have the right to demand the best service I can possibly get or decide I don't want to after all... but I'm still of the mindset where I try not to displease people or cause them inconvenience. There are a few people who have worked with me on my enrollment now, and I feel bad telling them that I don't want to do it anymore.

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I tend to be a people pleaser, too! But your education and your $15,000 will be yours to live with. Just as if you were purchasing a new car, and changed your mind...right? If it isn't the financial aid aspect, I still think someone at a state college (or even at your old high school) may be able to counsel you on whether this is standard practice or not. And they may have background info on the quality of the training you will receive!

Thank you Beckiboo... I will certainly try to talk to some of the people from my old university. I did mention it to a couple of the people in my old department, but they didn't know anything about it. I suppose I should try media arts... they would know more I'd think.

Okay. I withdrew from the Institute this morning. It's kind of surreal actually. I wavered for a little while, but thought about it alot -- and I realized that one of the things I do is sometimes leap before I look...

In this case I've been in school for so long that I feel like I'm not sure what I want anymore... given that, it's probably better that I step back and wait a bit before getting into anything new.