Missouri Mom: "I Cannot Get A Job With Kaplan University Credits"

by Carol Scott · 2011-03-15 05:30:00 UTC
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A growing number of students are coming forward to share their negative experiences at Kaplan University, the for-profit college owned by the Washington Post Company.

To better tell their stories, Change.org is publishing one Kaplan account every day for one week. These students are part of a group of former students urging the Washington Post to stop preying on low-income students (sign their petition here). These accounts are students' descriptions of their experiences.

Tealah Hill, Osage Beach, Missouri
Kaplan student from October 2008 to present
Tealah, 25, is married with two children.

"Five weeks into my term at Kaplan University, I switched from a Medical Transcription degree program to a Medical Assisting program. My advisor assured me that the process was complete -- but in June 2009, I was told that I couldn't sign up for a class I needed for my degree because my advisor hadn't submitted the necessary paperwork.

Even though I wasn't signed up for the class I needed, Kaplan still took my Pell Grant money for that term, charging me instead for a class I didn't want to take. I wanted to drop the class but all of the back-and-forth about my advisor meant that I missed the deadline to drop it.

I couldn't qualify for financial aid for that term since I wasn't registered for a full course load, so I owed Kaplan out of my own pocket and couldn't pay the balance. I began to receive daily calls about my balance, and I was blocked from accessing my account online.

Then I received a phone call saying that I would be dismissed from Kaplan because I hadn't logged in for 21 days. When I tried to file for a leave of absence in order to push off the dismissal, I was denied. I have attempted to contact my academic advisor but she has not returned my calls."

Kaplan locked me out of my classes two weeks before I was set to graduate, so I do not have my degree. I am working as a medical receptionist because I cannot get a job as a medical assistant with Kaplan University credits. No one will recognize them here.

I was led to believe I would make a minimum of $25,000 a year up to $39,000. Needless to say, I am making about $10,000. Kaplan has left me over $22,000 in debt with no way to repay the loans.

Carol Scott is the Education Editor for Change.org.

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