Center for Excellence in Higher Education
reviews and complaints

This university completely misinformed me on loan information and used my e-signature for loans I didn't agree to. I was also awarded 6,095 in Pell grant money but only used 3,048 and never received a check for what was unused and now the university has closed due to multiple lawsuits for defrauding students and abuse of student aid. Also when I checked my student portal it said I was refunded $8,000 something but I never seen it nor does it show where it went it just kind of vanishes I guess I don't know nothing's making any sense and I think that my loans should be discharged and I should at least get my Pell grant money that I didn't use and my balance should be set to zero

I enrolled in Independence University in 2018 wanting to get my bachelors in Business Administration, I took out a $50,000 loan to help pay the tuition. We received a letter that you can't even reply to on the schools dashboard saying that they lost their accreditation and they are in the appeal process. I researched and they've been facing losing accreditation for 10 years, even the head of the school had to step down. I feel its negligence to still enroll students without warning them that the school was in this process. When emailing about a solution no one could give any answers other than we will deal with it when they give the decision about the appeal, but they already took the accreditation and they haven't changed anything so why would they approve the appeal.

I was informed today that my college which was Independence University was closed permanently as of Aug. 2, 2021. I had no idea of this and have been paying on my loan since I graduated. Now they want me to pay them not my FASFA almost $900 within the next *** even after I graduated. The school it self advertised job placement after I received my degree which the reason why i chose to attend but after a few months of search and emailing with my adviser there was no contact and I was left without the promised job in my field. There was also next to no information as to how to show my skills for jobs and they just let me sink to the bottom. I emailed my adviser about help finding a job but I got no response. I have emailed and called through different means and haven't gotten a response at all.

Hi I was a student at Independence University for almost two years before I found out three days before they were supposed to close that they were be closing due to losing their accreditation. If I had been informed that they were under investigation before I enrolled into their program at that school I would have took that under careful consideration. I feel like the go to student advisors and similar employees knew that they were at risk of losing their accreditation due to fraudulent charges that was being taken upon that. I've already applied for my student School closure loan application and it's in the process of finalized for a decision. I feel like that the university she returned all of my grants and loans that was used as funding to their program no I did not choose to transfer my credits over to a recommended at school because by then the trust had already been broken.

I was a former student of independence university, up until 08/01. This school know is was going to schools since May it was rumored so bad the SA had to talk to some people though emails And on our Graphic artist group of Facebook. My Grades started slipping because of worry about the closure months before closer. They kept saying it was just a review that colleges go though to keep the accreditation but still nothing to worry about. And that the school won't shut down because of the review, that everything is alright. I found there was a stipend sent to independence university on 09/3 on my finance account . It said Stipend - FDUNSUB what is this? And how are they receiving anything on the 09/3 when the school was closed on the 8/1? I won't have know it if I wouldn't have logged in the student portal . They give us 2 logins one where we do classes and the other where your grades, finances and where the student uploaded documents.

I attended college america in 2018 I believe it was. Lead by deceit when enrolling. The college stated they basically helped you get your certifications along the way while working towards you bachelor degree. The counsel made it seem as if we were working towards certs while getting our bachelor's. After attending the college did not help me to get my certifications and only pointed me to get help with tutoring if I wanted to pursue my certifications. That was not discussed before enrolling in the school. The classes were not set up to help us the online setup the teachers did not care to help students succeed. They gave very vague answers when questions were asked. And they took advantage of a lot of people as they are still doing. Today college America called saying that I need to pay them for their collections that my balance has went to. I inform the guy I am not able to make payments right now and next year I could possibly start. He then said I'm refusing.

Independence University is by far the worst school I have EVER attended! I started on May 25,2021 I believe and I wanted to quit before I even started because it was that bad. From day 1 everything has been a mess, 99% of the teachers are a joke and they are severely overpriced to not even be teaching professionally. Robin B was the last straw for me. This teacher is awful and when I reached out to her she straight up ignored me. This school does not care that I have health issues that have actually gotten worse since I started this school and I was told to quit before it becomes the death of me. They had me do an online residency because of covid which is completely unacceptable. I called around to my local doctor's offices and hospitals and they laughed saying there is no way they would risk hiring someone who didn't have any hands on training and especially from an online school. My health has gotten so bad that I couldn't work in a healthcare setting anyway.

I enrolled in independence university to gain my Med Assisting license in hopes of one day being a pathologist but I would like to get my PhD at least a masters. After news broke that they had lost credibility they sent a letter head generic looking email to us all with a no reply option. I was already angry when I saw that my payment breakdown after my promissory looked a little funny it was to be broken down into approx. 1,116 dollar a month payment but I was assured would be a one time $57 payment now I am 3 weeks in all my aid is gone and i have a past due payment of $ 1,116. I tried to call my financial advisor left messages sent emails same with my adman advisor who isn't listed in faculty I tried asking what it meant for students who didn't graduate until 2022 since the aforementioned letter assured that the September graduations would continue as scheduled, took that one straight to the discussion board in class addressed both instructor and learning coach yet no response

I started attending independence university online in August . I was enrolled until August . I was told there would be close to 1,000 that I would have to pay out of pocket for uncovered tuition which has been paid off, my last payment was made in April or may We were given a weeks notice that the school would be closing. Ive since learned to do some research on schools, and the teach out schools they were offering did not have the best reviews, nor did they offer the needed courses for what i was enrolled for, so I decided to discontinue. I was approved for federal student loan discharge. I have been trying to contact ANYONE at the school about this and the different contact emails given and keep getting a generic response. There is NOONE to speak to by phone or email. I want my money back that I paid in out of pocket. I did however receive a check for $1 from IU which is completely unacceptable. Since this is no fault of my own I feel I should be reimbursed in full

I was enrolled at IU in a Forensic Accounting BS program. I started June through it's abrupt closing in Aug 2021.I have since enrolled in a new program and had to change the major due to not being taught enough to successfully complete the subject matter. I as well as other students have been hounded by the internal collection dept for what is called EduPlan. This was a mandatory internal private loan that was a condition of enrollment. This was so because the school tuition was higher than the max student aid paid by the Dept of Edu. My loan was around $1,000 of which I still have $344. I do not have a problem paying it but they also owe me a $2,500 refund from my student loans. To date I have not been paid. If you review the attached letter entitled Stipend Letter it states we will be paid out. I did speak with legal counsel and was informed that based on page 11 of our enrollment agreement (see welcome to Independence university doc) we are required to first do Complaintsboard.com arbitration. after trying to solve it with the school. The day the school closed, they cut all contact mechanisms preventing me from speaking with them on this. Also attached is various other relevant information. I have also reported this to my congressman (Rep Mike G 8th WI) who has submitted a formal inquiry to the Dept of Edu. At a minimum I would like my $2,500. I would like to take legal action but I am told I can not until arbitration has been completed.

In January I decided to further my career by getting a degree in video game design. I search for schools for a month when I found an add from Independence University on facebook that claimed you could earn a bachelors in video game development and get a "top of the line" computer to do your work on. I spoke with a man named chris after clicking the add requesting more information, within a week I was signed up and very soon after attending the school. The price of over 70 thousand infers tht this is an extensive program, however the first classes were what you might expect for a freshman class in high school to do in a week, they have it structured over a month and at no point is it a college level course. To make matters worse the course gives you prompts for the work your to turn in and then your graded poorly because the instructors actually want something else turned in, this is every class not just one. I held on hopeful that this would get better , it did not the tech classes are just links to w3 schools free website, why am I paying 70k to be directed to an unaffiliated website? this is not what I agreed to pay for and according to the instructors there is at no point any game design discussed in any classes? realizing tat this was a fraud I started calling other schools to transfer too. only one agreed to accept the credits from I.U. all agreed to take my credits from other schools with I.U. claimed were not acceptable, when I spoke to my S.S.A. about leaving because of the miss representation and unprofessional conduct she said I will get billed if I leave in the middle of the class but if I finished it would be covered by the financial aid, then the finance lady Cindy said that I owed a little over 2 k for the class that it is in fact not covered. So here I am stuck with a massive bill from a bait and switch scheme , no education and no credits because I will never give them a single dime more . The laptop and tablet they sent can be purchased from walmart for a grand total of $250 and the fiance woman informed me I would be charged almost 2k if I keep them...so no top notch education, no top of the line laptop , and no credits that are good for anything and i'm out 28,000 at this point. This is fraude in its purist form, clearly you do NOT get what you paid for at I.U.

I discovered Indpendence University while looking for schools to earn a degree. I called and told the individual I spoke with that I wanted to build game Apps, Web pages, and to build Video Games. She enrolled me in the schools Mobile Applications Development program and told me that I would recoeve a bachelors degree in this field that will teach me how to build and design video game apps and video games in general. 3 months into the program I find out from my instructor James Major that their Mobile Applications Development program doesnt teach video game coding and design and that I would need to attend a different school to learn all of that. He even stated that the school he attended as a youth after finding out he wanted to learn video game design quickly pointed him in the right direction so that he could spend his time getting the correct degree. I was enrolled on a program that more or less just builds calculators or business apps so I was enrolled in a class that wasnt at all what it was presented to be and nobody bothered to tell me until three months into the program. Now my FAFSA is spent at a Univeraity that blatantly lied to me in am attempt to recieve that money and earning the correct degree is going to be way more expensive for me then it should have been. I spoke with my student advisor several times and when I asked her all these questions about the degree I'd recieve I got a lot of I dont knows and speak with this individual or that one just to not get any response at all or more I dont knows. I called today to try and leave the school when the woman Monique from their "Billing" department called again to discuss signing the FASFA form that's not due until May or June. I got more I domt knows and was informed that I should speak with my student advisor about leaving school. I sent several messages and havent received a reply and every day I'm stuck in this school so more money they will recieve from the FASFA money I was entitled at one point. So I feel like they are going to try and prolong this even more if they can get away with it but that is just my opinion and isnt necessarily fact. I dont know who to turn to for help in this matter or if I can recieve help at all but it is really disappointing to see that an entire organization that's supposed to be all about education is taking advantage of naive people such as myself and I am just as irritated with myself for letting my ignorance cost me around $30,000 and the loss of what could have been a real opportunity to earn a degree in the field I originally intended.