Keiser University
reviews and complaints

First off, their staff pressured my daughter into enrolling. The staff told her all kinds of mis information. She originally wanted to enroll in Physical Therapy. They told her they will have it soon and she should do Nusring or Occupational Therapy and just transfer, when Physical Therapy comes...My daughter kept emphasizing she wanted to do Physical Therapy! We came in one Saturday for a tour(which we never got around to) & about registration information and etc. They asked her to start the following Monday, to go to class 2 times a week. My daughter took the testing and supposely passed them all that were given. We asked about Financial Aid and etc. They informed us they would take care of that aspect on the following week when she was to start classes. We were a little uncomfortable about the whole situation & how it was handled from beginning to end. My daughter just graduated this year(June 2009), she was/is unemployed. They told her she would need to get a job to pay for Tuition and take out a loan. They also told us we would have to take out a loan to help pay her tuition, which they approved us for to use toward our daughters tuition, without out consent. We refused the loans of course. We explained to them, that we were trying to get out of debt, not get more into debt! The following week(WK 2) the financial guy had our daughter come in to sign another form that she will pay $50 to start that same week, every month, without our permission. We started getting all kinds of broken & unruly requests at this point. My husband & I set up an appointment at this point, we were trying to understand the why all of a sudden nothing was going as planned & promised. Long story short, we decided to withdraw our daughter out of Keiser University. They now claim we owe them approx. $16oo for withdrawing our daughter! We also found out from the Dean's mouth(the same day we were to withdraw her) that our daughter was not enrolled in the class she supposely had enrolled, that she was put on a waiting list until March of 2010... This has just been a very bad experience! My daughter went a total of three days in two weeks. She went the first week, two days, then the next week, that Monday, which she had her first test & scored a 98 on the Test, we withdrew her. Then they were so unorganize when we were trying to withdraw her. They claim they never had any one to withdraw & didn't know what to do. They gave us several different figures that we owed them. We had put $200 down, not refunded. We had paid for a new book, unused, they wouldn't take it back and refund as well, another approx. $120 we lost! To all the readers, please do your research, ask questions, write every word & answers down, who gave you the information, date & times as well. We hope and pray no goes through this situation. On top of that, the staff was very unprofessional, which topped it all off! This was a costly mistake, however it is a lesson learned, who I do business with! Thank you for listening! Have a bless day!

Signed,
Check your resources twice

While the education for students is held to a decent level at Keiser University, take caution to accept employment with them. The president at the Sarasota campus has numerous charges against her with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission due to her lack of knowledge, understanding or respect for the disabled. Faculty and staff are often harassed by the students, which goes largely ignored. The grievance procedures that students can partake in are pre-determined in favor of the university as the president is the one who speaks to the committee and decisions of each member are recorded along with the threat of retaliation to side with the student. The campus operates with too few faculty and too many administrators. The university employees a law firm (the university is actually listed on the law firm’s web site) due to the number of right’s violations that take place. The firm threatens those involved in disputes with letters making demands that have no legal merit.

Again, the faculty are highly professional and the education level is respectable. There is, however, the constant reminder that this is a private university and for-profit. In that environment, those put in high administrative positions do little to create a supportive level of security for employees. When unlawful terminations or actions occur, particularly those against the disabled or for retaliation purposes, there is never an explanation to students, staff or faculty with an understanding that there should be no discussion of an employee’s immediate departure or replacement. Those involved at the campus level are no longer held responsible for the incident as the university campuses are controlled at the corporate level (with legal representation immediately becoming involved).

It could be a concern that the students’ tuition is budgeted for law violations and legal representation rather than an appropriate ratio of faculty to students.

Keiser University does not clearly display their tuitions and fees on their site nor do they clarly explain what the fees and tuitions are during the orientation. Keiser does not operate under a credits per hour system, instead charge a bulk rate for a semester no matter how many classes you take. Example: Keiser runs 4 terms per semester. Full time students take 4 classes (term 1, 2, 3 & 4) per semester and 1/2 time takes 2 classes per semester (terms 1, 2 & 3.4) concentration classes are 4 credits and gen. ed. classes are 3 credits. If you attend evening classes at Keiser you pay the same for 8 credits for a concentration class and for a 1/2 time program as you would pay for 6 credits. Simply put, no matter how many credits you take, they still charge you the same. Full time students pay roughly 6, 200 for the semester and 1/2 time pays roughly 3, 100. Also they tack on a $400 academic charge every semester in addition to your regular tution. This does not even include books yet.

The worst part about Keiser is their smooth operation of getting you signed up before you know any of this. From the beginning they bring you in with an advisor, interview you and ask if you'd like to fill out an application since you were "accepted". The application fee is $50 and your transcript transfer fee is $5. If you decide to go futher, your registration fee is $145. That's $205 even before you get to orientation. Your books are waaaay expensive and don't count on transerring any of your credits since Keiser changes the course numbers so your credit from the local community college or wherever doesn't qualify. They say they accept them but there is a specific clause in the handbook that says that they can change their minds at any time.

If you decide to quit Keiser in the first couple weeks of the monthly semester, you do not get a refund. The advisor tells you this in the initial meeting. They keep your money no matter what. There are numerous stories of people having problems with Keiser over money and through my experience, I can see that that's all they are interested in. The way they rush you through the process is evidence of how they want to rope you in and get you to sign your name on the dotted line before you can back out.

In my case, my AA degree would have costed me close to $50, 000 after all was said and done. I opeted out before I signed anything. My advice is READ VERY CAREFULLY. Keiser is a private college and can pretty much do what they want. They are accredited but that does not guarantee you that other colleges will take their credits nor they take others. Personally, I feel it's a big scam that guarantees you a degree but at a huge cost. I am going back to community college and biting the bullet for the extended time frame. 67 dollars a credit hour is way worth more than $50, 000 for an AA !