| Brown Mackie |
| Gross Misconduct of Officials - Abuse - Harassment - Misleading - Fraud Loan Award Documents |
| 23rd of Aug, 2011 by dmisseliz |
To whom ever it may concern, August 18, 2011
Donna had come back to class and asked me to go with her to the financial aid office on our next break, she said to me that they keep trying to get her to sign for different loans that did not apply to her and that they were giving her a hard time and she was feeling intimidated. So I went with her and spoke to Carol Swanson, immediately she seemed annoyed with our presence. Donna was questioning her about why her paper said "graduate" at the top instead of "repack" and why the dates were from February when she was signing it in June. Carol shuddered and never really answered Donna's question and Carol just rolled her eyes and told her not to worry about all of that and told her she just needs to sign it, she was almost yelling at this point. After signing the paper, Donna asked for a copy of everything she just signed, Carol let out a big sigh, and rolled her eyes and said something like "OH MY GOD". I was very uncomfortable with the whole situation and I know Donna was too, financial aid is supposed to be there to help us and explain things properly and that is not what it felt like at all. It seemed like Carol was annoyed with her because Donna was pointing out misleading information which will ultimately affect Donna in the long run financially. Donna is still stressed out about this situation and she even hates seeing Carol around campus because of her dealings with her. Donna also took me by the presidents office about three weeks later so that I could tell Connie what had happened but she did not really want to hear what I had to say, which is what I thought the president is there for.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
T Dunn
Brown Mackie Student
Brown Mackie Officials mislead me by telling me I need to buy my books from the book store on college campus inside the college by charging me way over what the normal price of the books would have been if I were allowed to purchase my books where I wanted too. The college never let me have my Pell grant money ahead of time so I could purchase my books anywhere else. It is a total fraud because I could have purchased them online for three times cheaper or even got used books. The College forced me to buy the new books in the store that the college owned.
This is a formal complaint against Brown Mackie College Inc. Phoenix - Tucson, The Art institute of Phoenix and EDMC in its entirety. I started brown Mackie on 11/30/2009 I enrolled in the program to get an associates of science degree in Surgical Technology which was $24,000.00 when I started the program. College officials told me they were nationally accredited which were 96 credit hours approx. 1400 hours. I found out in august 2010 that the accreditation department was coming to accredit the program I was already enrolled in. The officials lied to me and everyone else in that program. Since I started, I have been on the DEANs list and PRESIDENTS list and received a CLASSIC CITIZEN Award as well as mentoring for new students who come into start their education. I volunteer my time to the childrens first academy every time the school has helped the community.
I never missed not one single day of school in 14 months, UNTIL I was Forced to sit out a month in February 2010 (WILLFUL OBSTRUCTION OF LEARNING) due to the College Surgical Technology Administrator who was the Head of the Department, at the time, telling me Donna you are going to have to sit out in February 2011 because no one is teaching that class next month and it is no longer a required class to take as credits for your associates degree in surgical technology" I said well put me in a class I need, I said back. I said I do not want to sit out. She returned with, well you are one month ahead of everyone so the other students have to catch up to you. I said BUT I DONT WANT TO SIT OUT. She said, there is really nothing I can do about it and so she walks me to the financial aid Department and tells the Financial aid supervisor that I need to sit out next month in February and then she walks away and leaves me with the aid official. I said Official, I do not want to sit out and I am Very upset I wanted to have perfect attendance through my entire academic career. She said ok you can leave now. I was dumb founded. So I went to an official who works at the registrars office and I asked him, what is the next class you have me scheduled for me? He said Pharmacy for the surgical technologist.
I said thank you and left. But I was even dumber Founded and totally confused at the fact that I received a phone a phone call about two weeks later from an admissions rep that says Donna I need you to come in and sign a new enrollment agreement. I said WHAT?? WHY? She added, you are no longer enrolled at Brown Mackie College and if you want to start your class in two weeks, you need to re-enroll. I WAS IN COMPLETE SHOCK. I never dropped out I had my next class scheduled I was so upset. My now PERFECT ATTENDANCE and DEANS LITS was ruined. I made a name for myself at Brown Mackie and everyone who works there knows me. I went back to the college and I looked at the enrollment agreement and I noticed it said a little over 33,000 as the cost for attendance. I said this is CRAZY it was originally paying 24,000 now I have to pay 33,000 she said well if you want to start class in two weeks. Yes!
So I felt like I had no choice but to sign the agreement, because I wanted to start my class. She also said I need you to fill out this form stating why you dropped out of school. I SAID I NEVER DROPPED OUT I WAS FORCED TO SIT OUT SO PLEASE GET YOUR FACTS CORRECT. She said well go ahead and fill this paper out anyway I need to put it in your file cause you are on probation its a standard thing that has to do with financial aid when you drop out.. I was confused. Here I have this new lady talking down to me like I was a loser because she thinks I dropped out. NOT CORRECT!!!! FORCED TO WITHDRAW! I was not yelling either. I just felt like I was hit by a truck and I was in shock. I went to financial aid and all my aid was unclear. I had to fill out a new award agreement when I already had it to where I could survive by paying for the three classes for that term. I completed two classes, which was eight credits for the term before the official forced me to sit out the third month. The officials told me they were keeping the money for the class that I did not take; the college did not have me take. Official also told me I had to repay 925.00 for Pell grant money because by not taking the third class, I had to pay it back. I said but it was not by mistake or fault, it was a choice the college made for me. After three months of bitching they finally gave me a very little partial tuition refund but not the grant money or for the book charges. While I was with the official, she also had me sign an award agreement. Two days later, I am in class and a financial aid official wants to see me. I leave class and Official said I need you to sign this award letter, I said I did with already with the FA supervisor the other day. Carol said well its wrong so sign this award agreement, so I did. I went back to class with my copy and I noticed she was trying to take out a Parent plus loan out on me when I am an independent student. Therefore, I had to leave class again, and went back to FA and said, I want that original copy back that I just signed. I stated to the official, you could not take a parent loan out on me I am an independent student.
Official gave me the biggest attitude and was talking inappropriate to me. I said for her to have the correct award letter, a new one, and I will come back on my next break. I went back to class then on my next break I went in to Official and she gave me a new award letter. I told Official I would review the new document and bring it back on my next break. My breaks are only 10 min long and I only had 1 minute left cause I went to get a snack and a restroom break before I went to her office and told her I needed to get back to class. I will look this one over and bring it back later. She demanded I sign it now and said I WILL JUST HAVE YOU PULLED OUT OF CLASS LITERALLY YELLING AT ME WITH THE BIGGEST ATTITUDE. I said go ahead and do what you have too, but right now I am going back to class because I am going to miss out on learning because of the false misleading award document you made me sign in the first place. I was scared so, I hurried up out of there and went back to class. I told tiffany a classmate of mine what just happened to me at the Officials office and asked my classmate if she would go with me to see Official on our next break and she agreed. Tiffany and I went to see Official and she was still being rude to me in front of tiffany now. I said please do not get an attitude with me because of the false mistakes you made to begin with. I started to ask her a question about the new document that she had given me and she yelled at me, JUST SIGN IT! I finished my question, she could not give me a straight answer and started talking and what she said did not even make any sense to me, and she yelled again, just sign it. Once again, I felt like I had no choice but to sign it. She was a trusted Official and if it were not correct, she and the College would be responsible for the false hoods brought upon them. She was very angry, I could hear it in her voice and her conduct was extremely offensive to me, I was very intimidating. She acted as if she was covering up or hiding something and I might have just caught on to it.
My classmate told me I could not believe she was treating you that way and I am shocked that just happened to you, how rude of her to treat me that way. I also noticed when I got on my student portal to check my degree audit there were two separate DIFFERENT degree audits. I was confused once again. I had created a positive, safe environment at school for myself for the past 14 months. In a matter of two weeks the college had made in confusing, uncomfortable, and unsafe. I was crushed by these people that seemed like they no longer cared about me and my accomplishments of perfect attendance and my G.P.A of 3.71 which now on the portal said 2.80. The Student Portal has FALSE information on it about my grades and my aid and needs an investigation. The college has three different portals that are all misleading and confusing, and distorted. I didnt understand what the college had done to my little green progress degree line in the student portal, to see what I had left till I graduated. I went an spoke to Patrick Salenas in registrar, he said I have nothing to do with the portal, he said talk to bonnie, so I went to bonnie she said you need to log on to the new portal, I said what new portal and she told me. The new portal had no degree audit, and if i wanted to check my financial aid or account summary I had to click in the new portal that took me to the old one.
I started having an issue and concerns with the student portal after the college forced me to sit out. The student portal was showing I attempted four credits on one portion of the portal and the class is showing as an unsuccessful attempt on the other... and then I went to the other degree audit and it said I had transferred programs. I NEVER transferred the program from which I started. I originally started which is Associates of Science Degree in Surgical Technology. Both had a different class listed as credits taken and credits unsuccessful. For two months, I was putting tickets in through the student portal to talk to someone higher up and I did not get much response other than a revolving door. Im about to rip my hair out cause no one seems to think anything is wrong with my portal other than an I.T problem. That is just the cover up, I feel the school uses to steal my money that I would have coming to me after they charged for their expenses. I finally put a complaint into AZ Department of Post-Secondary Education and the President of the school called me and I went to talk to her and told her ALL the issues but I really did not get too far other than her apologizing ALOT for everyone at the college. She commented on how detailed I am even over people that worked under her. She finally saw my side and realized I was having several problems and they were addressed again by all the departments but nothing was properly handled. The President of the college I guess told the AZ State board everything was handled, However Keith Blanchard from the state board noticed the President did not answer not one of my questions specifically. The college and everyone down there other than the instructors have driven me to the point that I have just been better off filing complaints with anyone and everyone I can. I want to address all the issues and correct them and pay for the harassment and overcharges they have caused me. The college has caused me undue hardship and I do not even feel comfortable going to school anymore
They willfully withhold me from learning; when I went to class on Thursday 8-18-2011 the financial aid department gave my teacher another PINK - Pull from Class Slip that says do not let instructor, let me in class before going to see the financial aid department. This is going to be the fifth award letter they want me to sign in a month. I never went because it has me so stressed out. I do not want to see the officials after they have been harassing me, until the state board meeting in September. It also states my tuition is going up for the fourth time, when I asked everyone in my class if their tuition went up and they all said no. The class I am in is already paid for; so how does the financial aid department have the right to pull me out of my class and obstruct me from learning. Not to mention I had Pell grant money of 925.00 that the college said they returned because my 8 credits was not considered half time with the department of education when the college forced me to sit out in February. When I checked the NSDLS it said nothing about returned money. I called the department of edu, they said the school is the only one that can update the grant part of the site, and as soon as the college updates the information they have it posts to the site that day, but Patti in my financial aid office said it dont update for (6) six months. The information from Patti was a complete blatant lie from a trusted official at the college. So it was charged back to my account as -925.00. The college took my money and made me pay it back when it should never have been taken from me in the first place. According to the rules of the Department of Education, the college never should have taken my Pell grant money from me.
I sent an email to Carol Swanson at my financial aid department and stated that I wanted a copy of every original document so I could see if the money was returned to the department of education. she said
(Copied from original response e-mail)
On Jul 26, 2011 7:24 PM, "Swanson, Carol" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Donna,
> I have start to work on your request but the r2t4 will not be completed for 30 days and we do not have access to NSLDS although you do by logging in to NSLDS.ed.gov . I have also forward this to Paticia Curtis the Director of Student Financial Services.
> Sincerely,
>
> Carol
>end email
I was under the impression that the rT24 was to be completed 30 days from withdrawal. Its now 5 months later and they didnt complete the form, which is against the law per the department of education. I also was given a re-pack of aid but carol and the college, were factiously trying to take a parent plus loan out on me, but I told them to give me my original back. I was given a copy of my ledger card which clearly states in carols handwriting, I attempted 8 credits and I was Half-time, but they withdrew me and tried to keep the my Pell grant money and my tuition for the class they were no longer offering for my program I enrolled in. Also the new award repack I signed it stated I was a graduate student and not a repack which is false, and I asked carol about it in front of tiffany and she just gave me an attitude and a half answer about why it said that so I left confused and appalled. My account says 4 years of aid but I am a 2 year student.
I REQUIRE an investigation of my whole file and all the records of state aid. I am requesting an audit done on the financial aid department of Brown Mackie College PHX-TUCS- Art institute and there EDMC and their cohorts, done by the Department of Education, State Board of Arizona, Arizona Commission/Board for private Postsecondary Education, NASSGAP, Arizona higher education, and the proper authorities for a financial aid audit and any other authority you see fit.
Also I was enrolled in two prior colleges and gave them a copy of my transcripts but they made me take a compass test to determine if I had the ability to benefit and they said I failed the English part of the compass test and forced me to take a FUNDAMENTAL OF ENGLISH CLASS, but they already knew I could benefit due to my prior college records with mostly As for the classes I took. I feel the college does this intentionally to get people off track on purpose so they can keep the students money for the 4 or 8 credit term. The college is showing a BAD DEBT from me as part of that curriculum change of over 400 dollars for that term and the class they never gave me to me. If this information is found to be true this is considered PRE-MEDITATED FRAUD and WILLFUL OBSTRUCTION OF LEARNING and want The College and their Cohorts to be held ACCOUNTABLE. I feel I have been the best student I could be to represent the school in an extra ordinary positive up-lifting way, since I enrolled in 2009. the College has totally burdened me because of this whole situation of me bring a drop-out and taking months to return the money that was rightfully mine to live on. This whole situation has CONSUMED me, my TIME, and my sanity trying to correct the the wrongs the college officials have bestowed upon me.
It has caused me undue hardship and I feel sabotaged, and intimidated by the officials actions towards me. This cant be the thanks I get for all the hard work I put into my education and representing Brown Mackie Phx- Tucson- EDMC- The art institute of Phoenix to the best of my abilities. I feel they willfully obstructed me from learning and I want a complete audit done of my financial account the three enrollment agreements I signed starting from 250, 275, and 330 a credit. The program I stated which was an associate of science degree in surgical technology. My student portal says I transferred to a different program but I never did, it was 24000.00 when I first started no it is over 33,000.00. I want my money refunded and adjusted accordingly and my school records to reflect I did drop out of school and that I did not transfer to another program; which is the truth. I was under the understanding that I was a half time student because i took 8 credits in the term. They said because it is not listed in the catalog for a leave of absence, but I did not leave, the college forced me to sit out. The college says I attempted 8 credits and did not complete them, which is false. I completed every single course I took. They are to be held responsible for the cost of this occurrence from their pocket not mine I dont want the colleges burden they cause by lying to me and falsifying Documents about the program I started and reflecting on my record. The student portal needs to be investigated; it seems distorted, fictitious, misleading and just plain falsely manipulated. The college has caused undue hardship on me and according to the 2009/2010 catalog they should not and will not do that to a student. The college has, financially, and emotionally caused undue hardship to me. I have proof of all documents. Connie mallard who is the president spoke to me and addressed issues and as she agreed with me that the actions toward me were wrong and should never have happened. I told her at the time after ALL HER APOLOGIES and she was very kind but I dont think she understood how burdened all this has been on me and still is. Nothing got handled to my satisfaction.
This complaint states all the harassment Carol Swanson used towards me in an Intimidating, abusive way and the false Document award letter that she had me sign to take out a fictitious loan, and by her willful obstruction of learning by pulling me out of class while I was trying to learn and the College and all their cohorts as a whole for being an aggressive and greedy for-profit institution and for not keeping me in there best interest above monetary gain. Also in financial aid, Patricia Curtis, who stated here comes trouble when I walked in to the aid office, and the admissions department for rail-rodding me into a 33,120 dollar contract that was supposed to be 24,000.00. The complaint is towards the admission and financial aid officials for their aggressive, intimidation toward me to sign legal forms for contracts and financial aid award letter before I had a chance to look them over thoroughly, then basically using my education as a scare tactic to get me to sign the forms. Carol for yelling at me and treating me like I was a minority and feeling as though I cant even ask questions about anything let alone aid money. The Officials have made me feel so uncomfortable to even step into the financial aid offices at the College or to even talk to the Officials in person. They are all held to a professional standard and having anything less than the standard of care is misconduct that has and is adversely affecting the interest of me personally as a student and my studies and has adversely affected me as a human being pushed around, and humiliated with their bullying, unprofessional, unacceptable misconduct. It also adversely affects EDMC in its whole entirety, Brown Mackie College- Phoenix-Tucson, art institutes and/or its reputation. I have supporting documents and witness to the lack of safety and support, and best interest of me as a student. Below you will find a copy of the statement from my witness about the Misconduct and Falsification and Misleading Harassment I have suffered.
Abuse includes falsification, distortion, or misrepresentation of information from a school official. The College Officials actions towards me are unacceptable
And I should never, nor should anyone else feel the way I was made to feel and still feel.
Thank you
Miss Donna Fiore |
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Girl, You are not alone, this happens at EVERY Brown Mackie College in the country, I should know it happened to me. They also force dropped me. The person that signed me up for school knew I passed my compass tests and did not need the gen ed comp and math, and had me sign up for my cohort 2 months early. If I would have know that he was getting commission off me signing up right then and there, and that I was going to end up owing them money for having to "sit out" what they call drop for two months, I would have waited. EXACT situation everywhere, TULSA and Kansas City.
DO not ever go to a Brown Mackie or any of its affiliates! |
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