I am a war vet that used the post 911 gi bill to go back to school. Upon starting the school i used my fafsa and post 911 gi bill. I told them i did not want to use my Stanford loans just my Pell grants as my gi bill would cover the tuition. While in school i was required to take war photography as one of my classes. I told them i would have trouble with this due to my ptsd. Thay said it was fine they would help me through it. Well here i am i have 2 semesters to go to get my AA and the class came up. 2 weeks into it i told them it was getting hard i needed the help. They told me i could not pursue the AA if i did not get through this class and that was the help i got. I had to drop out and put my family at risk because they would not help me through one class. Then it gets worse, after i drop out i get contacted saying my student loans were past due. Wow i look into it and guess what they used my stanford loans to pay my tuition and pocketed my post 911 payments. I talk to the school and they say they didnt use them. Now i cant get my transcript from them because they say i owe them money. All in all they take my post 911 gi bill money and i owe stanford loans because of them. Please please do not attend this school they are money hungry back stabbing people.
I attended Al Collins Graphic Design School from 97-98 and even though I didn't complete the program, I was wondering now that this lawsuit is taking place am I still held accountable for past student loans? I feel that since the school got shut down because of unaccredability that I should not be held responsible.
My son graduated with a AAS degree as a graphic designer at Collins College at Tempe AZ. He is in debt of 30,000 that was paid to Collins College. He applied at NAU university but majority of his credits do not count.
What was the point of paying so much to Collins College if the universities do not except their credits. The Maricopa Community Colleges do not ackowledge them.
Same story as what you read above and below. An informational on TV that sucks you in, except instead of being out a few dollars or even a couple hundred dollars, you are out TENS OF THOUSANDS!!! I feel sorry for the head honchos of this so call College/University...
I was teenager (19) excited to start my career in Art and thought Graphic Design was a great fit, lol, little did I know what I was getting myself into! Why bore you with what everyone already knows, teachers with little to no experience, etc, etc. I even remember watching the news one day and a reporter making a joke about Collins College graduates, after that I was embarrassed to put that school on my resume and knew that I was pretty much doomed!!
I would like to know who graduated in class of March 2001, and had the teacher that went CRAZY and was escorted out of the classroom because she was mentally unstable (can't remember her name, but she was a blonde lady?) OR who remembers having so many different instructors towards our last 6 months of education that had no idea what they were doing and were doing nothing but confusing the hell out of us?
I guess the only good thing I learned is to not let my children make the same mistake, I didn't have that parent to do that for me, but my kids do! And I'll be damned if they get screwed over like I did!
Another victim of this awful school. When I first applied, it was Al Collins School of Design. Not long before my first day of school, it was changed to Collins College. On my first day of orientation, there were groups of people protesting outside of the school. Not a good sign. It worried me, but i chalked it up to frustrated students who just couldn't find work and wanted to blame the school. At that point, and because i wanted to believe the school was reputable, i took to defending the school rather than the protesters.
I attended school. Some classes were okay. I liked my instructors for the most part, but you could tell they, themselves, were frustrated with the school. They never spoke about it, but you could tell they weren't happy about something. Time went by, i stayed only for my AA and decided it wasn't worth remaining there for my BA.
I tried to find work. Like most people have said on here, employers would not accept graduates from this school. They had such a bad name and reputation at this point that no one would take former students on as employees. I began to understand what was happening, why people had been protesting, why the college changed names. I felt stupid for not seeing it sooner, and for applying in the first place. I still clung to some hope that if i left and headed back east, where i'm from, maybe i'd find work there. No one back east knew about Collins's reputation, and that was a good thing.
Back east, i quickly realized how much I didn't know about the field i had gone to school for. I talked with many recruiters and creative placement agencies. Some of them even asked me if Graphic Design was what i was meant to do, after looking at my ""portfolio."" I second guessed everything. I felt awful about myself, my career path, and the overall sense that i had wasted crucial time and money. I took three jobs at that point: front desk operator at a rec center, part time toys r us employee, and pizza delivery boy. Not something i had hoped to do after graduating with a degree, but you do what you have to. i put myself out there, time and again, hoping for some work. I was rejected almost every time.
Eventually, i was able to scrounge up some work from a local law firm. i did some business cards and posters. It felt good to be designing. It was my first freelance gig. I did this for awhile. i looked online at design sites and tutorials, i tried to study as much as possible from what i could find on the web from other designers and artists. This helped greatly in my real understanding of design. The education i received at Collins felt more and more ridiculous.
It took me a long time, but i finally got lucky creating ads for a local newspaper company. And like someone else here had said, it was a case where my personality won over my resume and education. I didn't make great money, but i had a foot in the door, in the direciton i had hoped it would go. Luckily, i have a decent job now doing package design. But when i talk to other designers and colleagues, and hear about what they were taught in college, i realize just how much of an education i had missed. And when i pay my student loans each month i grit my teeth, because i'm reminded of the money and time that went to NOTHING, that i'm still paying for to this day, 11 years later.
Collins College Reviews
I am a war vet that used the post 911 gi bill to go back to school. Upon starting the school i used my fafsa and post 911 gi bill. I told them i did not want to use my Stanford loans just my Pell grants as my gi bill would cover the tuition. While in school i was required to take war photography as one of my classes. I told them i would have trouble with this due to my ptsd. Thay said it was fine they would help me through it. Well here i am i have 2 semesters to go to get my AA and the class came up. 2 weeks into it i told them it was getting hard i needed the help. They told me i could not pursue the AA if i did not get through this class and that was the help i got. I had to drop out and put my family at risk because they would not help me through one class. Then it gets worse, after i drop out i get contacted saying my student loans were past due. Wow i look into it and guess what they used my stanford loans to pay my tuition and pocketed my post 911 payments. I talk to the school and they say they didnt use them. Now i cant get my transcript from them because they say i owe them money. All in all they take my post 911 gi bill money and i owe stanford loans because of them. Please please do not attend this school they are money hungry back stabbing people.
I attended Al Collins Graphic Design School from 97-98 and even though I didn't complete the program, I was wondering now that this lawsuit is taking place am I still held accountable for past student loans? I feel that since the school got shut down because of unaccredability that I should not be held responsible.
My son graduated with a AAS degree as a graphic designer at Collins College at Tempe AZ. He is in debt of 30,000 that was paid to Collins College. He applied at NAU university but majority of his credits do not count.
What was the point of paying so much to Collins College if the universities do not except their credits. The Maricopa Community Colleges do not ackowledge them.
How should we initiate a law suit against them?
Please Include Me In This Lawsuit!!!
Same story as what you read above and below. An informational on TV that sucks you in, except instead of being out a few dollars or even a couple hundred dollars, you are out TENS OF THOUSANDS!!! I feel sorry for the head honchos of this so call College/University...
I was teenager (19) excited to start my career in Art and thought Graphic Design was a great fit, lol, little did I know what I was getting myself into! Why bore you with what everyone already knows, teachers with little to no experience, etc, etc. I even remember watching the news one day and a reporter making a joke about Collins College graduates, after that I was embarrassed to put that school on my resume and knew that I was pretty much doomed!!
I would like to know who graduated in class of March 2001, and had the teacher that went CRAZY and was escorted out of the classroom because she was mentally unstable (can't remember her name, but she was a blonde lady?) OR who remembers having so many different instructors towards our last 6 months of education that had no idea what they were doing and were doing nothing but confusing the hell out of us?
I guess the only good thing I learned is to not let my children make the same mistake, I didn't have that parent to do that for me, but my kids do! And I'll be damned if they get screwed over like I did!
Another victim of this awful school. When I first applied, it was Al Collins School of Design. Not long before my first day of school, it was changed to Collins College. On my first day of orientation, there were groups of people protesting outside of the school. Not a good sign. It worried me, but i chalked it up to frustrated students who just couldn't find work and wanted to blame the school. At that point, and because i wanted to believe the school was reputable, i took to defending the school rather than the protesters.
I attended school. Some classes were okay. I liked my instructors for the most part, but you could tell they, themselves, were frustrated with the school. They never spoke about it, but you could tell they weren't happy about something. Time went by, i stayed only for my AA and decided it wasn't worth remaining there for my BA.
I tried to find work. Like most people have said on here, employers would not accept graduates from this school. They had such a bad name and reputation at this point that no one would take former students on as employees. I began to understand what was happening, why people had been protesting, why the college changed names. I felt stupid for not seeing it sooner, and for applying in the first place. I still clung to some hope that if i left and headed back east, where i'm from, maybe i'd find work there. No one back east knew about Collins's reputation, and that was a good thing.
Back east, i quickly realized how much I didn't know about the field i had gone to school for. I talked with many recruiters and creative placement agencies. Some of them even asked me if Graphic Design was what i was meant to do, after looking at my ""portfolio."" I second guessed everything. I felt awful about myself, my career path, and the overall sense that i had wasted crucial time and money. I took three jobs at that point: front desk operator at a rec center, part time toys r us employee, and pizza delivery boy. Not something i had hoped to do after graduating with a degree, but you do what you have to. i put myself out there, time and again, hoping for some work. I was rejected almost every time.
Eventually, i was able to scrounge up some work from a local law firm. i did some business cards and posters. It felt good to be designing. It was my first freelance gig. I did this for awhile. i looked online at design sites and tutorials, i tried to study as much as possible from what i could find on the web from other designers and artists. This helped greatly in my real understanding of design. The education i received at Collins felt more and more ridiculous.
It took me a long time, but i finally got lucky creating ads for a local newspaper company. And like someone else here had said, it was a case where my personality won over my resume and education. I didn't make great money, but i had a foot in the door, in the direciton i had hoped it would go. Luckily, i have a decent job now doing package design. But when i talk to other designers and colleagues, and hear about what they were taught in college, i realize just how much of an education i had missed. And when i pay my student loans each month i grit my teeth, because i'm reminded of the money and time that went to NOTHING, that i'm still paying for to this day, 11 years later.