Ai Online & EDMC: Scam Schools & Student Loan Predators

[MrIsh1992]

Lol, You sound like Jon from De-located. And I am also an Ex-Art Institutes student as well.

[SpongyDesign]

Wow My friend sent me this video today because I told her I am interested in the AI of Nothern VA for animation. I guess I'll pass now. THANKS!

[mattzoneify]

Anonymous ...

[1999primo915]

I moved 600 miles from el paso Texas to Austin TX, to come to this school. I didnt get any student loans so ive been paying out of pocket each month 200.00 and thats with Fin aid. Im only taking 12 credit hours cuz thats all i can aford. I really want to learn more cuz i feel like you saud, im not paying for something thats not worth it.

[DanniAliceNong]

Oh damnnnn... I was about to apply for the online course ! Scary shit. Thanks guys ^_^

[MaskedMasochist]

I am glad to see that people are getting angry and rising up. Ai is a huge scam, they only reason they get away with doing what they're doing is because sadly they technically aren't really breaking many laws, they do give you a rudimentary art school education. But if enough people get angry and rise up we can get better laws that protect consumers and students from this bullshit and get these pricks brought to justice.

[TheCarrottop666]

I have a really kind, caring friend who I recently met and hung out with. She is an amazing person, a little socially awkward, but an amazing human being. I heard her complaining about student loan debt and all that, so I went to look up where she was going. She is a very talented artist, and she goes to one of these Art Institute schools. Thank you so much for your story, I am definitely going to tell her what I've heard, and see if I can help her find and get into an ACCREDITED degree program.

[nhiapthao]

On top of all this, when i told them my first choice, someone on the phone told me that the other school was a bad choice and that their tuition was 60,000 a year, versus Ai's 27,000. Back then i was naive and i didn't know better, but i checked the math after i got swindled into it and my first choice was only 2,000 more than Ai. Bullshit!

[nhiapthao]

I am currently in the process of leaving the MN Ai for a different school in the area. I've been here for 2.5 years and i can honestly say i hated almost every moment of it. Financial Aid is always screwing something up, courses are terrible, and the worst part is that non of my credits would transfer to this other school I'm considering. Some of the teachers are really talented and i liked them, but I've considered this long enough. I NEED TO GET OUT!

[Jinx919]

LMAO I go to This online Division and I think Its Great Your Suppose to Take You Skills to the Next level On your own You want to make Games make dem get better on your own time thats what XNA and 3ds max and all that shit is for there just Noobs man Dont listen to dem degrees dont really matter..lmao if im better than you at it its just that simple...N00bs lmao

[sketcheddreams]

@sketcheddreams cont. When I finally moved in it was close to 10pm of me having to walk to my dorm thats about a mile away. My teachers were nice, however when I started class it felt as if I was being fed fake education with things I could have easily (and already have) learned online and on my own. Now that I withdrew after a week. They were telling me i breached my contract with them and have to pay a heavy fee for that. This school chain is a joke. I should have known better.

[sketcheddreams]

I just pulled out of the Art Institute of Atlanta. My horror story began when student orientation was completely disorganized. My finacial aid counslers were eagered to rush me in but explained little to no info on terms and conditions. I wasn't allowed to move in to my dormitory on a saturday due to some rule they had. So they put me in a hotel for 3 days. I spent hours trying to find my dormitory because the housing department failed to explain how to get there and lied about student shuttles.

[imraw17]

FUCK AI

[Killac67]

Fuck AI. i spilled my heart for an admid letter and still had to jump through 20 hoops and still didnt get in. Fuck Shawn Vargo, eat shit you punk ass bitch..

[DonKMullen]

I can tell you that I was also a student at Penn State for Organizational Leadership. Should I expect that if I get a degree from Penn State and don't get a job that I should blame the school? The education is only part of the package of becoming marketable. Employers want you to have experience, which is why people will volunteer or intern even while going to school in the career field they are studying to get that practical, real world experience.

[anothaview]

@DonKMullen Paid troll or a GoldmanSach's parrot. Just because you had a better experience does not make you better than everyone. Its not about getting the degree, it is the quality of education that have not met with many students. You got your head up your ass MR. BIGTIME.

[DonKMullen]

@anothaview Nothing of the kind. I am also not saying I am better than anyone else. I am telling what I have experienced compared to other institutions of learning. If you had a bad experience, I am sorry to hear that. The complaint I hear is that a student is not prepared by the school, but even in other institutions the student is not fully prepared. I think it is unrealistic to think you will get out of college and get a big paying job just from the class material.

[DonKMullen]

@anothaview It's a very unrealistic expectation. What you can expect is to get a job as an intern, unless you freelance your skills. I was a Web Design student. I grew a lot from the program, but technology is ever changing and what I have learned on the tech part will be obsolete somewhere down the road as with ever other degree out there. The students that I saw put out some great material did a lot of study above and beyond class instruction.

[anothaview]

@DonKMullen its not about big paying jobs we are arguing about.

[imraw17]

@anothaview he just doesn't want to admit that he is getting ripped off.

[DonKMullen]

People who were more exceptional that me were graphic artists with lots of experience, which I didn't have, but allow me to have that time of interaction and support from a lot of great people.

[DonKMullen]

That is why critiquing is part of you grade, because it is an acquired skill. All the teachers I had never gave me an A for just showing up for class. How ridiculous! I had to make a lot of effort to do well. Although I graduated with a 4.0 in the Web design progtam, I had to work very hard to get it. Constantly working and revising my work to make it better. It is not the best, but I came into the school with not prior experience.

[DonKMullen]

The reality of it is, what are you going to do now? You can blame AiOnline or take what you have and move on. If you sit and complain, you waste time. Time you could be using to better yourself. I watch this video and I can tell that my experience was different. Feedback is very important in this school because it is centered around design. You need critiquing on your work not just from the teacher, but from the student as well.

[DonKMullen]

The degrees at AiOnline are accelerated, so realistically you have to ask yourself if you really think you will be able to absorb all the information in a 5 1/2 week period. I would say no. You going to have to take this information and continue to absorb it. People I know who are successful use their education as a springboard. They don't count as their all in all. Successful people go above and beyond, don't blame others, and take responsibility.

[DonKMullen]

No institution of learning is going to prepare you fully for what you will face in the working world. You really have to go above everything you learn at any school to make it. The learning never stops. I was in the Bachelor's at AiOnline and back off and finished with the Associates because I did not want to have the expense of a Bachelor's degree and felt I learned enough from the the school.

[DonKMullen]

You really need to take more responsibility for yourself and not blame the school. I have attended three online school including AiOnline and I can tell you the learning experience and cost was the same. I was a Penn State student before going to AiOnline and the interaction with the teachers and students was the same. Same quality for the same price and Penn State is a well recognized university.

[DonKMullen]

When attend college, any college, you need to educate yourself on the college before you decide to attend. The tuition you pay to go to this school is not unusual. Every college is rising in costs and there is no guarantee no matter where you get educated that you will get a job after you graduate.

[joonipuur]

...put as my FA counselor. I was finally able to get in touch with him today & guess what he regurgitated as a response? The same bullshit I'd heard last time! The entire amount of $3,700 was gone & I wasn't getting a penny of it! Between 2 classes, they'd used up nearly $8,000 & I had NOTHING to show for it! So now I am here. Watching this video. THOROUGHLY PISSED OFF! FUCK Goldman Sachs!

[joonipuur]

...in student loans & grants I'd received started to dwindle despite them having told me that the class I was about to take was already paid for. But NO ONE would answer my calls, my emails, or call back after I'd left several frustrated messages. Then they switched my FA counselor again after having not heard from the last one at all. And then all that money that was in my account mysteriously vanished! As if it had never existed at all. So I persistently kept calling this new person they'd..

[joonipuur]

I started a new class a week ago. I noticed a lot of fishy stuff going around with my financial account. I'd been promised that some of the already outrageous loans they'd taken out for my so-called "education" would be delivered to my stipend so that I could have extra money to purchase equipment for my upcoming photography classes. The money was supposed to be disbursed on the 19th, but I'd tried to get in contact with them a week prior to make sure everything was in place, because the $3,700

[joonipuur]

...get in touch with anyone. When I finally did get in touch with someone, they talked their way around it, making it sound incredibly confusing & implying that the tuition cost they'd charged me for covered 4 more classes. In conjunction with is, my stipend stopped coming & kept mysteriously disappearing. They claimed it had to do with a change in their system & that I simply needed to sign some form re-authorizing my stipend. Naively I bought it. Until today, that is...

[joonipuur]

I started attending the AIP a little less than a year ago. It was a good experience... at first. The class tuition wasn't too bad... at first. But then I noticed for my last class (which was a gen ed - Elementary Algebra) the tuition was almost $4,000! For one freaking class! Thinking this had to have been a mistake, I tried and tried to get in touch with the Financial department - which was incredibly unsuccessful. They switched around my FA counselors 5x in one month so that I couldn't...

[BuckyJoe00]

This video is more creative then anything AIP ever taught. Thanks for the laugh and the brutally honest truth. I left AiP after a year and I felt as though I was the only person that thought it was a scam. Nice to see that others agree with me!

[gogetitlady]

holy crap I will be sending you my story and I also will be goign to that false claims site thank you so much for this I really hope something changes

[gogetitlady]

Dude this video is actually 100% right on. I havent bought a textbook for AI in well over a year because of the reason you explained. We never used them and never referenced them and you are again 100% correct about the fricken discussion questions are a joke anyone can answer them. Its almost funny how dead on correct you are about everything you say in this video I just wish I watched it before I attended the school. I told them today im not taking any more classes and they didnt even care lol

[JarottM]

Ah thats what happened to the Facebook page! i went to post my story up there and its gone. Let me know when a new one arises. I've been yelling about Ai of Phila for years. Theres not even enough room on here to tell all the crap me and my classmates went through for nothing.

[GothicVampireization]

I attended Ai in New York City. I will say a lot of my professors were decent, but the price was RIDICULOUS. Not only that, but Ai messed up my private loans with Sallie Mae. Instead of one bill, I have to pay THREE BILLS at once. For hardly ONE YEAR of attending there, I now owe over 45,000 DOLLARS.

[IMAGIMATIONanimation]

I am a recent high school graduate, and I have been attending community college for the past year getting my generals done. I recently attended the CTN animation expo in burbank, and I was surprised by the amount of animation students there who were looking for jobs. I suppose that animation is a hard field to get into, but many of these jobless animators came from Ai. When I talked to Ai students, almost all that I talked to said Ai was a scam that gave them nothing. I'll avoid Ai like the flu.

[forbee43]

thought about going to the Ai in Tinely Park. I am a high school senior applied and visited the campus and such. I felt there was something fishy going on after noticing these institutes across the nations I found out that it is a profit school -_- and i researched online and discovered A MESS of horror stories.I am going to talk to my counselor to consider community college and to transfer out into SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) which is nonprofited and accredited. THANK GOD

[shaffergjb]

What happened to the Face Book? Can't find it!

[aionlinescam]

Facebook wasn't really the problem. EDMC / Art Institutes spammed them that were violating copyright by using their logo. We immediately changed the logo to something totally unlike theirs, but they kept making fraudulent claims that we were violating copyright just to shut us down.

The group grew to over 300 "likes" in just two weeks and the wall was a landslide of outraged student stories, so they came after us. I backed up all the stories though, and they WILL be heard.

[NaomasDarkSide]

Im actually Currently Attending AIP at the moment. For Media arts And Animation. I do like some of the teachers. But honestly I have noticed some fishy things going around. Such as the random charges, and its true we never used the books. The only book we have ever used was for English class.. Honestly All they do is toss you from one person to another. And the dorms are shit if your crammed into them. They pair you with horrible roommates as well UGHHHHH This makes me want to turn tail and run.

[aionlinescam]

@NaomasDarkSide Can't recommend strongly enough you get out before you owe them anymore wasted money. Please contact your state attorney general with your story and join the movement to make people aware of the terrible damage this school and EDMC is doing to destroy our economy and the lives of the students it victimizes.

Groups are now "Occupying Ai" and protesting EDMC - your Ai degree is going to have even less respect soon.

Thank you for posting, friend. Stay strong.

[mzvalleyval]

I was thinking about going to this school I am so glad I didn't...I choose Rasmussen for graphic design....not getting ripped off, teachers actually do there job, my money worth every penny, and did I mention an amazing support center!!! Oh and the assignments ha I wish it was as easy as commenting on someones elses works YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO WORK YOUR A** OFF...but wait that's what schools for!!!!! All in ALL THANK GOD I DIDN'T GO TO THE ART INSTITUTE!!!

[monqiue637]

i go to the AI of inland empire in California. worst mistake ever!!. And I want to take this b**** down! what should be my first step???

[SallinKari]

Thank you for saving my wallet, my time, and my life... I'm just sad that I have no real way to help you. I mean, who listens to some guy uninvolved?

[aionlinescam]

@SallinKari That's incredible for me to hear, friend. Thank you so very much for posting.

There IS a very real way for you to help. Tell everyone you can about this fraudulent college and pass the help this video gave you on to someone else about to ruin their life.

Thank you!!

[COMICFILMEXPERT]

I went to the Art Institute of Dallas as well and landed in the same boat as MeneRocks.

But I took your advice, aionlinescam, and wrote Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

I'm ready for something, ANYTHING, to be done about this injustice.

[aionlinescam]

@moonfairymajic Thank you!  Good luck with it!

[MeneRocks]

Excellent video! I went to the Art Institute of Dallas for an Associates in Video Production. In the entire 2 and a half years I went there, I had a grand total of 3 meaningful classes, all of which irrelevant to my degree, mostly Photoshop classes from a teacher who actually gave a shit. I taught myself Final Cut Pro, Avid and After Effects via internet tutorials.

Anyways, I left the school in 60k of debt. I'm a seriously considering making a short documentary about this. Just need the facts.

[aionlinescam]

@MeneRocks Enough can't be said about how meaningless the classes are and just like you, I learned how to use Final Cut through video tutorials and just applying myself for free. These people are putting students in debt for $60,000-$90,000 for information they could look up for free.

Thankfully, some very amazing people are about to break this story nationally on a major network.

[Neequu78]

Wow now I just want to jump off a building.

[aionlinescam]

@Neequu78 Message me and I'll tell you whom to contact for help.

[Neequu78]

I'm a current student as well. :(

[aionlinescam]

@Neequu78 Message me, friend. I'll tell you what to do to if you feel you've been ripped off - and rest assured that you have.

[IMTCVA]

Lots of important information. You have to choose wisely.

[AkinaGod]

Go to whitehouse dot gov /petitions/!/petition/return-a­ll-moneys-paid-students-profit­-schools-have-defrauded-them-h­ave-their-debt-removed/5vDsWL5­q

Please sign if you agree with this video. I have experienced, and I'm not kidding, everything and more than this video talks about. I am spreading the word to get our money back.

[thelordymir]

AiO is trying to threaten me now that I withdrew saying I owe them 2k as a balance, because I left midway through a semester...trying to figure out how I can lawyer up and get this removed. They denied my appeal.

[JRROUSSR]

EDMC disliked this video !

[charsk00ter]

Thank you so much! I know many of us have our own horror stories, hell I have my own.

[JarottM]

Thank lord and lady! Im vindicated!

I went to the Art Institute of Philadelphia way back in 1998 and have been screaming about all this since then!

There's not enough space on here to tell everything about the HELL i went through and STILL go through with them. Im just worried about a friend of mine thats going there now.

Where the heck do i sign up and tell my story???

[MaddisonBunnett]

What about us students in Canada? Art Institute Of Vancouver is the same. I've been complaining since second quarter, I'm now going into my 6th quarter and it's progressively getting worse.

[razoredge783]

The video has its first "dislike" - guess either a student is in denial about how badly they got ripped off or an EDMC employee has seen this. Or maybe it was Senator Snowe! lol

[SinnahPsychopathic]

@razoredge783 I'm gonna say both...but the student doesn't want to get in trouble...it's sad I say we pull a Fight Club and start our own soap businesses LOL

[bewareofscamsguy2]

Great video. It is way more serious than any of mine.

[thraphelga]

Me and several friends are graduates of AIOC-CA, and we would not mind the least bit to provide our information.

[SavvyCortez]

I'm a recent graduate from Dec 2010, and I wish I had someone in my field of interest that would have told me that there were better art schools out there. Although I made the best of my situation, because at my Ai location I had some amazing teachers, I do feel like I spent way too much for not enough schooling for what I was promised.

[LittleDragonBite]

I withdrew back in February. I've been getting random charges of $4000... and from where? Who knows! I called and asked and they said it was a mistake... yet it kept coming four times after the first. Each time it was the same old mistake. My graduation date was set prior to my enrollment date, and despite some of my professors being extremely talented, I've seen some students who have had crap-tastic work get the same grade as those who've put through some amazing stuff. It's not right or fair.

[RikkWolf]

@LittleDragonBite Sounds almost identical to my story.

[AdrianforSure]

thank god I watched this before considering dropping out of my state school to go to AI. saved my ass alot of trouble!

[aionlinescam]

@AdrianforSure That's amazing to hear. We're so glad this video has done some good!! Would it be alright if we put your comment in the next video?

[kathieb711]

oh, NOW I understand how animation mentor got into this conversation! To be perfectly clear, this post is not about them. Our focus is the rip off that is the Art Institutes! Someone commented that they picked on the wrong group of people, Artists! Artists are passionate! Let's hear YOUR story! You CAN make a difference!

[kathieb711]

I agree with Capeau. I saw NO graduates from the Art Institute Online who studied the Game Art & Design Program (Animation) gainfully employed in their field. The Toys R Us kid is one of them. I'm not sure how Animation Mentor got into this conversation, but let's be clear, this is not about AM. In fact one of my GAD grads moved on to AM and I've never heard him say a bad word about the school. He loves it!

[Caucasian60]

I just withdrew yesterday from AI of Las Vegas after about a year. I'll admit a few teachers are very talented people and my drawing skills improved somewhat, but it is NOT worth the $90,000 tuition. Before I withdrew they were telling me my monthly payments were going to rise if I didn't apply for another loan IMMEDIATELY. It's a rip off and I met some good honest people there and I can only hope EDMC gets screwed and reparations are sent back to the students to help pay those ridiculous loans.

[aionlinescam]

@Caucasian60 Glad you got out. The only degrees worth $90,000 are the kind that real colleges award.

They get real shady when you withdraw, I understand. They won't even give me a straight answer on what I owe.

It's going to take a lot of promotion and a lot of searching, but if these videos get around enough, someone's bound to see that there's a TON of students that want to sue and help us out.

[civiliansonfire]

everything you said happened to me omg this school is such a joke.

[kathieb711]

Awesome video!  Way to tell it like it is! There is one glaring mistake though, the price you quote is the price PER CREDIT! You must multiply that number by 3 (3 credits per class) to get the actual cost of each class! Which amounts to almost $1,500 PER CLASS!

[aionlinescam]

@kathieb711 Damn! I'll see if I can't work that into the next video. Working on it NOW.

[gera87drums]

this makes my 30,000+ debt for my first year not hurt so bad for a couple minutes. EDMC chose to mess with the wrong crowd of people. The Artists. Those who express themselves in every way possible, every single day

[aionlinescam]

@gera87drums Glad I could take your mind off your woes for a moment, friend - and you have a VERY good point. We're tied too well into the press. They won't get away with this.

[mikehext]

Hey bro, I gotta thank you for standing up. :)

[GordonWayneWatts]

My channel has several videos about how the Student loan industry is a scam -as does the front page news of my personal blogs, accessible in my youtube profile --also, there is a lot on stuff unrelated to student loans on my channel, but just sayin'. -- Good job, my friend!

[razoredge783]

Is this not America any longer? How the fuck does the government ALLOW this kind of fraud?! Fuck EDMC and fuck the Art Institutes.

[mikehext]

@razoredge783 Its because EDMC has their hand in the governments pockets. They know exactly who to pay off. Look up Olympia Snowe, a republican senator in Maine and her Husband, an EDMC executive. And she voted in favor of bailouts for Goldman Sachs, who owns EDMC 41%.

[glennxi]

Keep us updated.

[aionlinescam]

@glennxi We certainly will. Please pass the video along so we can help choke out EDMC school's by running off students.

[theguv234]

Why doesn't this have more views?

[aionlinescam]

@theguv234 It's only been public for about three days. Please pass it along so at the very least we can warn students away from these schools and avoid ruining their academic lives. Thank you for commenting.

[Hallamfoebell]

@theguv234 Because people dont want to listen!

[Capeau]

but yeah, its getting abused too much... and all those poor ppl who work hard to get a good education and hoping for a better future are getting ripped of... its disgusting

[aionlinescam]

@Capeau Very disgusting. The worst part is no one is helping the students with their terrible debt these criminals trick them into owing. Thank you so much for commenting and please pass along this video.

[Capeau]

not all online animation schools are bad... animation mentor for example is amazing

[aionlinescam]

@Capeau Actually, The Art Institutes aren't solely an animation school, they offer Graphic Design, Culinary Arts, Fashion, Game Design, etc. Yes, not all are bad - but EDMC art schools are a complete fraud.

[mikehext]

@Capeau The only good teachers are the ones who stay for like 1 class then leave when they realize what a toilet the school is.



[Capeau]

@mikehext

obviously you dont know animation mentor

[mikehext]

@Capeau As a former animation student I'll tell you, there is nothing at that school worth the price you're being fooled into paying.

[Capeau]

@mikehext

sorry i know plenty of animators who's demoreel says the contrary... sorry you didnt manage to realise your expectations there.

btw, this video is ai which is not the same as animation mentor

[mikehext]

@Capeau Well apparently those animators either had their parents paying or they're living out of the gutter animating from a cardboard box.

From what I've seen there no animators that have come from AI that are effectively ahead in the world right now.

[Capeau]

@mikehext

Do you even read before trying to act smart.

AI is a rip off, yes no doubt. I AM TALKING ABOUT ANIMATION MENTOR which is not AI.

I REPEAT AI IS NOT ANIMATION MENTOR.

[mikehext]

@Capeau Who cares about animation mentor, that has nothing to do with AI, then post about it elsewhere, man.

[xTheDarkestRedx]

I've heard nothing but horror stories about these schools. Glad someone is finally speaking out.

[Hallamfoebell]

@xTheDarkestRedx did you go to them i want and am still paying for it