Excelsior Scam?

opalmRN · Aug 11, 2004

i signed up for excelsior college, and got a loan through jena mae. the thing is, i hated it. i took two of the exams did great on one of them and ok on the other. i just didnt feel like it was the right program for me. however they are making my pay $100 every month for 48 months and i am not even getting anything from them! i think it is such a scam because any other school, you pay as you go and they return some of your money if you dont complete a course. does anyone have a similiar story or know how i can get out of paying this? they only give you three days after signing for the loan to back out, and how can anyone possibly know after three days if something is going to workout for them? thanks for letting me vent.

may i ask who "they" is when you say they are making you pay $100 a month? didn't you say you have a jena mae loan?

rasberrikiss · Aug 11, 2004

May I ask who "they" is when you say they are making you pay $100 a month? Didn't you say you have a Jena Mae loan?

Yes, Jena mae takes the oney out of my checking account each month...

opalmRN · Aug 11, 2004

Yes, Jena mae takes the oney out of my checking account each month...

So the issue is with the loan company where you signed an agreement of payment, correct?

rasberrikiss · Aug 11, 2004

So the issue is with the loan company where you signed an agreement of payment, correct?

Well yes, but Exc are the ones that make it so he students have to pay the total costs upfront, instead of by class as you go on.

opalmRN · Aug 11, 2004

Well yes, but Exc are the ones that make it so he students have to pay the total costs upfront, instead of by class as you go on.

To my understanding this is not completely true.

Excelsior has a payment plan for the yearly enrollment costs. As for upfront, I am not sure what you mean. Tests are not all paid for at the time of enrollment unless things have changed recently.

I have to say all the schools I have been enrolled in a program required me to pay for the entire semester out of my pocket or get a loan in which case I would still owe the loan company for the amount borrowed whether I dropped out of the program or not. So I am not sure why you are saying Excelsior is a scam. To me it is no different than any other type of loan. You sign for it, you have to pay it back.

HAPPYNPROUD · Aug 11, 2004

I second that, opalm!!!

I have always had until the first day of class to get some percentage of my loan back when attending traditional schools. But after a certain point, be it 3 days after class started or whenever, you receive nothing. I paid in full for a medical assisting class that I attended for one month. I was responsible for the contract that I entered into with the loan company. The money had been disbursed, so it was my decision to "quit" attending class. That is the way the cookie crumbles. You can't possibly be blaming the school for your "change of heart".

I wish you well!!

Godswill · Aug 11, 2004

Yeap i agree, it is the same if u go to a regular university too, i mean that money is gone, and u are responsible. i know some may give back a percentage( maybe.) That's like my LPN program it is 1500 the first and second term then after that it 750. I doubt if after a month in my 1st term if i quit i will get a percentage of my money back, and gosh thats lot for one month. I am sorry u are going through this but that how banks make money, and schools that their way of sort of replacing that student they would have had if u had not dropped out. I am not in exce. but i don'tthink its a scam:)

Nurse Ratched, RN · Aug 11, 2004

I have to agree with the previous posters. 72 hours (3 business days) is the standard time given for people to back out of business deals, which is what you entered into. I presume this was in whatever paperwork you signed to enter into the program?

Best of luck in finding a program that is more suited to your needs.

Laurie888 · Aug 11, 2004

Once you take the test you've earned the credit, and so it's the same as completing a class.

If the problem is that $800 (+-) you pay upfront for the first year's cost, you have to look at Excelsior's policy on withdrawal as they do have some sort of percentage plan for backing out -- but it's no more a scam than any other college for a term, and the time you have to get money back isn't long. But 4800??? If you borrowed 4800 and only used the money for the first year and two tests, that's about 1200-1300 (plus books?) and you would still have the rest of the money, right? So I'm not sure what it is you paid for with all that $$$.

I went 3/4 through nursing school several years ago (which is why I am doing Excelsior now) and except for the knowledge which I still am holding onto and the books that are helping me considerably in my studies, that's all money more or less down the drain -- along with child care costs and the costs of not working while I went (which is why I'm not doing it that way again). I almost went back in for LPN school last year but didn't quite have the money for the upfront costs, and it's a good thing because my son was in and out of the hospital that fall and once again I would have had to quit. At least with Excelsior that lost year is 'only' costing me extra in the way of the renewal fee (and the raise in costs of tests!).

Sheri257 · Aug 12, 2004

If it's three days, that does seem a little short. At my school, you get 75 percent of your money back if you drop after the first week, 50 percent after the second week, 25 percent after the third week, and nothing after a month.

:coollook:

barbiedee · Aug 12, 2004

Most post secondary schools have a type of pro-rated refund, as was said before...the more weeks you stay in, the less you get back. It sounds as if your issue isn't with Excelsior though. If you look at the information Excelsior provides, you do not need to pay the Excelsior enrollment fee (About $825) until you are ready to write the NC 3 exam. Until then, you can just pay the $60 registration fee. That means you can take all of your non-nursing courses, and the first two NC courses and just pay for the exam fee as you go. That is what I did, just recently, too. Hopefully, you didn't pay for all of your exams and the enrollment fee all at the same time, as I don't know about Excelsior's refund policy. It sounds like an expensive lesson learned! :crying2: