Decided to take the PLUNGE

[cookderosa]

Hello Shotojuku
I know you are a big fan of EC and truth be told you had almost convinced me to go the Ec way until I came upon some nasty reviews like this one:
QUOTE:
Excelsior College- The REAL story

I felt it was important to write this review based on another aspect of operations conducted by Excelsior College. The program content, books are not too bad. However, I must remind the reader of this review about the PRICE you will pay to get education from this institution.
I enrolled with Excelsior early 2008 and I was floored by an admission fee of $895.00. I took deep breaths and decided to use a program to divide the payments equally among 6 payments. This was the tricky part. I thought that this "service" was to simply divide the payments up to make it easier to enroll. Think again. This "service" was indeed a contract binding you to pay the ENTIRE AMOUNT! I contacted Excelsior after receiving a letter from them. I had stopped auto draft payments because of a serious health issue and decided to withdraw from the college until things changed for the better. I also sent them a courtesy letter explaining such. The above mentioned letter was a reply to my courtesy letter to them. The letter stated that I needed to send in a letter from my doctor stating my diagnosis and length of time that this diagnosis would affect my ability to complete the Excelsior Program. This is a demand from Excelsior to supply them with MEDICAL RECORDS to be "considered" for release from a “contract” that I never knew I accepted! They have NO RIGHT to my medical records. Sorry, that is going over the top. The letter stated simply that I owe them the rest of the $895.00 or I would be forwarded to collections! What?! Collections?! All I wanted to do was simply break the HUGE admission fee into 6 easy payments! They told me in the letter that I was entitled to a 2/3 refund of my fees IF I withdrew within six months and IF they had not completed a transcript evaluation. They got me. The transcript evaluation that "was made available to me online" that I never received in mail, email or internal website email. Since they completed the "transcript evaluation" supposedly within 3 weeks, I was now "locked in" to that $895.00 HUGE enrollment fee for their 30 minutes or less of work on that "transcript evaluation."
After you complete the HUGE ADMISSION FEE that alone equals a full semesters cost at most colleges in the USA, you will then face test out fees. For Nursing, it was a mere $295.00 each test (multiplied by 7 = OVER TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS! $2065.00 to be exact) What about books? They require MANY books at a HUGE price. After you complete your exams (7 or more at $295.00 each) you will be done with your coursework and be eligible to graduate. Wait…now you have to complete the CLINICAL PORTION. This is a tiny fee of only ONE THOUSAND EIGHT-HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS. Can't afford to pay it all at once? Just sign another CONTRACT and have 6 easy payments ONLY $310+ dollars! The cost rakes in more than approximately $5,000 for the Excelsior staff! Your education HERE is going to cost you!
END QUOTE.

Is there any truth to this. Can you get locked in to the enrollment fee by just sending in the evaluation?
Please let me know. I have already started out the process at COSC and was considering sending the evaluation at EC but now i am a little scared.
Thanks Cindy

I'm not without sympathy for someone who changes their mind, but unfortunately, changing our minds can cost us $. I think it was gracious that EC would allow this person out of the contract using a doctor's note- most of us would have been stuck.
To put this in perspective, consider when you buy a car, the "service" of making monthly payments - as opposed to one lump sum- is a contract. (I realize the poster didn't understand that)Just because you are allowed to make payments for the next 5 years, this in no way allows you at 1 year in to change your mind and dismiss making payments, even with a doctor's note.
In the grand scheme of life, you'll make and spend $900 over and over again. I would just chalk it up to a learning experience, assuming of course, that the person learned a little about contracts.


EDIT: Now why didn't I read ahead? I should have typed "yeah, what Barcotta said" LOL

[april004]

I'll just hit a couple obvious points quickly. First off, anytime you sign something agreeing to divide a cost into a series of payments--you are almost always, in fact, obligated to make all of those payments. If you could find reviews of other products from this person, they would probably sound something like:

...and when I signed a piece of paper dividing the cost of my car into 36 payments of $400 each, I had no idea I would have to make EVERY PAYMENT! ON TIME! I got sick shortly thereafter and stopped making payments--but they didn't care and charged MORE INTEREST and sent me to COLLECTIONS!!

Just had to say-Loved that part of your post. I was about to add something similar except instead I was going to talk about my gym membership which death probably couldn't get me out of, but you beat me to it.

Aside from that- $895 is a bargain. Where else can you pay tuition like that besides a community college? Heck, the community college near my home is a bargain but still more than Excelsior @ about $ 1200 -1500 a year.

I read an article about a man's student loan debt and how it drove him to suicide in the Chicago Trib. I never shared it, due to it being very depressing but perhaps this will show how inexpensive Excelsior's fees actually are as well as TESC and COSC.

This man owed over $65,000.

I'll take my $895 plus clep/dantes and ECE fees over that anyday!

Newsalert: Student Loan Debt Drives Man to Suicide

[ShotoJuku]

Excelsior College- The REAL story

Sounds more like a sour grapes fairy tale; I stand firmly behind EC [COLOR="navy"]and realize that it's not for everyone but several thousands of current students and alumni can't be wrong.

Good Luck with YOUR choice!! [/COLOR]

[cederic824]

Quoted...

I felt it was important to write this review based on another aspect of operations conducted by Excelsior College. The program content, books are not too bad. However, I must remind the reader of this review about the PRICE you will pay to get education from this institution.
I enrolled with Excelsior early 2008 and I was floored by an admission fee of $895.00. I took deep breaths and decided to use a program to divide the payments equally among 6 payments. This was the tricky part. I thought that this "service" was to simply divide the payments up to make it easier to enroll. Think again. This "service" was indeed a contract binding you to pay the ENTIRE AMOUNT! (Are you kidding? It is a CONTRACT. Try paying incremental payments at other colleges before taking their tests or classes, or changing your mind halfway through completion....)

I contacted Excelsior after receiving a letter from them. I had stopped auto draft payments because of a serious health issue and decided to withdraw from the college until things changed for the better. I also sent them a courtesy letter explaining such. The above mentioned letter was a reply to my courtesy letter to them. The letter stated that I needed to send in a letter from my doctor stating my diagnosis and length of time that this diagnosis would affect my ability to complete the Excelsior Program. This is a demand from Excelsior to supply them with MEDICAL RECORDS to be "considered" for release from a “contract” that I never knew I accepted! They have NO RIGHT to my medical records. Sorry, that is going over the top. (Seems perfectly reasonable to me. You want out of a contract. There are specific eligibility requirements to do this, and they want confirmation of your claims.)

The letter stated simply that I owe them the rest of the $895.00 or I would be forwarded to collections! What?! Collections?! (Guess what, if you enter into a contract and do not pay according to the terms, you will most likely be turned over to collections.)
All I wanted to do was simply break the HUGE admission fee into 6 easy payments! They told me in the letter that I was entitled to a 2/3 refund of my fees IF I withdrew within six months and IF they had not completed a transcript evaluation. They got me. The transcript evaluation that "was made available to me online" that I never received in mail, email or internal website email. Since they completed the "transcript evaluation" supposedly within 3 weeks, I was now "locked in" to that $895.00 HUGE enrollment fee for their 30 minutes or less of work on that "transcript evaluation."
After you complete the HUGE ADMISSION FEE that alone equals a full semesters cost at most colleges in the USA, you will then face test out fees. For Nursing, it was a mere $295.00 each test (multiplied by 7 = OVER TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS! $2065.00 to be exact) (Actually the price is 235 per exam.)
What about books? They require MANY books at a HUGE price. After you complete your exams (7 or more at $295.00 each) you will be done with your coursework and be eligible to graduate. Wait…now you have to complete the CLINICAL PORTION. This is a tiny fee of only ONE THOUSAND EIGHT-HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS. Can't afford to pay it all at once? Just sign another CONTRACT and have 6 easy payments ONLY $310+ dollars! The cost rakes in more than approximately $5,000 for the Excelsior staff! Your education HERE is going to cost you!(Just trying to be clear here, is the complaint about paying 5 grand for a nursing degree.....Really?)

Is there any truth to this. Can you get locked in to the enrollment fee by just sending in the evaluation? Absolutely not.


END QUOTE


Ced

[barcotta]

Just had to say-Loved that part of your post. I was about to add something similar except instead I was going to talk about my gym membership which death probably couldn't get me out of, but you beat me to it.

Thanks--although I should have ended with..."AND THEN THEY TOOK MY CAR!!!!"

[iceman]

I enrolled in all 3 of the Big Guys, but am still waiting for all of my transcripts to be evaluated, ans see where I stand with them.

Whom-ever takes the most credit with the least amount of classes to complete wins !

I am going for my BA or BS in Criminal Justice.

But the school needs to be RA for me, A NA will not help me .

[gus]

It's unfortunate that the person you've quoted couldn't get his/her money back. Regardless of the fact whether a contract was signed or not, Excelsior could have refunded most of the money and charged the student for expenses only. It's not logical to owe most of the $895 early on and straight after getting an official evaluation. I think the contract should've included a more gracious remedy, seriously. That 2/3rds refund should have been granted without requiring any extra documentation.

I actually wonder if this case could've been taken to court. The student could possibly argue that there hasn't been substantial performance of the contract on Excelsior's part. The student should be able to recover on that basis alone, without having to mention or prove the occurrence of an unforeseeable illness. Also Excelsior may not be able to show reliance on that specific contract (Excelsior will most likely not go out of business if that $895 is not paid). Think about it, unless Excelsior considers and can prove that the evaluation cost is $895, they haven't provided much in return in terms of contract execution or consideration (in the legal sense of the word). How can an official eval be twelve times higher than an unofficial one (not to mention that following year costs $495 without that initial eval)?! I'm sure Excelsior's agreements must have been skillfully crafted by knowledgeable lawyers, but it doesn't seem like this contract can be enforced in its entirety.

On the upside, I've never had a bad experience with Excelsior, ever. They've always been courteous, reliable and very responsive. Advisors always responded to emails within a day or two (if not on the same day). I've also heard nothing but good feedback from COSC students, although there probably aren’t many of them on this board.

I also should clarify that the $895 is not a tuition fee per se as it includes no educational services, only records setup and advising for one year, i.e. it's just an enrollment fee. It's a lot cheaper than TESC's (unless you intend to get most of your education through the college itself).

As barcotta put it, I wouldn't let that one review affect my decision about going with any of the big 3. It's a good thing you started out the process with applying to COSC. In my humble opinion, it wouldn't hurt to apply to the other two, just to see where that would put you. I would then proceed to evaluate the pros and cons of each, stuff like a GPA, possibility of declaring a major, potential speed of completion, costs, the name of the institution and customer service, among other stuff.

[april004]

It's unfortunate that the person you've quoted couldn't get his/her money back. Regardless of the fact whether a contract was signed or not, Excelsior could have refunded most of the money and charged the student for expenses only. It's not logical to owe most of the $895 early on and straight after getting an official evaluation. I think the contract should've included a more gracious remedy, seriously. That 2/3rds refund should have been granted without requiring any extra documentation.

Actually it's unfortunate the original complainer had her facts wrong. I am very sure that she wasn't charged $895 after being evaluated. If that were the case there would be many more complaints. How is it that on this board filled with Excelsior Students/Alum none of us have ever heard about this type of problem until now?

And put me in the minority- no Excelsior shouldn't have to refund most of the money. When one is an adult and signs a legal binding contract they should be smart enough to know what they are getting into and learn to live with the consequences if they can't. Excelsior wanting a Dr's note was more than enough. But this woman was too stubborn, too full of entitlement. Maybe Excelsior would have forgiven the rest of her payments but now we'll never know.

Hello Shotojuku
I know you are a big fan of EC and truth be told you had almost convinced me to go the Ec way until I came upon some nasty reviews like this one:
QUOTE:
Excelsior College- The REAL story

What about books? They require MANY books at a HUGE price.

Wait…now you have to complete the CLINICAL PORTION.

WE and many Excelsior alums know the real story. Books? Now it is obvious the original poster of this complaint never stepped foot in college, brick and mortar or online ever. Books at a B & M are very expensive. My old roomate payed over $1000 for her books one semester and some of them were even used!

Also one doesn't have to buy the books via Excelsior. That's not a requirement to take any of the exams, nursing or otherwise. But if you need the books you can always see what's on the list and buy them off Amazon, ebay, etc.

For this complainer to make what amounts to a boldface lie- Excelsior requiring books- does make my blood boil.

Plus learning that she is also ranting about the price of Clinicals makes me suspect she might be an LPN, and a very uneducated lpn if she is even that.

What makes me suspicious as a fellow LPN is that she is complaining about the Clinical Portion of the exam. It's not clinicals, it's called the CPNE which tests clinical skills. Actual clinicals are a good year @ LPN school. This person is complaining about what amounts to 2 days of clinical testing? Did she not have to do clinicals as an LPN? Again, this tells me the poster may not be in fact who she says she is. Lpn's/paramedics, etc. We all have to do clinicals and there is no testing out of this basic requirement. Does this woman really think all she has to do is pass some book based tests w/o having her clinical skills at least assessed??

This already tells me that the complainer did not do her homework. It makes me want to hide my head as an Lpn.

Hmm, I know Lpn's who can run circles around Rn's when they finally went back to school, all their knowledge, all their training was for naught. It got them in the program but they were forced to learn how to put on gloves, give injections, cath, suction, etc. Skills they already knew.

I'd rather have a chance to pay $2000 and test out of all that in a 2 day CPNE if I already have the technical skills.

Besides, I would not want a nurse who just passed exams to be at my bedside. She better have more than textbook smarts behind her.

(Trust me, I've worked with RN's who came running for me to do their IV's after sticking a poor pt 2-3 times, but they can write one hell of a care plan)The CPNE is a way to ensure that Lpn's have the skills that would make them competent Rn's.

Ok, well enough. As an Lpn I immediately was drawn to this person's complaint of how expensive her nursing courses/clinicals would be and as an Lpn I can spot the flagrant lies.