Is this normal at Excelsior?

[Matymus]

Dear All.
Below is an excerpt from a letter I sent to Excelsior that explains a recent situation I had with an advisor there. I advise you NOT to rely on their word for anything! Check and double check credits, course approvals, what they think you major is (really! a week after this situation they had me owing them like 20 credits for a journalism degree.) on your own. I am happy to report that after completing another Dantes exam and another ECE that I am once again expecting a diploma...but I won't start celebrating til it's in hand.

Truly hoping that I was the exception, Baway

To the Liberal Arts Dean on April 26, 2007:

"...I’m writing because I received some devastating news yesterday. Liberal Arts Advisor, Brenda Hardy, informed me that though I’d been cleared for graduation on April 2, 2007, though I’d paid my $495 fee, and though I’d been given a degree conferral date of April 20, 2007, I had been denied graduation. The Liberal Arts Team made a mistake on my initial evaluation and she was sorry to tell me that because of this error, I am still 3.67 credits short of my B.S. in Communications. Apparently my transfer hours from U.C. Santa Barbara had been tallied as semester hours instead of trimester hours and none of the six different advisors who’ve evaluated my transcript throughout the year noticed. Brenda was very apologetic, telling me that it is “incredibly rare” that the college makes this mistake and that Kathy Moran has arranged to waive the SSAF I now owe since I need to remain enrolled and to forgive half of my graduation fee when “the time comes” for me to graduate.

Gosh, I hope this situation is “incredibly rare” because nobody should have the rug jerked out from under them like this…I am reeling. My plans for starting grad school in the fall are likely dashed. My celebration this weekend is definitely ruined. I just took a second job and am completely overwhelmed at the thought of having to fit studying into my new schedule. Frankly, half off my future graduation fee doesn’t begin to compensate for the distress and disruption this error brings to my life...."

Oh my gosh!! What a horrible experience. Yeah...talk about a serious change in plans. Did they offer you any type of compensation for this 'mistake'?? You already paid your graduation fee, correct?