This letter to a lawyer shows some of the steps I have taken starting in the year of 2009.
3 years ago (2007) I wanted to continue my education through an online college, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
After a year , I contacted my advisor expressing my concerns in this course, not happy with the direction I was going and found that none of my courses touched base with what I had inquired about. I was told that I should continue with my education, more courses were coming in the future to help advance me. So, I "stuck it out" and another year goes by, the only time I have had a chance to work with Photoshop was making very low key graphics. Courses are 6 weeks, first 4 weeks, you answer discussion questions and draw. For your final project, you MIGHT, if you’re lucky, be able to complete a real graphic.
I again, contacted my advisor told him I was not happy with where my education is going, and once again, I was told that my future courses will, indeed, REALLY get heavy into graphics. I stick it out and within this time frame I had attempted a total of 24 courses in which they involved painting self-portraits, perspective drawings, and other drawing areas.
Frustrated, I withdrew myself from the college completely. I had contacted the college President, asked for refund due to not receiving the type of education I had inquired about 3 times in the past. I explained to them that I was paying for an online education that has given me no hopes in regards to what I wanted out of my schooling.
I received a letter from the President of the college stating that they are not going to grant me the refund, because going to this college was my choice and staying enrolled was my "choice". It may have been a choice at the time, but that’s because I was told to try to continue my education by my advisor, The letter I received from President Pry justifies everything I had expressed my concerns about. He writes about the times I did contact them, he writes about my advisor telling me about the courses and why I need to “stick it out”. He told me that I had access to the student handbook the entire time, which, when you see various scheduled titled "Illustrator", you would think that the program teaches you how to use Adobe Illustrator, when in fact, I was literally drawing for the first 4 weeks of the course, using a scanner and uploading my DRAWINGS.
As you can see in this link: Graphic Design Degree (Online Bachelor's) | The Art Institute Of Pittsburgh Online Division
They state that they teach you the tools needed to learn Electronic Imaging and Production: I drew with a pencil on a piece of paper, how is this electronic, other than using my scanner to upload them?
I had also contacted the BBB and Dep of labor, to receive no help; other than them mediating between myself and a girl named Jenna from AI; my final letter from Jenna states
"I have read your latest concerns about your dissatisfaction with your enrollment at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division in which you state that the information you received about the program was not consistent with your goals and interests. However, you have not provided any detailed information about this discrepancy. Therefore, I reviewed your academic file to determine if any discrepancies were evident.
At the time of your enrollment, you had access to and were directed to the college catalog that provides detailed information about all programs of study and the courses required for graduation. The Associate of Science degree in Graphic Design requires foundational courses, major courses, and general education courses to satisfy degree requirements. This balance aligns with the philosophy of the program that graphic design skills are built from a foundation of color, drawing and perspective skills to advanced skills in design.
Based on the notes in your file, in September, 2008 you contacted your academic advisor regarding questions about the program and your difficulty with and dislike of the drawing courses. You had a conversation with your advisor following which you continued to enroll in courses. Details of the conversation are not available; however, it would appear that you received the information you required to make an informed decision to continue in the program. A short time later you contacted your advisor again regarding computer difficulties in conjunction with the required software necessary for the design courses. You then contacted your advisor in October 2009 at which time you indicated your desire to withdraw due the program not meeting your goals and interests.
From this documentation, it appears you did have the information to make an informed decision about your enrollment in subsequent courses. As such, there remains no justification for any adjustments. Should you have documentation to indicate otherwise, I will be glad to review it."
I was extremely frustrated to read this so I responded with:
"What kind of detail do you want? I can't get the phone conversations, and other than that I have been trying to give as much detail as I can.
I have contacted President Pry in the past, explaining in detail my dissatisfaction, I have contacted Stephen B***r, I have contacted Jeff H****r, I have every e-mail on file out there, ironically enough 90% of the time everyone wanted to discuss matters over the phone, leaving hardly any leeway into what was being actually discussed. As a matter of fact when looking over past e-mails Stephen B***r sent you the letter I typed to Mr. Pry on Feb 28th of 2009, in which in that case you were supposed to contact me upon the concerns and issues I had back then!
Adam B***s specified to me on the phone about how you guys have one of the best schools around and that you pride yourself with your graphic design program. Most colleges do. I told him, I can't draw, I'm horrible artist, he did say "you may have a FEW drawing classes, however, we do get pretty graphically intense". A few, I could handle a few, not "73" credits worth, and as many as I took on. With this, when you have a class called Illustration, kind of gets someone excited, perhaps to learn illustrator, it even said in your "catalog" that it would teach electronic design, yep, my pencil and piece of paper must have been the new "computer", for "electronic design."
What humors me, is, when I took my illustrator course, and couldn't afford illustrator because Carrie B***d misinformed me to "set aside around 100 dollars a month for books", I didn't know most of my books AND software would cost me well over 400 dollars, and my books per month went over her "100" advice. I couldn't afford Illustrator at the time, and had previously used the trial for personal reasons, yet my instructor says "I'll accept your Photoshop work this time, but in the future, no more, I will only take Illustrator"; I still couldn't afford it, so I used Photoshop anyway, and he couldn't tell the difference. I got an A on every single one of them. Wouldn't you think one of your instructors should have had an eye for that? By the way, that class consisted of first few weeks drawing, then about 3 weeks, creating different kinds of apples.
Color theory, sounds interesting, not really... I re-learned Pre-school color wheel all over again.
My September complaint to my advisor consisted of a Phone Conversation that started out as "Wow, you hate drawing don't you Kari" "yes Jeff, I'm getting sick of it" "Well, unfortunately it is part of the course, but if you just hang in there, there are classes coming in the near future". I took my ADVISOR'S advice, what's the point of having one, if I don't listen to a word he says? Should I have said "I'm sorry Jeff, but you're a horrible advisor and I'm not listening to you?" No, I took his advice and hung in there to only go into more drawing courses over the next few semesters. In my final e-mail farewell to him, this was his response, check out the underlined lettering, and how you so delicately stated that I was "given the correct information to create an informed decision." :
Due to 10k character length, I have removed the letter from Jeff here
What can I say Jeffery was just doing his job, he tried to get me to stay in school above all else, stupidly on MY end, most conversations were Phone conversations, which can't be documented, unless I call every phone company and see if they keep phone conversations on file.
Jenna, the only "detail" I can give you are the previous e-mails about me e-mailing every single time I was not satisfied, with a "call me on the phone" response every single time. What I was told and what I "learned" were two completely different things.
I'm not asking for a hand out, I stuck with a college that accidentally screwed up my ENTIRE Schedule actually making me change my major, but I knew it would benefit me, don't believe me? Contact Olean Business Institute, ask them how badly my schedule was screwed up, nothing could have fixed it to keep my current major, so I literally had to switch majors; but the education was worth it and I knew it would benefit me, I wouldn't stay with a school if it wouldn't somehow benefit my education, therefore AI didn't meet those requirements.
It's an endless cycle with AI, and I'm curious why it took this long to even review my file for any discrepancies?
My frustration may have gotten the best of me throughout my response, but when it takes 3 years to go back into my file to view any discrepancies that may have occurred during my attendance is a bit aggravating, that should have been the first thing discussed during my FIRST initial dissatisfaction with AI."
I have approximately 4 years of documentation.....
if you read all of this, THANK YOU...
do I have a case against them?
3 years ago (2007) I wanted to continue my education through an online college, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
After a year , I contacted my advisor expressing my concerns in this course, not happy with the direction I was going and found that none of my courses touched base with what I had inquired about. I was told that I should continue with my education, more courses were coming in the future to help advance me. So, I "stuck it out" and another year goes by, the only time I have had a chance to work with Photoshop was making very low key graphics. Courses are 6 weeks, first 4 weeks, you answer discussion questions and draw. For your final project, you MIGHT, if you’re lucky, be able to complete a real graphic.
I again, contacted my advisor told him I was not happy with where my education is going, and once again, I was told that my future courses will, indeed, REALLY get heavy into graphics. I stick it out and within this time frame I had attempted a total of 24 courses in which they involved painting self-portraits, perspective drawings, and other drawing areas.
Frustrated, I withdrew myself from the college completely. I had contacted the college President, asked for refund due to not receiving the type of education I had inquired about 3 times in the past. I explained to them that I was paying for an online education that has given me no hopes in regards to what I wanted out of my schooling.
I received a letter from the President of the college stating that they are not going to grant me the refund, because going to this college was my choice and staying enrolled was my "choice". It may have been a choice at the time, but that’s because I was told to try to continue my education by my advisor, The letter I received from President Pry justifies everything I had expressed my concerns about. He writes about the times I did contact them, he writes about my advisor telling me about the courses and why I need to “stick it out”. He told me that I had access to the student handbook the entire time, which, when you see various scheduled titled "Illustrator", you would think that the program teaches you how to use Adobe Illustrator, when in fact, I was literally drawing for the first 4 weeks of the course, using a scanner and uploading my DRAWINGS.
As you can see in this link: Graphic Design Degree (Online Bachelor's) | The Art Institute Of Pittsburgh Online Division
They state that they teach you the tools needed to learn Electronic Imaging and Production: I drew with a pencil on a piece of paper, how is this electronic, other than using my scanner to upload them?
I had also contacted the BBB and Dep of labor, to receive no help; other than them mediating between myself and a girl named Jenna from AI; my final letter from Jenna states
"I have read your latest concerns about your dissatisfaction with your enrollment at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division in which you state that the information you received about the program was not consistent with your goals and interests. However, you have not provided any detailed information about this discrepancy. Therefore, I reviewed your academic file to determine if any discrepancies were evident.
At the time of your enrollment, you had access to and were directed to the college catalog that provides detailed information about all programs of study and the courses required for graduation. The Associate of Science degree in Graphic Design requires foundational courses, major courses, and general education courses to satisfy degree requirements. This balance aligns with the philosophy of the program that graphic design skills are built from a foundation of color, drawing and perspective skills to advanced skills in design.
Based on the notes in your file, in September, 2008 you contacted your academic advisor regarding questions about the program and your difficulty with and dislike of the drawing courses. You had a conversation with your advisor following which you continued to enroll in courses. Details of the conversation are not available; however, it would appear that you received the information you required to make an informed decision to continue in the program. A short time later you contacted your advisor again regarding computer difficulties in conjunction with the required software necessary for the design courses. You then contacted your advisor in October 2009 at which time you indicated your desire to withdraw due the program not meeting your goals and interests.
From this documentation, it appears you did have the information to make an informed decision about your enrollment in subsequent courses. As such, there remains no justification for any adjustments. Should you have documentation to indicate otherwise, I will be glad to review it."
I was extremely frustrated to read this so I responded with:
"What kind of detail do you want? I can't get the phone conversations, and other than that I have been trying to give as much detail as I can.
I have contacted President Pry in the past, explaining in detail my dissatisfaction, I have contacted Stephen B***r, I have contacted Jeff H****r, I have every e-mail on file out there, ironically enough 90% of the time everyone wanted to discuss matters over the phone, leaving hardly any leeway into what was being actually discussed. As a matter of fact when looking over past e-mails Stephen B***r sent you the letter I typed to Mr. Pry on Feb 28th of 2009, in which in that case you were supposed to contact me upon the concerns and issues I had back then!
Adam B***s specified to me on the phone about how you guys have one of the best schools around and that you pride yourself with your graphic design program. Most colleges do. I told him, I can't draw, I'm horrible artist, he did say "you may have a FEW drawing classes, however, we do get pretty graphically intense". A few, I could handle a few, not "73" credits worth, and as many as I took on. With this, when you have a class called Illustration, kind of gets someone excited, perhaps to learn illustrator, it even said in your "catalog" that it would teach electronic design, yep, my pencil and piece of paper must have been the new "computer", for "electronic design."
What humors me, is, when I took my illustrator course, and couldn't afford illustrator because Carrie B***d misinformed me to "set aside around 100 dollars a month for books", I didn't know most of my books AND software would cost me well over 400 dollars, and my books per month went over her "100" advice. I couldn't afford Illustrator at the time, and had previously used the trial for personal reasons, yet my instructor says "I'll accept your Photoshop work this time, but in the future, no more, I will only take Illustrator"; I still couldn't afford it, so I used Photoshop anyway, and he couldn't tell the difference. I got an A on every single one of them. Wouldn't you think one of your instructors should have had an eye for that? By the way, that class consisted of first few weeks drawing, then about 3 weeks, creating different kinds of apples.
Color theory, sounds interesting, not really... I re-learned Pre-school color wheel all over again.
My September complaint to my advisor consisted of a Phone Conversation that started out as "Wow, you hate drawing don't you Kari" "yes Jeff, I'm getting sick of it" "Well, unfortunately it is part of the course, but if you just hang in there, there are classes coming in the near future". I took my ADVISOR'S advice, what's the point of having one, if I don't listen to a word he says? Should I have said "I'm sorry Jeff, but you're a horrible advisor and I'm not listening to you?" No, I took his advice and hung in there to only go into more drawing courses over the next few semesters. In my final e-mail farewell to him, this was his response, check out the underlined lettering, and how you so delicately stated that I was "given the correct information to create an informed decision." :
Due to 10k character length, I have removed the letter from Jeff here
What can I say Jeffery was just doing his job, he tried to get me to stay in school above all else, stupidly on MY end, most conversations were Phone conversations, which can't be documented, unless I call every phone company and see if they keep phone conversations on file.
Jenna, the only "detail" I can give you are the previous e-mails about me e-mailing every single time I was not satisfied, with a "call me on the phone" response every single time. What I was told and what I "learned" were two completely different things.
I'm not asking for a hand out, I stuck with a college that accidentally screwed up my ENTIRE Schedule actually making me change my major, but I knew it would benefit me, don't believe me? Contact Olean Business Institute, ask them how badly my schedule was screwed up, nothing could have fixed it to keep my current major, so I literally had to switch majors; but the education was worth it and I knew it would benefit me, I wouldn't stay with a school if it wouldn't somehow benefit my education, therefore AI didn't meet those requirements.
It's an endless cycle with AI, and I'm curious why it took this long to even review my file for any discrepancies?
My frustration may have gotten the best of me throughout my response, but when it takes 3 years to go back into my file to view any discrepancies that may have occurred during my attendance is a bit aggravating, that should have been the first thing discussed during my FIRST initial dissatisfaction with AI."
I have approximately 4 years of documentation.....
if you read all of this, THANK YOU...
do I have a case against them?
