Those of you in San Diego, CA who may or may not be part of a class-list action lawsuit.go to their corporate office there in San Diego and protest. Get attention put on the situation.Take your own action. If anything it will bring the issues to light and get covered by the news.Sometimes you have to take action to get results...at least faster results! Get some friends and make signs that say " financial Aid Fraud" " FRAUD" " Misleading" and" SCAM".Hope for those of you there- you will take a stand.I am not in Cali ., but have contacted Senator Tom Harkin and have got in touch with reps. I
in the class action lawsuit.lets speed up this process.Goodluck!

What I experienced near the end of earning my BA with Ashford has kept me up many sleepless nights when I start thinking about it again. Time and again I've written of this problem. To begin with, I feel like, earning an old school's credentials, they are allowed to lie about having them, getting to wait until 2014 (or so I've heard) before they are actually reviewed as they are rather than as the former owners were. It is my own fault, eagerness, and naivety that led me to sign on the dotted line for student loans to attend higher education through them.

Everything went swimmingly at first (though there were a few hiccups), I tried not to get too discomfitted by how easy everything was and how, despite the level of class I was taking, I seemed to always be in a class where at least half the students never would have graduated from a high school class if I had anything to say about it. By that time I was already $10k in debt/loans in and I thought, well, they ARE accreditted, I should push on so I at least have that piece of paper for my debt. So I buckled down and focused on learning the most that I could (pretty much on my own, the teachers were VERY rarely of any help; in fact several times I provided free tutoring to fellow students, some of which insisted I should teach the class instead).

I got to the end of my degree and they found over $2k worth of outstanding charges. I was encouraged to fill out a grievance complaint to open a neutral, third-party investigation into what happened since all outstanding charges should be applied to my loans. I was also allowed to pay the graduation fee and have it specifically go toward the graduation fee so I could get my piece of paper rather than to an outstanding balance in question.

I got the result from this supposed "neutral third party" and the universtiy's decision in the same document (that alone makes me question how neutral and "third party" they can be). Basically, they found my suspicions of what happened were correct. As I stated, I had, indeed, filed my last Master's Promissory Note on time, but it had been misfiled and not even entered into their computers. Now it was too late to get the loan company to pick it up. However, they did find a pell grant they could apply (that brought it down to over $1.5k owed) They were sorry for the inconvenience and as a "customer service gesture" they would allow me one unofficial transcript after I set up a repayment plan and made the first repayment (starting no later than two weeks from the date of the letter/decision). No consideration was to go to the fact that I was able to easily defer my student loans. They did not care that I might want to attend a brick-and-mortar college offering advancement in my degree (who would want sealed official transcripts), they did not care that different jobs I might apply to using a BA in education (some jobs don't actually care what it's in) would each want their own copy of my transcripts (let alone that they'd be hesitant to hire a recent grad tied up in clerical paperwork regarding an outstanding balance when there are plenty lined up with a perfectly accessible degree and transcripts), they wanted their money, period, money they were only owed because they misfiled paperwork. It is also money that would have easily disappeared into the thousands I owed in student loans if they'd done their job right.

They stopped harassing me (which they did while the grievance took a total of 6 months to be considered) 3 months into the grievance with phone calls and emails to pay my outstanding balance after I lodged two complaints that it was in grievance. However, during the second waiting period (in which it seemed my issue was simply "forgotten about") I kept getting offers for alumni grants instead. I marked down an interest with a question I figured would have a strong no. I wondered if I could get the alumni grant just for being an alumni and use it to pay off the outstanding balance.

No, of course. BUT, I was assured over the phone, what I could do is pick a different major to pursue graduate studies in, then I would get the alumni grant and more student loans which would put off paying the student loans I had to defer even longer and I would get plenty of excess money with my new loans to easily pay off my outstanding balance. All this suggested AFTER I burst into tears explaining my plight to the man on the phone and how Ashford destroyed my trust and faith in higher education and, no matter what, I simply could never trust them again. If I pursue my masters, it will be with a non-for-profit school and definitely not Ashford. The way it was delivered seemed like some cruel trick. After I hung up with him, I received a few more emails (despite saying I was uninterested and to take me off the list) to become an alumni with grants for more studies at Ashford. I was notified when they finally supported a masters in my field as well. Too late. At this point, it almost feels like they knew my time was coming to an end and they did not offer the rest of what I needed, so they pulled a deceptive clerical error to give backward incentive toward me choosing a different major to avoid debt I could not immediately afford so they could have more thousands in government loan money.

The more I researched this and talked to a few friends in the legal field, the more it sounded like a dirty tactic and possibly a script that guy had to offer over the phone. Everyone encouraged me to find a lawyer. Ashford insisted on answers so, while looking for professional, legal counsel (but not really knowing where to start since these friends were not actually lawyers but only aides and such), I was forced to inform them that I was seeking legal counsel and why and that I even if I intended to pay them what I owe, I could not afford it anyway (this is why my loans were deferred as well, I reminded them). They almost immediately sent me to collections. This collection agency has not contacted me again since I informed them that they were sold a debt that was being contested.

For the record, I went from a student in excellent status to being marked a delinquent. I get no access to my transcripts and no degree. They pocketed my graduation fee, after all, I requested it not go toward paying a contested outstanding balance (and it never did, but I also never really graduated, and never got the fee back). Now I'm paying back over 20k in student loans, am not sure how or if I'm ever going to be able to proceed to another accredited college to actually make a degree in psychology mean something, and I don't even have the useless piece of paper from them to "make it all worth it." Oh, and of course the collection agency hiked the cost of what I owe.

Not sure what happened to the layout of my first post, trying again.

What I experienced near the end of earning my BA with Ashford has kept me up many sleepless nights when I start thinking about it again. Time and again I've written of this problem. To begin with, I feel like, earning an old school's credentials, they are allowed to lie about having them, getting to wait until 2014 (or so I've heard) before they are actually reviewed as they are rather than as the former owners were. It is my own fault, eagerness, and naivety that led me to sign on the dotted line for student loans to attend higher education through them.

Everything went swimmingly at first (though there were a few hiccups), I tried not to get too discomfitted by how easy everything was and how, despite the level of class I was taking, I seemed to always be in a class where at least half the students never would have graduated from a high school class if I had anything to say about it. By that time I was already $10k in debt/loans in and I thought, well, they ARE accreditted, I should push on so I at least have that piece of paper for my debt. So I buckled down and focused on learning the most that I could (pretty much on my own, the teachers were VERY rarely of any help; in fact several times I provided free tutoring to fellow students, some of which insisted I should teach the class instead).

I got to the end of my degree and they found over $2k worth of outstanding charges. I was encouraged to fill out a grievance complaint to open a neutral, third-party investigation into what happened since all outstanding charges should be applied to my loans. I was also allowed to pay the graduation fee and have it specifically go toward the graduation fee so I could get my piece of paper rather than to an outstanding balance in question.

I got the result from this supposed "neutral third party" and the universtiy's decision in the same document (that alone makes me question how neutral and "third party" they can be). Basically, they found my suspicions of what happened were correct. As I stated, I had, indeed, filed my last Master's Promissory Note on time, but it had been misfiled and not even entered into their computers. Now it was too late to get the loan company to pick it up. However, they did find a pell grant they could apply (that brought it down to over $1.5k owed) They were sorry for the inconvenience and as a "customer service gesture" they would allow me one unofficial transcript after I set up a repayment plan and made the first repayment (starting no later than two weeks from the date of the letter/decision). No consideration was to go to the fact that I was able to easily defer my student loans. They did not care that I might want to attend a brick-and-mortar college offering advancement in my degree (who would want sealed official transcripts), they did not care that different jobs I might apply to using a BA in education (some jobs don't actually care what it's in) would each want their own copy of my transcripts (let alone that they'd be hesitant to hire a recent grad tied up in clerical paperwork regarding an outstanding balance when there are plenty lined up with a perfectly accessible degree and transcripts), they wanted their money, period, money they were only owed because they misfiled paperwork. It is also money that would have easily disappeared into the thousands I owed in student loans if they'd done their job right.

They stopped harassing me (which they did while the grievance took a total of 6 months to be considered) 3 months into the grievance with phone calls and emails to pay my outstanding balance after I lodged two complaints that it was in grievance. However, during the second waiting period (in which it seemed my issue was simply "forgotten about") I kept getting offers for alumni grants instead. I marked down an interest with a question I figured would have a strong no. I wondered if I could get the alumni grant just for being an alumni and use it to pay off the outstanding balance.

No, of course. BUT, I was assured over the phone, what I could do is pick a different major to pursue graduate studies in, then I would get the alumni grant and more student loans which would put off paying the student loans I had to defer even longer and I would get plenty of excess money with my new loans to easily pay off my outstanding balance. All this suggested AFTER I burst into tears explaining my plight to the man on the phone and how Ashford destroyed my trust and faith in higher education and, no matter what, I simply could never trust them again. If I pursue my masters, it will be with a non-for-profit school and definitely not Ashford. The way it was delivered seemed like some cruel trick. After I hung up with him, I received a few more emails (despite saying I was uninterested and to take me off the list) to become an alumni with grants for more studies at Ashford. I was notified when they finally supported a masters in my field as well. Too late. At this point, it almost feels like they knew my time was coming to an end and they did not offer the rest of what I needed, so they pulled a deceptive clerical error to give backward incentive toward me choosing a different major to avoid debt I could not immediately afford so they could have more thousands in government loan money.

The more I researched this and talked to a few friends in the legal field, the more it sounded like a dirty tactic and possibly a script that guy had to offer over the phone. Everyone encouraged me to find a lawyer. Ashford insisted on answers so, while looking for professional, legal counsel (but not really knowing where to start since these friends were not actually lawyers but only aides and such), I was forced to inform them that I was seeking legal counsel and why and that I even if I intended to pay them what I owe, I could not afford it anyway (this is why my loans were deferred as well, I reminded them). They almost immediately sent me to collections. This collection agency has not contacted me again since I informed them that they were sold a debt that was being contested.

For the record, I went from a student in excellent status to being marked a delinquent. I get no access to my transcripts and no degree. They pocketed my graduation fee, after all, I requested it not go toward paying a contested outstanding balance (and it never did, but I also never really graduated, and never got the fee back). Now I'm paying back over 20k in student loans, am not sure how or if I'm ever going to be able to proceed to another accredited college to actually make a degree in psychology mean something, and I don't even have the useless piece of paper from them to "make it all worth it." Oh, and of course the collection agency hiked the cost of what I owe.