Educate Yourself About Your Education!

Oct. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- So like so many other people in this country I’ve been considering gong back to school to improve myself and maybe apply for and get better jobs and add to my business.

So I went to a local job fair and saw a rep from a for profit college. They are apparently a nation wide, yet not  accredited school that offers courses to become a paralegal or a massage therapist or what have you.

I have no problem with this, what I have a problem with is the claims that were made to me on my first meeting with the intake guy. We’ll call him “Mike”. He stated that my local community college had class sizes up to 165 people. And that they, the school, charge more for classes than my local community college because they were “better” and more “career focused”.

He also stated that they had a 90% job placement rate. I’d really like to see how, in the middle of the Depression with iPods, how you accomplish a 90% job placement rate. Really.

So we crunched some numbers and they put my income into their computer and said it would have cost me $7k per term to take their Legal Administrative Assistant Course. A term is 9 months and the course was 2 terms. So it would have really cost me $14,000!

They gave me a list of scholarships and such, which is fine. But they really hammered on me getting loans instead of grants.

So I came home and did some Googling. First of all this school has had numerous names over numerous years. Also they are apparently big recipients of stimulus funds! They are...the students aren’t.

I found numerous blogs where students complained repeatedly about sub-standard teachers, out of date text books and faulty computer software. Unresponsive counselors and dodgy financial aide people. Loans taken out in their name without their knowledge.

The most disturbing was this article, “Stimulus wreckage”, which highlights the story of an African-American woman who took courses at this place, only to get a $10 an hour job, in a field unrelated to her studies and TONS OF DEBT!

And speaking of African-American’s, at first I was impressed by the pictures on the walls in their offices of happy brown faced people. In my day you just didn’t see that and you just got used to it. Then I saw their commercial on You Tube.

Let’s just say offensive doesn’t quite cover it.

I e-mailed the school and told them that I won’t be back. Please, do your research. If you’re looking to get more schooling please do so. But go to your local accredited colleges and community colleges. They can get stimulus funds too, and maybe you won’t wind up neck-deep in debt like the woman in that article.

By starting Virtually Assisting You, I hope to assist clients over the internet with the mundane office task they need done.

I have no problem going back to school to improve on and add to my skills. I will not however be taken for a ride by a diploma mill to do it.

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Virtually Assisting You is home to the Digital Concierge, Mr. Aswad. Ready to assist you with those pesky clerical task and save you money. Hire Mr. Aswad by the hour, see how much you'll save on salaries, benefits and over-head! Call or e-mail today!