Excelsior College

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!