Kaplan University

My grading is a 5, but that is because I HAVE to give it some grading. At this point, I would like to leave my full review of the school until it is time to start looking for work. Here’s my lame story first… My lifestyle dictates that an online degree was my only option; otherwise I would see my 3 year old daughter graduate college before me. I shopped around and like the cost. I am friends with people who work as headhunters and HR representatives. Each squashed my fears that Kaplan was not recognized as “legitimate”. One school wanted me to take a course to “get me back into the school mode” before being allowed to start taking classes that applied to my degree. Kaplan accepted all gen ed. classes from my automotive degree from my junior college. Unlike everyone else, I have NEVER had a problem with FA. The only problems I will say I had was registering for a class and requesting the seminar on a particular night and being told I was registered for it, only to find that it was on a different night. No big deal – I just like keeping the seminars all on the same night. The other minor complaint is that the writing department assistants contradict each other. Anyway… my skepticism started when I was getting consistent 100% grades on my papers. Really?!?!? NOTHING is wrong with this paper? As classes rolled on, I encountered professors who would walk us through the assignments and give us the answers. One even allowed us access to the final exam and allowed us to take it as many times as we needed until we got a 100%. For this particular exam, the answers were saved, so all you had to do was log out and log back in, changing the answers, until the answer was correct. Others were very vocal about how they too had 4.0 GPAs. Really? A university full of people graduating with some form of Cum Laude acknowledgement? I am starting to become fearful of how this school will look on a resume, as I perceive it to be a degree mill. I have not read any reviews of people struggling to find work in the field of business. I would not tell someone NOT to come here, but I would not encourage it either. Its too easy. Too good to be true. And you know what they say about things that are too good to be true. My best to those searching.

When I transferred to Kaplan, the admissions advisor made it sound like a great school and a great program. He was extremely helpful in getting me started and things seemed okay. I am sure these people are paid extra for recruiting - just keep that in mind - it is not all happy and rosy. My transcripts did not get evaluated until after I had started classes - if this had been done ahead of time, I never would have enrolled. Beware their transfer policy - it makes no sense and is quite idiotic. I started at Kaplan as a third year student and still have to take a "this is college, here's how you write a paper and manage your time" class. Dumb. As you progress support diminishes and you never speak to the same academic advisor or financial aid person twice, so no one knows who you are or what your situation is, you have to re-explain it every time. Their website is horrible and disorganized, very hard to find the right forms. If you owe money at the end of a quarter, it's not really posted anywhere. Every time I have to call academic or financial, my opinion of the school and staff lower. The classes are okay, but it depends on the teachers, some are good and some are worthless. Ultimately, for the price you pay, this school is not worth it at all. I thought University of Phoenix was bad until I attended Kaplan.

I have been attending Kaplan for 1 year and do not anticipate continuing. The school is great lhowever, the Financial Aid departmet is the worst that I have ever seen. Financial Aid packages dont get processed timely and when they are processed, they are wrong or half processed or pell grant/loans are not processed. This is awful! When you contact the school, it is never an apology for the mistake that they have made nor is it a rush put on anything since they made the mistakes but it is a waitng game and excuse after excuse. If financial aid matters do not matter to you then Kaplan is a good school but I highly doubt it if financial aid is not important to anyone.

Attending Kaplan's on line degree program was a good experience,for the most part. As an employee, I only paid for tech fees, some software and books, and Kaplan picked up the tab for everything else. If I made the Dean's list or the President's list, I did not pay for any books in the next quarter, which saved me a lot of money, and good incentive to keep making those lists. Other than a couple of jerks, the instructors were knowledgeable and helpful. Some of them even went out of their way to keep in contact and to make sure I understood the course work. The materials and technology were up to date. The assignments were almost always challenging, and I feel I got a very good education. Now, for the bad news. I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bahelor's of Science in Management, with a minor in Applied Management, however, the degree I signed up for us a BS in Businesss with a minor in Criminal Jusstice (I had already gotten a CJ diploma from Kaplan previously to this degree). When I called , I was told that the degree program had changed, though it was actually the same type of program. This happened in my third year, but I was never informed. Ok, fine, it's still basically the same degree, except for the minor part, which should have been CJ, but nothing I could do about it. Now, try to get a job with this degree. Most employers think it's a matchbook cover type of degree, and give no credence to it, even though it's fully accredited. Prospective employers really do not know anything about Kaplan. When I applied for several jobs, including a few within the Kaplan companies, I was not even given an interview, except for two. On the first interview I went to, the interviewee never showed up. I thought that was a bad sign, but to add salt to the wound, I was finally granted an interview with a Kaplan recruiter for one job I applied for,within my realm of experience. I was brushed off quickly. The recruiter spoke to me in a very condescending manner and had the nerve to tell me I was not good enough for the position and hung up. She didn't even want to see my transcripts. Well, if my degree isn't even goog enough for its creator, then it must not be worth the paper it's printed on. What a waste of time.

I received my Bachelors degree from a state school, and received a fellowship to top 25 University of Illinois' Graduate program before coming to Kaplan University....and I have concluded that the course work is challenging. One thing I can honestly say, is that you get what you put into it. The professors are demanding and engaging, and if you are there to learn...you will. In addition to becoming a Master of Business, you will also become a Master of Time...as these MBA courses not only test your wits, but also you ability to get things done. I am extremely pleased with my Kaplan experience so far, and I truly feel I will be much more prepared for the future than some of my peers attending others "old thought" B-Schools.

Had some poor instructors that it was difficult to get support from. This is all ready tough online, poor instructors made it worse. Many of the instructors hampered by the curriculum and the schools strict adhearence to it. But besides that, it fit my needs. Being flexible was a big part of it and the technology is much better then many of the other schools or those using blackboard, yuck.

Kaplan University has been an excellent adventure for me while I am the only income in my family of 4. Anyway, the guy who sold me Kaplan University was extremely supportive. Financial Aid was a bit stressful, but we worked it out. My classes have been challenging, but I have had all A's except 1 B. In my defence the B was in Finance. I would like to address it is a little easy to get these grades, but if you put in your best effort anyway, you feel like you earned the grade. I just hope that the degree will help me get a job when I graduate!

Your financial Aid department really needs to know what they are doing. I have been here at Kaplan for 8 terms now and every term I have had difficulty with the financial aid department. Every term there has been problem getting my money due. The fault lays within the departments errors on coding, audits or whatever excuse is new at that term. I am very disappointed in this school's support system. I am appalled that the "support" your message plays over and over again while your on hold does not stand up to your actions. I will finish my terms here for my associates degree, but as for furthering my education at Kaplan, I will not be doing so. I found a better college that offers online courses and is state accredited. I will attend that school and never recommend this school to anyone.

Incredible! The Masters program is a tough and hard program. I am so impressed with the level of professionalism and commitment from my professors. I highly recommend this program to anyone.

I am startin my 4th term at Kaplan and I thought I was reading about another Kaplan University when I read some of the postings. I read about points being taken off, well yeah that happens if you don't stay on topic, about "cheating" due to open book tests, how many online colleges do you think have someone to come to your house and make sure you don't use your book, and professors giving grades for blank papers don't know who you had but the professors I had certainly did not do that. Someone said that they had to teach themselves and that is also true of all online colleges there is not a classroom you go sit in for an hour everyday listening to someone lecture you. For the ones who want to do their best they will and for the ones who thought online education was easy I guess they got fooled big time. Have not so far had a problem reaching anyone in Academic Advising or in Financial aid. I have always gotten an answer to my questions and if not satisfied with that answer the web is full of legitimate resouces you can use to find out what you need to know. I just think a lot of people went into going to college on a whim and when they found out the cost of their hobby they got sticker shock. One last point I have two daughters that are going to two other online colleges and they both have seen what I do compared to what they do and they can't believe the detail in what I do. I also am receiveng 5 or 6 credits per class for ten week terms and they only get 3 or 4 credits for their 12 week terms. Both started on their BA two terms before I did and I will get my BA a full year ahead of either of them.

Kaplan has stolen $3700 of living expense loan from me and keep telling me citibank is in error. I became sick shortly after receiving my first two checks, which I later found out was supposed to be given to me all at once, I was in a coma and almost died and when I tried to return to school they would not let me and lied and said they sent the money back to citibank. This is money I was using to pay my rent on my apartment because of that I lost my place and became homeless . I have spoken to citibank and they say they never received the balance back and this not the first time kaplan has ripped off students. Their credits dont transfer over to any university and their tech lab is obsolete. I regret ever going there and I fell like I wasted my time.DO NOT ATTEND THIS CLLEGE UNLESS YOU GET EVERY THING THEY SAY TO YOU IN WRITING. They are crooks and unless somebody does something to stop it they will keep doing it.

Have an issue with Kaplan. I finished my Bachelor in Science in Health Administration. PEOPLE, BE CAREFUL WITH FINANCIAL AID!! My academic advisor "advised" me to take an extra course so I can finish earlier, he told me to talk to financial advisor which I did. I took the course and now I find out that I ow...e Kaplan 2550 for this course, because now they claim that financial aid didn't cover it. So guess what.. now they don't want to release my certification and my transcripts. I spoke to my Financial Advisor last Tuesday and still nothing is done to fix the situation. In addition to that it's almost impossible to get to their supervisors, I tried so many times to get to this guy supervisor, but they are a gate keepers.

I am in my second term at Kaplan. I read the reviews and i can honestly say that it really depends on th person. I have a 4.0 average, because last term I worked really hard. I kind of slacked off this term and my grade is showing it. It is not easy, I have to study and work hard. I have went to traditional schools and this is a better motivation.

I only have two more semesters to finish at Kaplan University and I love it. I find the teachers to be very helpful with material when I do not understand it at all. For example, my computer was down for three days and i had to call my advisor so I could get the assignment in once my computer was working. I never had a problem out of the financial aid office but there is always going to be a problem any where you go. The live seminars are excellent because it helps a person learn from others.

I too had very bad experiences with the financial aide department. If you are depending on financial aide for help with living expenses, this is not the University. It took Kaplan about 2 months to cut checks to me twice. I got these checks after constantly calling daily. The communication was horrible between me and the advisors (I have been assigned to many financial aide advisors since my start with Kaplan). The financial aide advisors do not return phone calls even if you say it's urgent.

I started Kaplan's MBA program in August 2007. The curriculum itself I've found to be appropriately challenging. I feel I've learned a great deal through the course discussions. Most professors I've found to be fair, but I have had one or two that I feel were not appropriately administering Kaplan's policies. I don't feel any class has been a waste of time and have definitely picked up lots of good information that I apply daily in my job. My major complaint, and its big enough I struggle with recommending Kaplan to friends, is dealing with different personnel from the school. My academic advisor is absent about 95% of the time. Ignorning phone calls and emails. Randomly she'll send a "good luck this term" email or leave a similar message. But she never responds to my requests to her. Worse than that, is dealing with the Student Accounts department. My company is reimbursing me for most costs associated with my program. When I started at Kaplan I was told I could be billed per term,rather than by month - and that I could have my tuition deferred until the end of each term so that the time between making my payment and receiving the reimbursement from my company was very small. Well, my billing kept getting switched to monthly (against my request/wishes and without my knowledge) and the tuition deferment kept disappearing off my account. This leads to 2-6 calls a day from Kaplan with a recorded message about "fulfilling my educational committment". When I answer and "stay on the line" to speak to an agent I always get disconnected. When I try to CALL the student accounts numbers direct, I rarely get a live person. On the rare occasion I DO get a live person - the minute I explain that I need to be billed per term because it makes it easier for me to file my reimbursement request - I get transfered to someone in business affairs who never returns my call. So, I normally spend 2-3 weeks of every month sending repeated emails to student accounts to correct their weird billing errors. And to be clear - I'm not a deadbeat. I long gave up on the tuition deferment attempts. Within 1-2 days of each terms charges being applied to my account - I make the payment. However - those amounts differ from whatever imaginary payment plan student accounts has me on - so they continue to cite me as past due even though my account balance is $0 for all but about 2 days of every term. The only person who ever DOES respond to my calls and emails is the financial aid officer assigned to me - which I don't understand since I don't USE financial aid - who tells me she has tried to change my account to per term billing numerous times and someone in student accounts always changes it back. I'm currently in my second to last class and can't WAIT to finish just so I don't have to deal with these ridiculous billing problems any longer.