Independence University Reviews of Associate in Graphic Design

So a bit of backstory, I more or less joined this university right after high school and I come from a household that makes under $20,000 a year. I saw this school as a stepping stone to my bachelor's degree as I'd only get my AAS in graphic design here to make the other cheaper. I'm one of only two members of my family that I know of that have gone to college at least once. And finally, one of my siblings at the time was in the military and required my help as I was the only one available to help... Read More them move (3rd paragraph's predicament). So rating my overall experience with the school I'd say they are a nice 4/5 stars if not 5/5 in terms of the helpfulness of the staff. During the first few months if you have a computer science degree they will send you a tablet and after a laptop (mine was a mac). While not perfect their classes and more or less got the job done and were conducted using the zoom app for the meetings each week and campus app for turning in work, email between students and teachers, etc. They did record the sessions each week for students to watch back later on youtube which was very helpful if you miss the meeting. The only thing is especially for those of you who are considering the online version, is that you have to be active here and not play around. They have community tabs on the campus app that allow the students to talk amongst themselves and network as well as a built-in way to respond to the teachers to ask for help. I'd advise you not to be lazy and make time to go to the meetings each week as the teacher will go over last and that week's assignment and answer questions as well. Now you may be asking why did I give it a 3/5 then instead of the 5 right? Well in my case its that I was put into a predicament by my family, that lead to me not having access to the internet for 2 months (reminder I went to the online college ) and there was no policy or anything I could do to stop them from dragging my GPA through the dirt. While I do understand that it's not the school's fault, it does leave a bitter taste in my mouth not to mention that I'm now paying out of pocket to pay back the school tuition and will have to pay back the government as well for somewhere around over $30k total. Otherwise, besides this the career adviser was afterword was very active and adamant about helping me though I couldn't get much work under my degree where I'm at so it currently isn't doing anything. I would recommend this to those of you who need something akin to technical college and are ready and willing to put in the work. Otherwise, if you're going to play around save your money.

I just enrolled to this university last month. Now, I want to make sure I say up front. They do have you sign a document that says you must have a 70% or higher after week 3 or you will be dropped. So I did and do acknowledge that. However, I was sent an email about the beginning of week 3 saying your grade is this and if it is above 70% congratulations keep up the great work! My grade was above 70%. Week 4 starts and I completed the assignment for that day. When I tried to logon that Wednesday to... Read More complete my discussion the class was no longer on my canvas. I thought there must have been some kind of mistake. So I emailed the teach. No response. I messaged my enrollment person. He said he was no longer in charge of my file and to contact my student advisor, who I was told would reach out to me but never did. So I sent her a message. She finally got back to me today and said, Oh yeah you were dropped because your grade was a 68.21% and not 70%. So I told her understood the agreement I signed but why did NO ONE attempt to inform me that my grade had fallen below the threshold? And If Independence University really cared about the success of its students why did no one communicate to me at all that I was being dropped? Then she said she sent me an email that says I can submit for re enrollment but Ill have to wait 6 months oh and by the way we need our stuff back too or we will charge you. So what kind of a success plan is that?!? She didnt ask, what happened? Or offer any solutions. She just told me that I can wait for 6 months and that they want their tablet back. I DONT CARE ABOUT THE TABLET! I just wanted to be in school! I thought I was going to a school the genuinely cared about its students. I guess I was wrong... They will drop you and not even tell you when they do it. I had to do all the work to figure out why I couldnt see my class anymore. No one even reached out to me or even seemed like they really cared at all... Pretty Sad. Last thing, I reached out to the chat for help because my calls were being directed to only my old enrollment person. And I asked how to get in touch with someone else to talk to about my situation and she offered no solutions and I told her I guess Id have to just complain on social media and she just told me to have a great day. Didnt even offer to have someone contact me or give me any other alternatives. I didnt want to write this. I wanted to talk to anyone who could help but no one gave me any solutions as to how. Independence University was a very disappointing experience...

The fact that you have to study online is almost irrelevant. There are live lectures and you can actually get help and support from your teachers. They even send you a brand new laptop and tablet when you start and you get to keep it when you gradate! The bad things is that you receive like 0 financial aid. Career services are TERRIBLE. They NEVER helped me get a job so I pretty much wasted my time getting my degree. Also, I went to the graduation in salt Lake City, Utah and they were unprepared,... Read More and unorganized, They didn't even give us any food at graduation. TOTAL WASTE OF MY TIME.

I will start by saying that the ONLY reason I am giving this review 2 stars for quality of instruction is because the classes and teachers were great! However, the admin and advisors were absolutely awful! I wish that I could give them 0 stars for the other 3 areas on this review. When I first spoke with the recruiter, I explained to her, in detail, what my goals were. She told me that their Graphic Design program was a perfect fit! I signed up, using GI Bill benefits, and started classes in October... Read More 2017. By January 2018, I was already wondering why NONE of my classes seemed to be going in the direction that I wanted. In April, I contacted my program advisor and explained the situation to him. He agreed that I was definitely in the wrong program, and then told me that IU doesn't even have a program geared toward what I wanted. I listened to his advice on what to do to drop out without having any debt to pay back. Next thing I know, I'm receiving emails telling me that I owe over $4k to IU. Every time I talked to someone on the phone, they told me that it was all taken care of, and that I had done all the right things to void that debt. But, they told me the exact opposite in emails. When I spoke with their VA representative and told her that I would like to look at fighing at least some of the charges, she told me that all I had to do was send her copies of all the emails that I have that show them telling me that I didn't owe the money. That's when I found that it was only in phone calls that they had been telling me that I was clear. I had no way to prove that they had said anything about me not owing the money back. Now, in June 2018, they're telling me that I owe them about $1500 for a laptop that they had given me when I started. That's where it gets really interesting. They sent me a tablet and a laptop. I sent both back in one box. They say that they received the $250 tablet, but not the $1500 laptop, so I still have to pay for it. They are still saying that I owe them over $4k, and they want me to sign papers agreeing to pay that money back as soon as possible. I'm refusing to sign them until they get their numbers straight. DO NOT GO TO INDEPENDENCE UNIVERSITY!!! They have done nothing but scam me from Day 1, and there's no sign of them easing up on it any time soon. Save yourself the stress and go somewhere more reputable.