I am trying to go back to school after a break and I am finding myself in a quandry. I need the transcrpits from University of Phoenix, but they won't release them. They are trying to charge me for classes that I didn't take and since I refuse to pay for those classes they have sent my account to collections - thus the freeze on my transcripts. What can I do to get them short of paying for the classes I didn't take or taking all the classes again at my new school?

You can do absolutely nothing. If you enrolled and didn't withdraw before the cut-off for a refund you have to pay. End of story. Period.

I did Withdraw. They are trying to make me pay for a class that THEY said I withdrew from too late - but in actuality I passed with a B+ but they never applied the credits because they messed up & put me in that class even though I didn't need it.

The Second class they are trying to make me pay for I never took at all. I told them that I would be on vacation & NOT to enroll me for a few weeks but they enrolled me anyway & I never even started the class.

And the third class I was in for two days & withdres well before the cutoff because my idiot advisor told me I could take this class to fulfill a 100 level science credit requirement, except the class he put me in was a 400 level & had 2 prerequisites that were not even in my degree program. I was told in eachof those cases that I would not be financially liable but after I withdrew from school completely they decided they would charge me anyway.

Did you get anything in writing to substantiate your claim? Do you have a copy of your grades showing you earned a B+ in that class? because if you earned a grade in the class you didn't need....you are responsible for that class.

Please tell me you have records to substantiate your claim, if not you might have to bite the bullet and pay because it's your words against their records, no matter how inaccurate.

In most cases, University of Phoenix credits do not transfer to most reputable schools. I know the University I worked at would just laugh. Even the local community colleges here will not accept them. I have heard this is pretty common nation wide.

Did you get anything in writing to substantiate your claim? Do you have a copy of your grades showing you earned a B+ in that class? because if you earned a grade in the class you didn't need....you are responsible for that class.

Please tell me you have records to substantiate your claim, if not you might have to bite the bullet and pay because it's your words against their records, no matter how inaccurate.
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I have emails from my advisor about it. I am in the process of retrieveing them (from a busted laptop). Plus, UoP NEVER listed any of these charges on my account even 10 months after I withdrew from the school. I have invoices from 8 months past my end date that show no balance due; all they did was send me a letter saying I owe this random amount.

I don't even care about the degree program courses. I am changing my major anyway & they really wouldn't do me any good. But I would hope that my general classes would transfer - Math, English, Science, Etc.

In most cases, even the general education classes don't transfer. You might want to ask your new school if they accept them. A lot straight out don't.

That's a tough situation, but I don't think you even have the option of just taking them again, if by that you mean not submitting your UoP transcripts. Generally, a school won't admit you without receiving transcripts from all other colleges you've attended. And if you try to get around that by not telling them that you took classes there, the new school can kick you out if they ever find out because you lied on your application. Unless you have proof of what you're saying and can get the University of Phoenix to back down, it really sounds like you have no choice but to pay them.

Isn't that usually the case with propriatary schools and/ or schools that offer degrees without a certain amount of on-campus learning? Although University of Phoenix is a title IV school it's definitely not a real university.

I don't personally like the fact that for-profit trade schools, proprietary schools, technical schools, etc can get federal student aid. I'm sure there is someone somewhere that got a better paying job and a better future from some non-degree program, but for that 1 guy there are probably like 1,000 people that did not complete their program of study, or better yet did and found out the hard way that a "certificate" or "associates" in changing tires, data entry, installing alarms, etc does not necessarily result in a high-paying carreer.

Many of these people got nothing but a federal debt with no SOL, and they usually don't understand that if unpaid it will never go away.

I totally agree! ITT is another good example. With propriatary schools, students should be told up front which credits will and will not transfer to other schools and what the TRUE job placement rate is via an independant source. Wishful thinking!

Associates degree....now who the hell came up with that term??? A two year program is not a degree....in every other country in the world, a two year community or trade college program is a certificate course, not a degree.

Hire a lawyer and take the school to court. If you did not enroll in a class but were charged then it is not your responsibility to pay.

It may be cheaper to re-take the classes at a community college than pay your old tuition bill. How much is tuition at Pheonix?

Maybe where YOU'RE from, that's true. But in the great state of Texas, the universities are required to accept credits from the community college level, as long as they are core courses. They don't really have a choice. State law dictates what the core courses at any higher education facility must include, and there is no leeway in the university accepting core courses from another Texas college, two year or otherwise.

Has anyone ever told you that you are a snob??

Doesn't that only apply to public schools? I've only attended private universities and they don't even accept classes from schools like the University of Houston. Has something changed recently? Just curious.

I am really asking for my own personal benefit, not to annoy.

That is very common nation wide. I currently work for a university and it is one of my duties to post credits that are transferring in from other schools. There are a FEW courses that will actually be accepted from UOP, but they are few and far between and won't generally go toward the general education units that must be completed in order to obtain the degree. I was actually, at one point, looking at getting a graduate degree from UOP and was told that another option of mine (both distance education) would actually be better -- one was through Cambridge University in Montreal and the other through UNISA (University of South Africa) whose offices for the PhD program of study were based in Toronto. The reason for this is that once you get foreign transcript evaluations for either of those, they are equivalent to the same degree here in the U.S. In other words, get a M.A. in Humanities from UNISA and the foreign transcript evaluation will show it as equivalent to an M.A. in Humanities earned at a school here in the states.

Regardless, he'll still need the transcripts to be accepted at most schools. At mine, at least, it's a red flag when a student cannot get transcripts from a previous school. It's even worse when they don't mention that school on the application and it is discovered later.

I can't say, but I do know that private schools don't have to worry about losing public funding. You can draw your own conclusions from that.

Yes, credits from a Community College DO transfer in my state as long as they are core classes.
Generally Community Colleges DO have a foundation in Liberal Arts...a certain amount of English Classes are required, as well as history, math, psychology, and sociology in order to receive your degree.

Maybe you are thinking about technical colleges? And even some of them have Liberal Arts requirements.


Often times the professors from the 4 year Universities teach the classes at the Community College level as well.

Oh and Cynic:

You said that if the OP passed a class with a B+ he/she obviously took the class and needs to pay but the way I read the post is this.... The OP paid for and took a class which they received a B+ in. The school screwed up and registered him/her for that class a SECOND time by accident. But you can't take a class twice for credit. So what the OP is saying (I think) is that they are not liable for the second registration of that course because they had previously taken, paid for, and passed that class.

OP please correct me if I am wrong...it wouldn't be the first time

Yet another horror story about University of Phoenix... why am I not surprised. Avoid these schools (and I use that term loosely) at all cost.

In your situation if they have already passed the bill to collections deal with that in whatever way you can and forget about the transfer. I'm not sure but with any luck UofP will never show up on your school records and that might just be a blessing, lol.

That was a really stupid thing to say.

Let me make amends.

1) Your word against their records and billing. Pay it.

2) Get on with your education.

3) Don't ever enroll in a school like that.

Amen. Also, lets all pray to have them kicked out of Federal Student Aid forever. Did you know they receive more federal student aid then any other school in the country?

I was reading that yesteraday. I have a strong feeling that their day is coming. That type of thing was not meant to be abused.