I first attended Charter in 2014 in Wasilla, knowing full well I would get screwed over financially due to the high price tag. I graduated with honors, which was seriously the easiest thing to do. The school was transitioning to online only, which for the medical assistant certification, is mostly hands on training, right? Wrong. You would read about it and then take poorly written tests about it. Seriously, the main teacher would tell us all “Okay so your test is going to have [this] question with answer choices A,B,C,D; B is the correct answer but the computer says C is right so be sure to choose that choice”. The lab teacher I had, had never had a job in the medical field; she was a Charter graduate. She was sweet but did not know what she was doing. I remember when she had us give IM deltoid saline injections with a 2″ needle and one of my classmates stuck another students bone.
If not for my own excellent personal connections, I would not have gotten a job in the medical field. No one wants to hire someone with zero experience and employers know about the “quality” of students Charter churns out.
I felt terrible for a couple of my classmates, who honestly, had some kind of learning disabilities and were not given any help. A few dropped out after a couple mods, and most attempted to finish by re-taking classes, thus increasing their total debt. Charter knew these people were special (after a 5 minute conversation, anyone could see that) and they took full advantage of this. Also, for the NCMA testing, they made you take the proctored exam 4 mods (mods are 5 week long classes) prior to the end, which meant you were taking a test on subject matter you had not learned yet! Charter did this because a lot of students didn’t pass the first time so this would give them time to take the test a 2nd or 3rd time, with each time costing the student more money. Google was my university as well as Quizlet. I got a score of 90/100 due to my at-home free, “educational” supplementation.
They had the saddest library I’ve ever seen; honestly, I have a more extensive collection of reading material at home. Students were’t allowed to use the printers to print class work, only a resume if you obtianed permission. You paid a buying price for rented text books; you couldn’t highlight them or write in them at all.
My younger brother got a BA from UAA for the same amount ($24,000) I paid for a 10 month certificate. My family berated me the entire time I went there because they knew I was wasting my money. The only reason I went to Charter was because I was unable to continue working in my field of choice anymore due to that single mom life. (That’s another manipulation tactic they use, “Don’t you want to support your family? You can do that with charter!”)
I did not attend my graduation ceremony, as I was working full time in Wasilla M-F 9-6 and the ceremony was in Anchorage, on a Saturday… before 9am. I also would have had to drive into town the week prior, to pick up my cap and gown (mind you this was during the work week) at the Anchorage campus. They said they wouldn’t bring it out to the wasilla campus with their courier, couldn’t I take a long lunch or go after work?
Charter over-saturates the market with poorly trained, inexperienced, and high debt load “professionals”. This leads to employers being able to offer a lower starting wage as they know if you don’t take it, someone else will.
The ONLY pro is you will have an expensive piece of paper sooner than if you attend an actual accredited University. Oh! And none of your credits will transfer. But they won’t tell you this, unless you ask.
The initial “interview” was in the cold, red/orange walled room, where they sat you at the foot of a long black desk, with a large computer monitor screen on the opposite wall showing the large face of your admissions counselor. This was clearly done for intimidation purposes, of which didn’t work. At this appointment I asked how much the program cost, as it was not listed on the website, and why their graduation stats were so low. I could see I was annoying her by asking a lot of questions; this is a huge red flag in any aspect of life.
Do your research kids. But, not at Charter College.
But wait, there's more..
So, I'm an idiot. I decide, after three years of hating my job, that I need to go back to school to obtain an associates degree. Problem: None of the credits transfer, and I still owe $9,000. I also have a work schedule that does not allow for anything extra; that 9-6 M-F life kills me. I'm in a hard place. A job opportunity presents itself, but it requires 3 years experience in the medical field (check) and an associates (no check). This is a time sensitive offer meaning I have months, not years to obtain a degree. As fate would have it, Charter emails me a fishing email, "Come back! We'll give you a 15% discount and $1,500 for your program cost!". I've read Charter is having a hard time with accredidation and just pathetic graduation rates. I decide to swallow the Kool-aid and sign another loan to the tune of $4,000. Because I am a fuc*ing idiot. Their online "moodleroom" (I wish I was kidding) classes have not improved, I've never had teachers before that have blatant spelling errors, and still, they don't spell my name right while typing it out underneath my post, with my name in plain type above theirs. They no longer have an "on location library", instead it is all online, and good luck accessing it. There is no tech support on weekends, when you call tech support you will get hung up on after 20 minutes if you opt out to have them call you back later.
Oh, it gets better: I just found out my potential employer does not recognize Charter college degrees. My daughter made me a "Best Mom Certificate" which I will frame, for though it is mispelled and in pencil, it means more and is actually worth more than the one I will obtain from Charter.
Charter College Reviews
I first attended Charter in 2014 in Wasilla, knowing full well I would get screwed over financially due to the high price tag. I graduated with honors, which was seriously the easiest thing to do. The school was transitioning to online only, which for the medical assistant certification, is mostly hands on training, right? Wrong. You would read about it and then take poorly written tests about it. Seriously, the main teacher would tell us all “Okay so your test is going to have [this] question with answer choices A,B,C,D; B is the correct answer but the computer says C is right so be sure to choose that choice”. The lab teacher I had, had never had a job in the medical field; she was a Charter graduate. She was sweet but did not know what she was doing. I remember when she had us give IM deltoid saline injections with a 2″ needle and one of my classmates stuck another students bone.
If not for my own excellent personal connections, I would not have gotten a job in the medical field. No one wants to hire someone with zero experience and employers know about the “quality” of students Charter churns out.
I felt terrible for a couple of my classmates, who honestly, had some kind of learning disabilities and were not given any help. A few dropped out after a couple mods, and most attempted to finish by re-taking classes, thus increasing their total debt. Charter knew these people were special (after a 5 minute conversation, anyone could see that) and they took full advantage of this. Also, for the NCMA testing, they made you take the proctored exam 4 mods (mods are 5 week long classes) prior to the end, which meant you were taking a test on subject matter you had not learned yet! Charter did this because a lot of students didn’t pass the first time so this would give them time to take the test a 2nd or 3rd time, with each time costing the student more money. Google was my university as well as Quizlet. I got a score of 90/100 due to my at-home free, “educational” supplementation.
They had the saddest library I’ve ever seen; honestly, I have a more extensive collection of reading material at home. Students were’t allowed to use the printers to print class work, only a resume if you obtianed permission. You paid a buying price for rented text books; you couldn’t highlight them or write in them at all.
My younger brother got a BA from UAA for the same amount ($24,000) I paid for a 10 month certificate. My family berated me the entire time I went there because they knew I was wasting my money. The only reason I went to Charter was because I was unable to continue working in my field of choice anymore due to that single mom life. (That’s another manipulation tactic they use, “Don’t you want to support your family? You can do that with charter!”)
I did not attend my graduation ceremony, as I was working full time in Wasilla M-F 9-6 and the ceremony was in Anchorage, on a Saturday… before 9am. I also would have had to drive into town the week prior, to pick up my cap and gown (mind you this was during the work week) at the Anchorage campus. They said they wouldn’t bring it out to the wasilla campus with their courier, couldn’t I take a long lunch or go after work?
Charter over-saturates the market with poorly trained, inexperienced, and high debt load “professionals”. This leads to employers being able to offer a lower starting wage as they know if you don’t take it, someone else will.
The ONLY pro is you will have an expensive piece of paper sooner than if you attend an actual accredited University. Oh! And none of your credits will transfer. But they won’t tell you this, unless you ask.
The initial “interview” was in the cold, red/orange walled room, where they sat you at the foot of a long black desk, with a large computer monitor screen on the opposite wall showing the large face of your admissions counselor. This was clearly done for intimidation purposes, of which didn’t work. At this appointment I asked how much the program cost, as it was not listed on the website, and why their graduation stats were so low. I could see I was annoying her by asking a lot of questions; this is a huge red flag in any aspect of life.
Do your research kids. But, not at Charter College.
But wait, there's more..
So, I'm an idiot. I decide, after three years of hating my job, that I need to go back to school to obtain an associates degree. Problem: None of the credits transfer, and I still owe $9,000. I also have a work schedule that does not allow for anything extra; that 9-6 M-F life kills me. I'm in a hard place. A job opportunity presents itself, but it requires 3 years experience in the medical field (check) and an associates (no check). This is a time sensitive offer meaning I have months, not years to obtain a degree. As fate would have it, Charter emails me a fishing email, "Come back! We'll give you a 15% discount and $1,500 for your program cost!". I've read Charter is having a hard time with accredidation and just pathetic graduation rates. I decide to swallow the Kool-aid and sign another loan to the tune of $4,000. Because I am a fuc*ing idiot. Their online "moodleroom" (I wish I was kidding) classes have not improved, I've never had teachers before that have blatant spelling errors, and still, they don't spell my name right while typing it out underneath my post, with my name in plain type above theirs. They no longer have an "on location library", instead it is all online, and good luck accessing it. There is no tech support on weekends, when you call tech support you will get hung up on after 20 minutes if you opt out to have them call you back later.
Oh, it gets better: I just found out my potential employer does not recognize Charter college degrees. My daughter made me a "Best Mom Certificate" which I will frame, for though it is mispelled and in pencil, it means more and is actually worth more than the one I will obtain from Charter.