Before enrolling in classes, I was forced to submit information for ridiculous student loan companies that I wouldn't even be borrowing from, but was assured that nothing would be taken out in my name without my permission. If I didn't do this, I was told I would not receive financial aid. Once I was enrolled, they decided to inform me that I could not receive my financial aid until I had been enrolled in classes for 30 days. How convenient, considering textbooks and expensive Adobe software were required for the class.

After entering the online "classroom" for the first time, I quickly began to realize that it was not for me. I tried to give it a chance, and logged in a couple more times. I withdrew in the last week of the 5-week term. Not long after, I received a statement saying that I owed some $1500-odd dollars. They began calling me nonstop, and it was so frustrating that I began ignoring them. Finally, after about a month of them, I tried to see what I could do. Since I had been told I would recieve financial aid, I had no idea where this sum could have come from. They explained that if one withdraws after logging into class in the first or second week of classes, they only get charged 25% of the tuition, 50% if in the third or fourth week, and the full tuition if withdrawn in the fifth. I had only entered class three times, but the last time was in the fifth week, hence the ridiculous balance.

I felt so helpless, ripped off, and used, especially since I was only 18 at the time. They purposely neglect to tell you this when you enroll. I felt like they gave me false hope of pursuing education, and that it was a scam to get money. I honestly feel that they do this because no one wants to attend their poor-quality institution, and they have no other way to make money than to prey on the dreams of innocent young people. I felt there was nothing I could do but pay them. I was living on my own, with rent equaling all but $60 of my monthly income from my part-time job. I told them this, and they did not seem to care. They kept trying to get me to send them my entire tax return, which I needed to use to get tires for my car. I sent them a small payment of $50 in April, becasue my account had become delinquent. In May, I moved back in with my parents and began making $100 payments.

I called yesterday to set up a payment, and was told that once my account was a year old, which it will be on December 3, it automatically goes to collections, regardless of whether or not you have been making steady payments. The woman I spoke with offered me a 50% discount on my remaining balance of $1020, and told me that I could send $20 this month as a "good faith" payment, pay $250 in December, and $250 in January.

I called back today to accept this offer, but the woman I spoke with was "on another call." I ended up speaking with the man I have been dealing with all along, who, up until this point, has been very kind and understanding. I told him about the discount offer, and he insisted that I would have to pay the first half this month in order to get the discount. He said that the whole point was to have the account cleared by the end of the year, but she never said that. She had explained that send ing the good faith payment this month, and the $250 next month would delay the collections process a little longer, since it would prove that I was going to pay off my account. I explained what the woman had told me about paying the first installment in December and the second in January; after all, it's not hard to confuse the two words. He said she had no right to tell me that, and I asked to speak with her, and he kept saying she was on another call. He kept cutting me off and saying, "Okay, so I'll cancel your $20 payment and schedule you for $260 on that day instead." I told him at least five times that I could not pay that, and told him to have the woman call me, to which he replied, "Okay, but she's only going to tell you what I'm telling you." If she had told me the same thing, I wouldn't be so intent on talking to her.

I was unable to get through after work today, becasue I am two hours behind them, and they were closed. Nobody there ever gives you the same information twice, and I have a feeling the woman is going to deny ever having said what she did about the discount. $1500 is a lot of money to a 19-year-old, and they will do anything to get it. The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online is comprised of money-hungry sharks who thrive on making you feel helpless and defenseless.