If its one of the Art Institutes run by EDMC (all of them that use the
AI logo), avoid them like a plague. They're not an art school
employers take seriously. They're an open enrollment for-profit college, they take ANYONE.
They just want the financial aid from the government that you are
entitled to. The government is now suing them for 11 Billion Dollars which could wipe them off the map easily. They also got hit with ANOTHER lawsuit claiming the same thing!
If you ask me, they're an elaborate corporate scam to funnel as many
Government Pell grants and guaranteed loans out of students as they
can and leave the students with the bill.
The Senate HELP Committee did a 2year investigation and found out the same thing.
Ai has the worst drop out rate of ALL for-profit colleges.
They're like McDonald's of Art "Colleges". They're a chain that is
popping up everywhere. They buy out dying schools, rename them, keep
the accreditation.They create programs designed for impulse buyers and quick hits aka uninformed students.
They may seem like they would be good, but it is all smoke and
mirrors. Pretty building with pretty computers. Meanwhile, it will
just ruin your life.
The market demand they say they're meeting is not the demand of the
Job market, its the demand of the students. Students that graduated AI
are struggling to get jobs and have over more than $50,000+ or
$90,000+ in debt depending on what degree they went for. Degrees that
are worthless in the job market.
Basically, AI is a degree mill, a total debt factory. They use bloated success stats and
circle logic to back them up.
They count students working at Toys R Us as in the field. Avoid them
if you want to actually have a decent future.
If you really want to pursue your passion, go to a community college,
study fine art, and then transfer into a state school. It will be
cheaper and the money you save you can buy your own equipment and
STILL have money left over for a better future.
Their job leads are bogus, they go to Monster, Craigslist, and career
builder just like everyone else. Their top employer is HOME DEPOT
(Check their own website) and I guarantee none of those are art jobs.
Don't make the same mistake my friends and I did. We'll be paying for
it for the rest of our lives.
If you go with AI you'll be folding clothes at Target or hawking video
games at Toys R Us for $8.25 an hour and struggling to pay $90,000+
with bill collectors haunting your every waking moment for the REST OF
YOUR LIFE with no way to stop them because there is no bankruptcy
protection on Student loans.
Please please please make sure you check out these news articles
below. Many are accounts from students, staff, and teachers of AI.
Feel free to check YELP ("Filtered results" as well.)
What you do with this information is your choice, I just want to make
sure you know everything before listening to one of their recruiters
sales pitch. Remember, they're paid sales people. Not your friend.
College may be expensive but what these guys are pulling is straight
out highway robbery.
Below is a few news articles about different AI's around the country. They're all pulling the same thing.
Its EDMC's business model.
You will NOT make enough to pay back the loans. They know this. They just want the government money they can pull in your name.
Decide for yourself. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than paying back the debt created by these scammers.