Walden University & Sallie Mae: A personal experience toward financial disaster

Update: September 23, 2009

I defended my dissertation on August 22, 2009. It was approved. I completed some other minor requirements. I received my Ph.D. in Human Services. On or about August 10, 2009 Walden sent me a refund for $4,310.00. This refund does not touch the enormous financial loss I have suffered through the Walden processes.

Update: August 4, 2009

On or about July 30, 2009 I received an email from Walden staff outlining the "next steps in the process..." They are: my submission of minor edits, Walden staff submission of my dissertation and rubic to Form and Style review, final oral presentation and defense of my dissertion and final approval of my abstract.

Presently, I am at the stage for defense of my dissertation. It appears that this defense cannot or will not take place until August 22, 2009. This is absurd. I sent the following email to my dissertation committee on August 4, 2009: "...it seems I will have to conduct the oral presentation on August 22, 2009...having the oral at this late date will surely take me into the next quarter. I cannot "financially" go into the next quarter with Walden. I don't know how many times I have to tell everybody that there is no money for this nonsense. Walden cannot continue to drain its students' finances due to the unavailability of its staff."

On July 25, 2008 I attended a focus group where the Walden experience was being analyzed. Walden University hired Assistance in Marketing (AIM) to conduct a survey on the Walden experience. This research is supposed to assist Walden in developing better practices to facilitate change in their policies and procedures for student services. I sent the following email to my dissertation committee on July 30, 2009 regarding this research study.

"On July 27, 2009 I participated in a face-to-face national research focus group project about Walden University and its practices with Assistance in Marketing (AIM) Research Services Network in Schaumburg Illinois. This is a nationally known entity that does research. Walden hired this firm to go around the country and survey Walden students about their program and services. There were 3 basic issues Walden students explored, that is, Walden's staff/faculty accountability, such as response time to students (one student talked about submitting her dissertation in April of 2009 and not hearing from her chair until July of 2009 where he told her she had to make corrections), student financial liabilities for negligent Walden practices, and staff/faculty knowledge of the program in which they operate and the policies of Walden. I told these people to write and publish their findings about Walden's educational and staff/faculty processes.

Some improvements/solutions discussed: re-connect Walden's responsibility with the financial responsibility of students, such as Walden should know the student's financial picture to assure the student does not bankrupt themselves getting through the process (I was fortunate to be sitting with a person who worked for Laureate); A student should not be paying tuition when they are not doing any work; and involve the students in policy changes and procedures. There were many more topics and solutions to match.

Walden is a farce. In addition, I found some students are afraid to talk about their Walden processes out of fear of retailiation. They would talk about them "behind closed doors" but were afraid to tell it like it is to the public at-large. I am not afraid of anything walking or talking. Let the retaliation and consequences come and I will continue the fight for justice and equality."

This nonsense has to stop. The Walden University processes frustrates and financially destroys its students.

There should be an investigation or research conducted to analyze and determine: How many students attended Walden University that had to drop out of school due to financial hardships brought on because of Walden faculty/staff non-responsiveness to the academic and financial aid processes of students and Sallie Mae or other student loan assistance programs change in criteria for continued funding programs for higher learning degrees?

And while we are attending to the issues of financial aid funding, we might as well investigate or research:

Why does Sallie Mae and other financial aid funding sources for school loans give "forgiveness relief" to students seeking higher learning degrees for "teachers" working in deprived areas of the country but not for other higher learning degrees where work is done in deprived areas of the country, such as counseling, human services, etc.?

June 28, 2009

I began my PhD program at Walden University in December of 1999. Walden’s process for completion of the PhD program in 1999 was to write scholarly papers addressing the Breadth, Depth and Application of 7 Knowledge Area Modules (KAMs) and a dissertation. Walden’s dissertation process has 5 chapters for completion. Due to the lack of professor/student contact, it took me approximately 18 months to complete my 1st KAM. After complaining about this process and receiving a new mentor, it took me approximately 3 months to complete my other KAMs. In September of 2004, I was working on Chapter 4 (data analysis) of my dissertation. I had collected my data. I was about to complete my dissertation. I was on a roll. My lender, Sallie Mae, decided I needed a co-signer for the loan I was taking out to complete school at Walden. I could not get a co-signer. I had to drop out of Walden University in December of 2004 with a financial hardship. I re-entered Walden in March of 2007 with a “Grab Plus” loan from Sallie Mae at more than 8% interest. I started working again on Chapter 4 of my dissertation. Due to the lack of professor/student contact, I finished Chapter 4 in August of 2008. Presently, my dissertation is held up in Walden’s review bureaucracy. I have not done any work on my dissertation for approximately 4 months, but Walden is still taking my money borrowed from Sallie Mae. I have borrowed and spent over $160,000.00 for this process at Walden University.

As of June 25, 2009, I owe Sallie Mae $245,183.60 for my Bachelor, Master and PhD degrees. I have worked in deprived, depressed and economically suppressed areas of social services. There are "forgiveness" programs for teachers who work in these areas. Teachers are permitted to "erase" a portion of their payments for educational loans through these "forgiveness" programs. Where are the loan "forgiveness" programs for those who work in social services working with the disenfranchised and disadvantaged in deprived neighborhoods and cities? I will write a more detailed paper in the near future about my Walden experience and educational loans. I seeking collaboration on this project. Therefore, if there is someone who wants to co-author this project please contact me by e-mail at frednance@clickservices.org.