National American University

Hello everyone, I am writing this post as a former employee, current student, and combat veteran. It has been 2 or 3 months since I worked at NAU. I was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after 8 years of service. I was told from the very beginning that there were many veterans that work there and that they are understanding of veterans' disabilities and are more than willing to help when needed. for the first 6 months, all of this was true. After a while a Director of Military Services was hired in an attempt to try becoming more appealing to veterans and active duty personnel so that they could get more students. Everything started to go downhill from there. There were 3 of us in a section that were fully trained at our jobs. I was fired by him for "performance reasons" although I was well known for helping students with any issue that they might have. I was often recognized for doing that. I don't recall doing anything that others have done before, yet I was fired. The Director of Military Services often help section meetings (at least once a week). He would sit us all down and remind us that customer service is the main focus. He would ALSO, in the same meeting, tell us not to forget that we are in the business of making money because NAU is a For-profit organization. Since this man's hiring, none of the 3 fully-trained employees work there. He has completely gutted the section and replaced it with what HE thinks is the golden plan. On June 1st, 2017, NAU plans to start a "college on military studies" that will specifically be for active duty, veteran, and dependants. He has this big dream that NAU will be the school of the future. He had us all do research on other schools to find out what makes them better than us and basically intends to replicate it. DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT NAU IS A FOR-PROFIT school. Their student enrollments DIRECTLY reflect how much they get paid. Based on the fact that I worked there MONTHS before the Director of Military Services started working there and also after he was hired, my opinion is that students will become more and more aware of this scam and look elsewhere for college. The Director of Military Services retired after 30 years of service in the Air Force as an officer. You would think that because of that, he would be understanding that he has employees with service-connected disabilities and would be the FIRST to do everything he can to help out. Instead, he will just fire you and try getting someone else. I brought a lot of knowledge, understanding, and passion to work EVERY day. The Director of Military Services let that go because he is BLINDED by the fact that he needs students to make money. As a former employee, I am embarrassed. As a current student, I am outraged. As a Combat Veteran with service-connected disabilities, I am ashamed of this man. I am DISGUSTED with how this man treats fellow veterans. If I had any say-so, I would immediately fire him and look for someone that cares MORE about veterans and students and LESS about what he/she can do to make more money.

WARNING: This school is like a cult, they will be nice to you, and lie to you to get you in, then tell you lies about your money, your ability, and they'll lose your paperwork, find it "just laying around," blame you for their mistakes, and even have different members of the staff attempt to call and intimidate you. NAU is discrimitory against the disabled, and will be quick to say you're not "NAU Materian," once you make them aware of their mistakes, and that their intimidation tactics failed. Don't waste your time, money, or brains on NAU, you will be extremely disappointed, angry, and in major debt!

This school was not what I expected. First financial aid is horrible, they keep adding additional fees, tech fees and increase in total cost. There FA dept does not know what is going on. They hold my money for 14 days, why no one wants to tell me. The online instructors are not educated or even teachers most just work in the field they are instructing. A few expect me to call them professor when they are not. They lost my paperwork three times when I started and somehow it was my fault. Be careful!

Where does one begin... I wish I would have been more diligent in my search of a college to attend. Most of the advisors are completely incompetent. It takes forever to get a response. My status sheet was incorrect, stating I completed a course that I actually did not complete. Advisor and advisor stated that my status sheet was accurate and I had a few classes to complete before graduating. There was no empathy or compassion for my sistuation. I was told that my file "slipped through the cracks" by a supervisor. I sent an email to the dean with no response, and am writing a letter to the Higher Learning Center to voice my complaint about this school and their incompetence. It has been a nightmare to deal with this school. I suggest anyone wanting to attend online courses research your options before even looking at this school.

This school is painfully understaffed on the financial aid side, but very well staffed on the recruiting side. Beware, they have students sign documents that the student is responsible for all fees up front but are slow slow slow in processing financial aid. Look at the fine print, "Financial Aid is Available." I would not sign up for classes until you are sure you have financial aid unless you have the funds to pay for it. They are opening more and more "campus" and really trying to get students in. I would be very very weary if I were you before signing up for this school. A better bet would be taking online courses at your local community college or a well know established university.

I am currently enrolled in the Bachelors of Nursing Program with a 4.0 GPA however not only have I been put in classes that I didn't even need for my dregree program, but they have changed my Major two times without my consent which of course affects my financial aid. I have had a horrible time getting any straight answers as well as I still have not received a refund from 6 months ago. Unfortunately, many of my classmates have experienced the same kind of treatment. The Lee's Summit Campus seems to be the most problematic. As this school is incredibly expensive I am seriously considering another school starting next semester. My advice for future students is to get everything in writing. Good luck and be careful in your endeavors.

Where do I start... Well, while attending all was great. The teachers, the classes, everything. My employer (VERY BIG in semiconductor industry) was paying for EVERYTHING, i.e. books, tuition, lab fees... Every term I'd get my grades (A's) and turn it in to my employer for payment so that I could pay for the classes I took that previous term. I completed my Associates and certification for my degree. Got my graduation information and looked to have a degree in hand. Years later, I receive a notice from NAU stating that I STILL OWED THEM $6K in tuition! This is impossible!!!! Every term I took, I received a check to PAY NAU! I contacted their 'collections' and talked to them in length about this. The collection agent said that she would research it with her supervisor and get back to me in a couple of days with what they found AND EMAIL ME ALL DATA supporting their findings. Guess what? I have YET to hear back from them and have not receive a single email from anyone from NAU. This was over 4 months ago. Every time I try to contact them, I get voice mail or the run around... "You need to talk to this person or this department." I actually needed proof of my degree for work and was unable to obtain it because they have me on their list as non-payment/collections. So all these years I have been listing the degree on my resume, I have to now remove that because they, somehow, got it on their books that I did not pay over $6k in tuition. So, if you are considering going here, BE WARE that they might try to withhold your EARNED degree because you fail to 'pay' them their money... Because of all this, I have to return to college to obtain ANOTHER degree. I'll be sure to find a more reputable college/university to study under. As a working adult, in my current industry (over 14 years), this will be interesting! Online college here I come!

Financial Aid here is a MESS. At one point it took me 6 months to get a loan for one quarter, and admin admitted it was their mistake and that it had been missed by 4 people. I have been at NAU for over a year and attend online as well as on campus as a Business major. It is very important for people thinking about attending NAU to be informed of several things, all of which apply to all people considering NAU no matter their location. The Central office to the school is in my city, and affects all locations and courses. Here is what I wish I had known: 1) NAU is a for-profit school, and costs roughly twice what a State school costs. 2) Alleged benefits, like accelerated courses, come at the cost of higher learning. You pay twice as much for half as much in return. 3) Financial Aid is not properly staffed to accomodate the needs of existing students. There are always problems and you will be approaching Finals each quarter before you get any loans/grant money for the quarter. *I kid you not, at one point it took me 6 months to get my loans for 1 quarter.* 4) In addition to the above, there is also the issue of customer service. They will not provide service with a smile. They often fail to communicate and follow through, and consider their staffing problems as good cause to delay and behave as they please. Research your options. Look at your State schools, think about the economy and how student loans will affect you in different situations. I really regret going to this school, when the cost is so much higher it really causes you to borrow a lot. I'm guessing I'll put of my Bachelor degree until I can get some of this debt paid down, if it was half as much I could continue. Please, don't go to this school.

I obtained my Bachelors Degree in Business Admin with a Marketing Emphasis with NAU. My Admissions Rep was amazing from the start, and my Academic Dean guided me through my degree. I graduated with honors last May, and am working in a Marketing firm! The career of my dreams! They are regionally accredited and reasonably priced. I will go back for my Masters.

I graduated from NAU back in 2002 via online. Seemed like after I graduated and told people about my online degree they were like "you can do that?" I did attend the Ellsworth campus from 99-00. Overall I did a little over a year of online schooling and am now looking to start my masters degree. The biggest con I can say about this school is the price-I think I paid somewhere around $200 per credit hour for my undergrad and they are now going to be charging $330 per credit hour for a masters degree. Oh and they want more credits than other universities (for a masters it will take nearly 3 yrs to get my masters vs around 2 yrs at most other schools). As far as their online program, (undergrad) I was pretty impressed. All my teachers were willing to help when I needed it and being in the military, they all were more than fair in working with me so to work around my TDYs and deployments. Overall, NAU is a great school that is regionally accredited. I am very happy to have gone there for my undergrad but unfortunatly I will not attend for my graduate degree. In this day of the online school explosion alot of private schools have gotten VERY competitive in getting your business. I could go to NAU and tap into my GI bill and take an extra year to get my degree or go to another school where everything including books is paid for in 3/4ths of the time.

I had several questionable incidents with NAU, mostly related to administration of records and office support. Beware that the college does not maintain records in the manner it should; it is not uncommon to have grades recorded incorrectly and to have to wade through their cumbersome grievance procedure to correct the errors. Due to the exceptionally high turnover in professors, academic deans, and other personnel you may experience other delays and annoyances. I stuck it out at NAU due to the time and money already invested, and the difficulty in transferring credits to other institutions. If you are considering NAU I would strongly suggest you look at other choices; you pay a lot per quarter credit (more than attending a public university) to receive a degree with much less stature. NAU does have a fairly good WebCT environment, but make sure you save all e-mails, make print screen copies, and keep your records in order. The other positive of attending NAU is their Applied Management program that allows you to transfer in previous college course work as your core focus of management. On a scale of 1 to 10 NAU earns a solid 2. I highly recommend exploring other institutions.