Consumer complaint received 2015-09-02
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Getting a loan — Qualify for a better loan than offered
Company: Dream Center Education Holdings (IL)

I went to the Illinois Institute of Art in XXXX, IL from XX/XX/XXXX. Recently, I obtained XXXX my financial ledger as well as my transcript. I had a friend who is well versed in reading and going over financial ledgers and comparing to transcripts and she found over {$6000.00} in over-charges from the school listed on my financial ledger.This is insane. I had Pell Grants, IL-MAP grants, and academic excellence awards. My tuition was supposed to be XXXX, it ended at over 84k, even with my grants!!! I want to request an audit. My ledger shows {$300.00} in fees for online classes I never took, XX/XX/XXXX over {$110.00}, Fall overage $ XXXX XXXX + $ XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - $ XXXX XXXX overage + $ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX overage + $ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX shortage - $ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX overage + $ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX overage $ XXXXThis comes to over $ 9k, but I factored in the stipends I know I did receive and deducted them to come to a figure around $ 6k. I think these ledgers are intentionally confusing so that students do n't recognize the charges or question them. 

Apparently, my stipends would come out of the XXXX, but I only received stipend checks twice ( and nowhere near the amount that I was overcharged ), and this still does not explain the overcharges for online fees for classes I never took online. I was also led to believe that my grants were covering a lot more than they did and my loan amounts were not disclosed to me while I was enrolled. They told me I had several grants to assist in covering my educational costs. My loans are federal, but this complaint, I feel, has more to do with the school adding fees that are fraudulent. Again, I would like to request an audit for my tuition. Another thing I can not understand is how they were able to take out additional loans on behalf of my mother XXXX PLUS loans XXXX without her signing anything after the first time she met with financial aid. She did n't even know additional loans had been taken out until she got the bill for them. When she inquired as to how this was possible, she was told the loans were pre-authorized. WHAT?! Her credit was already extended past what she was able to afford, and she did n't even receive a phone call or a letter from the school before they just took out additional, extremely costly, loans. 

I am extremely frustrated after visiting the school to get this information and seeing them enrolling students even though the school has lost its XXXX address building, lost the XXXX and XXXX floors of the main building, and half of the XXXX floor. The school is clearly downsizing and XXXX is about to go under XXXX stock is under XXXX cents XXXX. Only XXXX instructors remain full-time, and they are general education instructors. The fact that the school, and other XXXX are still recruiting when they are obviously a sinking ship sickens me. These students will not be able to transfer those credits, and they will not have a school to attend for the duration of their enrollment period. It is time that this for-profit scam comes to an end. This is not doing anything to better Americans or to help us achieve an education. These schools target low income students, first generation college students, minority students, veterans ( for their GI bill money ), and students XXXX. This is unconscionable. 

Thank you, and again, I would like a full audit of my tuition.