Consumer complaint received 2024-10-04 00:00:00
Product: Student loan — Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan — Problem with forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge
Company: Maximus Federal Services, Inc.
State: WV

Complaint narrative:
My school misrepresented the selectivity of the school, meaning the percentage of applicants who are admitted or denied admission to the school or their qualifications ( such as test scores, GPAs, or prior experience ). 

I spoke to the admission staff over the telephone in late XXXX. I called them initially and they continued calling me throughout the application process. I informed them I was very interested in going to a strong school with good students and a strong program.. They repeatedly assuring me that the school was highly selective and had only the best students who were able to get into the program and said : the school was highly selective and only accepted the best students from XXXX XXXX  around the nation the accepted students had extremely high GPAs and test scores ( like the XXXX ) and because of this their acceptance rate was very competitive they only admitted very few students every year as well, making the program even more elite, competitive, and selective their very selective criteria for admission and the very limited number of spots available each year to enter the program, the school was very selective and had a very low admissions rate. 

I dont remember the specific names of the admissions staff I spoke to, but there were at least 2 people I spoke to over the phone during the process of my inquiries and application in late XXXX. 

They told me that if I did not enroll immediately ( the next semester in XX/XX/XXXX was starting very soon at the time ) I would likely lose my chance to enroll in the program because they accepted so few students and because there would be more competitive applications in the following Fall semester, I may not be accepted into the program. 
I interviewed with XXXX XXXX on campus in his office before enrolling. This would have been late XXXX. He said : He stated the school was deeply competitive and only accepted students with high grades from XXXX and strong test scores. 

He informed me that the school only accepted a small number of select students and because the admissions rate was so low, if I were to accept, I would be a part of a small and intimate school with a lot of personal attention. 

My school made a misrepresentation concerning its criteria for admission, meaning the basis upon which a school determines who it will admit. 

I interviewed with XXXX XXXX on campus in his office before enrolling. This would have been late XXXX. During my conversation with him, he shared the following : He stated the school was deeply competitive and only accepted students with high grades from XXXX and strongest test scores from good local schools. 
He informed me that the school only accepted a small number of select students and because the admissions rate was so low, if I were to accept, I would be a part of a small and intimate school with a lot of personal attention. 

Like above, describing the false selectivity of criteria, the admissions staff misinformation was also misrepresentations about the criteria for admission. The admissions staff thoroughly explained to me how extremely selective the school was, but I later learned this was a gross misrepresentation. When I was considering applying to the school, I spoke to the admission staff over the telephone in late XXXX. I called them initially and they continued calling me throughout the application process. I informed them I was very interested in going to a strong school with good students and a strong program. They responded by repeatedly assuring me of the following : Admissions staff told me the school was highly selective and only accepted the best students from XXXX programs around the nation Admissions staff stated that the accepted students had extremely high GPAs and test scores ( like the XXXX ) and because of this their acceptance rate was very competitive Admissions staff explained how they only admitted very few students every year as well, making the program even more elite, competitive, and selective Admissions staff described how, because of their very selective criteria for admission and the very limited number of spots available each year to enter the program, the school was very selective and had a very low admissions rate. 
My school made a misrepresentation concerning the ranking of the school or a program offered by the school. 

I spoke with admissions staff about how it was important for me to attend a strong school that had a good reputation and was highly ranked in the United States. They emphatically explained to me that the school was ranked as high as other schools in the nation, including XXXX programs in XXXX XXXX in the country. I learned far far later that this was very untrue. 

When I told the admissions staff that I was considering applying to various XXXX XXXX, the admissions staff stated that the school was equally as competitive to enter as many XXXX programs, which was grossly untrue as well. 
The admissions staff lied to me about how I could take most of my classes online. I had to be on campus much more frequently than they said. This was particularly problematic because I lived XXXX miles from campus. 

They failed to tell me that the number of students they were accepting each year was actually greatly increasing. They lied to me about how low admission criteria were or how not selective they were. The admissions staff lied regarding the programs ranking compared to other XXXX XXXX They failed to tell me that the program would not be enough to allow me to do the work that I wanted to do : work at a XXXX XXXX I explicitly told them I was interested in working for a XXXX XXXX  and they told me that getting a degree at the school would allow me to work at a police department. This is not true. I would need a separate certification they did not offer. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  : they told me I would be able to specialize in XXXX and XXXX XXXX but they failed to tell me the school had little more than one or two classes relevant to this concentration. They also told me that there were numerous faculty members who were working in this specialization. They failed to tell me that was untrue and that there were no XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on staff and that none of the professors regularly did this type of work. 

Per item above selected : Please describe how the school communicated with you. 
Over the phone : The admissions staff began talking about how low my student loans would be, misrepresenting them to be around {$100000.00} total, after I was given an offer to enroll in the school and after my interview with faculty. They called me as soon as I was accepted into the school and wanted to discuss me enrolling. I told them I had some concerns and questions and still wanted to look at other local graduate schools. They pressed me to share my concerns and I told them I was concerned about the cost of a XXXX XXXX  compared to a XXXX XXXX that often has some other financial means of support, like working in research labs, that would allow me to take out less loans. The admissions staff told me that the average amount of loans students graduated with were around {$100000.00} and that was even with taking extra money out to support the student with costs of living during their time at school. They also stated that XXXX XXXX also sometimes did not allow students to graduate when they needed to in order to keep the students in the program doing research longer and thus would have to take out even more loans than students at XXXX XXXX  - XXXX. 
Written brochures : In XXXX XXXX  published every year that I was present at the school, XXXX promised blended coursework with many online classes available ( which was important to me because I was planning on taking many classes online so I could live at home and reduce the cost of attending the school ). 
In an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX provided by the school and in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, they conveyed the program cost for all the years of my enrollment would be in the low {$100000.00}. 

Who at the school provided you with the allegedly misrepresented information? If known, please provide the names and titles of these individuals. 
The people that provided me with the misinformation were from the admissions staff. I spoke to at least 2 different people in late XXXX, early XXXX. I, unfortunately, do not remember any of the names of the individuals I spoke to. 

When did you discover that the information that the school provided was inaccurate? 
Around XXXX or XXXX. 

Please explain. 
I realized that the reported {$100000.00} total student loans that would cover classes, tuition fees, and some living expenses were grossly misrepresented a few years into my time at the school, approximately around XXXX or XXXX. I realized this information they provided was inaccurate when I began totaling up the amount of money my student loans were each semester. 

Was the alleged misrepresentation the basis of or pivotal to your decision to attend the school? 
Yes. 

Please explain. 
I was very apprehensive about starting to take on student loans in XXXX  school. I told the admission staff this. I did not have loans from my XXXX XXXX  and I did not want to accrue much debt from my graduate school. When they told me that not only would I have to only take out {$100000.00} to cover all my tuition, fees, and some living expenses, I was very relieved. They told me this would be even more affordable than XXXX XXXX Believing the misinformation that my student loans would be so reasonable combined with the misinformation about how much I would be earning was a major factor in my choice to attend the school. If I knew that my actual student loans would be exponentially higher than {$100000.00} and that I would be unemployed or, at best, earning far below their promised {$90000.00} to {$100000.00}, I would have never, ever enrolled in the school. 

I have been gravely affected financially by the misrepresentation stated to me by XXXX. I have not worked in the field that I graduated into, XXXX XXXX since my internship in XXXX. I was not able to find employment in my field. I applied for jobs for years. I quickly found out that a XXXX XXXX  from XXXX did not come with the strong connections they had promised me. It did not come with a great reputation like they promised me. It came with a poor reputation and no connections and no support from career services or faculty in finding a job. The longer I tried to look for work and did not find it, the harder it became to even get interviews because I had years of no employment on my resume. 

Needless to say, I did not earn the $ XXXX that my school promised me I would be making upon graduation. I earned nothing. Not a dollar in my chosen field that I had spent 6 years working tirelessly to earn a difficult degree while accumulating hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt. 

I could not get a job. I am healthy. I got excellent grades ( please see my XXXX and graduate transcripts ) and performed at the top of my class at all of my training externships and internship. I should have been able to find employment, but could not. 
What I did have was hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt. I still have to pay over {$850.00} per month in student loan payments while I do not have employment in my field. I do not own a home. I am XXXX XXXX XXXX and I have to rent because I can not save enough money for a downpayment on a house because my student loan payments are so high. I am ashamed to admit that I have always felt afraid to have children for fear that I would not be able to provide for them financially, that I would not be able to pay medical bills for them or provide them with a sufficient home or to save up for their college because I was already struggling just to pay my exorbitant student loan bills. 

On XX/XX/XXXX the XXXX XXXX  borrowers sent the Department of Education XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX  : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX Defrauded a Generation of Students and the Federal Government that detailed copious evidence collected by XXXX borrowers themselves. The evidence comes from lawsuits, settlements, congressional testimony, and federal investigations. Furthermore, our letter to the Secretary of Education cosigned by nine organizations including the XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, Debt Collective, and XXXX XXXX XXXX, faculty and staff collectively recommends the broad cancellation of all XXXX XXXX  loans. 
I am filing a complaint for the Department of Education to take notice that the borrowers deserve to be made whole from a governmental system of oversight that has failed them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation