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: IL

Complaint narrative:
I attended XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX from XXXX. I was enrolled in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Here are the ways in which XXXX engaged in misconduct and harmed me. 
XXXX told me that I had to enroll right away or I would miss out on an enrollment spot. 
XXXX told me to enroll as soon as possible so that I would be able to attend the school, implying that it might be too full to take on additional students. The reality was the program was not at capacity and I was not in danger of not being able to attend. 

XXXX exaggerated the earnings of prior graduates or my likely earnings after graduation. 
XXXX failed to tell us that pre-licensure we might be earning closer to $ XXXX $ XXXX rather than the $ XXXX they touted. It is challenging to get a job pre-licensed and I only happened to find a position due to the fact that I had my XXXX and my pay was around $ XXXX when I started with a XXXX. I made about half ( or less ) of what I thought I would make upon graduation. The extra two counseling courses were an additional {$6000.00} of tuition. 

XXXX failed to tell me that my programs did not have the accreditation necessary to qualify graduates for certification or licensure. 
In order to complete the requirements needed for the XXXX licensure in Illinois, I was forced to take two counseling programs ( not my program of study which was XXXX  XXXX  ) in XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX to satisfy the application requirements which were not told to us at all during the program and cost an additional {$6000.00} of tuition. The XXXX  was pivotal in being able to apply to many jobs after graduation but we were never told this. Therefore the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX programs did not qualify those in the program for XXXX. 

People in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX would talk up job prospects and salaries when we were in their offices. I spoke with the XXXX of XXXX XXXX and the XXXX of XXXX and needed to petition to be allowed into the two Counseling courses needed to apply for my XXXX. 

XXXX misrepresented the overall cost of my program. 
Estimated costs of the program were not given to us. They also did not include summer semester in financial discussions making it seem as if it was XXXX  months rather than 12 months which significantly impacted my budgeting. The yearly program cost $ XXXX $ XXXX more per year than I thought it would be. 

XXXX misrepresented what costs were or were not included in the published tuition and fees. 
The thousands of dollars in books and other fees were not mentioned anywhere in terms of budgeting for the program. I also had to pay to bind my own clinical research project which was not discussed until the last minute with very little instruction other than to find a bindery to publish and bind five copies of the research project. 

XXXX failed to provide the career services assistance it promised ( for example resume writing help, mock interviews, job listings ) XXXX did not help students when they were not matched at externship or internship sites or having difficulty finding XXXX  XXXX. I failed to match one year and no one offered any help about what to do next. This delayed my program completion by one year, so it was one more year until I would be able to work full time in the field, and it was another year of tuition. 

XXXX misrepresented the availability of internships or externships. 
The school assured us that we would be able to be placed but that did not always happen. I was not placed in one of my XXXX  and this delayed my graduation by a year. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX continue to show larger numbers of student enrollment compared to other Universities and goes against XXXX advertising of being " highly selective. '' My internship match year is XXXX and shows XXXX XXXX  XXXX match rates as lower than many other schools, especially any non for profit university. It also shows higher numbers of non APA accredited placements ( XXXX  % ) vs the average of all schools ( XXXX % ), and I ended up matched with a non APA accredited internship which I included as a potential match site along with several other sites which were a mix of XXXX and XXXX XXXX sites, as I was afraid to not include as many sites as possible to match with for fear of not being matched, thereby delaying graduation, potential income, and increasing interest on my loans. Every year a portion of students do not match at XXXX as the Match Rates show ( in XXXX XXXX  % did not match ). My non XXXX XXXX internship disqualifies me from ever working with the XXXX or XXXX because they only accept those with XXXX accredited internships and this was not communicated to me by the school as a decision that would permanently affect me. Regardless of any years I work or what specialties I have, I can not apply for any of those jobs as XXXX  internships are a job requirement. Other facilities have also required the XXXX internship and this limited my job prospects. 

XXXX misrepresented the services that would be provided by its career services staff or department. 
Career services did not help us prepare for employment of find work if we were struggling after graduation, despite touting a high employment rate that was inaccurate. 

XXXX misrepresented the prerequisites required for my course of study. 
Only after I entered the graduate program did they tell me I had to have XXXX XXXX courses in order to be able to remain in the program. Those XXXX classes cost an additional {$15000.00} and were taken during XXXX  XXXX XXXX. They were : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

In addition, the school did not give full totals for what the program would cost. They only would state what each credit costs and were not clear on how many credits courses might be. They also did not include XXXX  semesters in discussions about finances so when I was trying to figure out yearly costs, I misbudgeted thinking there were only two semesters ( rather than trimesters ). XXXX paperwork reflects continual use of the word " semester '' though there are three. The extra XXXX courses were {$15000.00} more than I thought I would need to spend on tuition. Realizing I needed to include an extra semester of courses in my budget significantly changed my budget and need for additional loans. 

XXXX misrepresented itself as a non for profit institution, falsely claiming it was accredited, was deceptive in terms of enrolling students in selective programs, was deceptive in reporting student outcomes. There are outstanding lawsuits with settlements pending due to institutional misconduct where XXXX was named. Due to XXXX 's legal issues, the school 's name was tarnished and impacted my ability to find work in my field to complete my licensure requirements. I worked for significantly low pay for my first job in the field after graduation ( $ XXXX ) after being told about jobs after graduation for $ XXXX. 





On XX/XX/XXXX the XXXX XXXX  borrowers sent the Department of Education the XXXX XXXX  white paper, XXXX Lies : 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 XXXX XXXX XXXX cosigned by nine organizations including the XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX students, 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