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Please sign this petition

I haven't been on polycount since i graduated, probably because i feel i don't deserve to share my lack luster work with anyone (also probably why i haven't improved much)but i feel like this is worth taking a look if you feel that for-profit schools are screwing you over, screwing your friends over or family members.

If you don't agree, then don't sign.
If you agree, then please sign.

If you want to talk and discuses, feel free to, but please no trolling.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/return-all-moneys-paid-students-profit-schools-have-defrauded-them-have-their-debt-removed/5vDsWL5q

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  • SanderDL
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    SanderDL polycounter lvl 7
    Well the website doesn't work for me, so I can sign anything anyway.
  • Julmust
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    I hate to troll, but isn't this a consequence of unregulated free market? I mean, c'mon, caveat emptor and all that... Besides, there is no school on earth that can teach you something you don't want to learn; most people in the industry are autodidactic.
  • Bibendum
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    Seriously, I hate all of these schools but this demand is ridiculous. Buyers remorse isn't the same as being a victim of fraud.
  • low odor
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    low odor polycounter lvl 17
    autodidactic....had to pull out the dictionary for that one...


    I don't see why it's ridiculous. Hell isn't the US GOV doing the same exact thing with the AI's at the moment
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Disagree - sure it's overpriced but fraud would mean you paid your tuition and showed up for school on the first day only to find out the campus is an abandoned Mattress Warehouse with a crazy homeless squatter teaching a row of dead rats how to nuclear bologna bow-tie.

    I used to be autodidactic until I threw my back out, I'm not that flexible anymore.
  • Bibendum
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    No that's not the exact same thing the U.S. government is doing to AI. AI is being sued because they violated student aid rules by paying their recruiters by the number of students they got to apply.

    It's ridiculous because:

    1) You didn't pay for a successful career, you paid for an education. And you got it. It just turns out the education was shit. That's not fraud, that's a poor investment.

    2) Lots of people who went to AI and went on to have successful careers, getting the same shitty education that the people who didn't succeed received. Somehow they were defrauded because they failed?
  • DrunkShaman
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    DrunkShaman polycounter lvl 14
    Disagree - sure it's overpriced but fraud would mean you paid your tuition and showed up for school on the first day only to find out the campus is an abandoned Mattress Warehouse with a crazy homeless squatter teaching a row of dead rats how to nuclear bologna bow-tie.

    I used to be autodidactic until I threw my back out, I'm not that flexible anymore.

    Or, it could mean that you paid over priced tuition fees, went to class on the first day, only to find out that the Professor had no idea of the course he was suppose to teach, he didnt do his homework for the lectures of that course, nor he had any background related to that course.

    EDIT: In either case, you get a book for the course you are taking so whatever professor teaches, reflects the chapters of it, if he doesnt teach you at all, you will have to make notes via that book and study them for the exam anyways and all you need from that college is a piece of paper certifying you in to whatever you have studied. So, I dont see where this is going.

    Do colleges in US suck this much that you have to take a stand, or you dont know how to read a book and make notes out of them to study them. <.< (No offense to anyone)

    EDIT 2: I really gotta stop editing my post(s) :(
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Nitewalkr wrote: »
    Or, it could mean that you paid over priced tuition fees, went to class on the first day, only to find out that the Professor had no idea of the course he was suppose to teach, he didnt do his homework, nor he had any background related to that course.

    but you kept coming back for 3-4 years
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    Nitewalkr wrote: »
    Or, it could mean that you paid over priced tuition fees, went to class on the first day, only to find out that the Professor had no idea of the course he was suppose to teach, he didnt do his homework, nor he had any background related to that course.

    or it could mean you the client (the Student) could have done there homework and research and figured out more about the school before applying.

    too many people expect to go to school and come out with companies throwing jobs at them. Well guess what thats not going to happen unless you put the effort in your self and the networking to get your self known and get the jobs.

    and it seems there are too many people taking courses expecting the course to make them awesome at game art with out putting in much effort, all over polycount you see that it is the people with the most drive that are making the best art, and getting the jobs. Not the people with the most education on the topic.


    also to the OP you seem to lack drive considering that in your own post your call your own work lack luster and don't wont to post it even to get criticism's on it.
  • DrunkShaman
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    DrunkShaman polycounter lvl 14
    Read my edited post...
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    honestly, I've been torn in the past over my experience at the Art Institute - it was pretty overpriced but I keep finding myself in situations in my professional career where the things I learned there paid off.

    My focus is environment art but I also know enough FX, animation, character art and overall illustration where management tags me to help out other teams. I honestly could spend a few months working on some of my atrophied skills and I could get a job in animation or FX - characters and concept art would take a little extra time.
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    honestly, I've been torn in the past over my experience at the Art Institute - it was pretty overpriced but I keep finding myself in situations in my professional career where the things I learned there paid off.

    My focus is environment art but I also know enough FX, animation, character art and overall illustration where management tags me to help out other teams. I honestly could spend a few months working on some of my atrophied skills and I could get a job in animation or FX - characters and concept art would take a little extra time.


    it's like that with most schools too

    i took a course in music production, and before going to school most of my experience was in music production also, but when i got out of school, they taught about enough topics that i was able to take a job in post-production audio for film and know enough to do the job and figure the rest out on the go.
  • greevar
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    greevar polycounter lvl 6
    It's a little more serious than just caveat emptor than some might think. The majority of these for-profit institutions cost a lot and they don't care if you have what it takes to make it in the field or even if they're teaching you what you need to know, just so long as you think that's what they're doing. They just know that federal aid is easy to get and is a fast way to make a lot of money and they don't care if you can even afford the loans. The first thing they push for when you enroll at one of these colleges is to get federal aid, because it's fast easy money. What they don't tell you is the huge risk you take by agreeing to these loans. If you can't or don't pay these loans back on time, it doesn't just ruin your credit, it destroys your entire life. You can't get government assistance ever again, you can't get a government job. They can garnish your wages, intercept your tax refunds, take away federal benefits (SSL and such), and they can sue you. You carry this huge black mark on your name that bars you from a great many opportunities for the rest of your life and they can make life a living hell. The for-profit schools don't care about that though, you're just an ATM to them.
  • low odor
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    low odor polycounter lvl 17
    "It's ridiculous because:

    1) You didn't pay for a successful career, you paid for an education. And you got it. It just turns out the education was shit. That's not fraud, that's a poor investment.

    2) Lots of people who went to AI and went on to have successful careers, getting the same shitty education that the people who didn't succeed received. Somehow they were defrauded because they failed?
    "
    touch
  • EarthQuake
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    greevar wrote: »
    It's a little more serious than just caveat emptor than some might think. The majority of these for-profit institutions cost a lot and they don't care if you have what it takes to make it in the field or even if they're teaching you what you need to know, just so long as you think that's what they're doing. They just know that federal aid is easy to get and is a fast way to make a lot of money and they don't care if you can even afford the loans. The first thing they push for when you enroll at one of these colleges is to get federal aid, because it's fast easy money. What they don't tell you is the huge risk you take by agreeing to these loans. If you can't or don't pay these loans back on time, it doesn't just ruin your credit, it destroys your entire life. You can't get government assistance ever again, you can't get a government job. They can garnish your wages, intercept your tax refunds, take away federal benefits (SSL and such), and they can sue you. You carry this huge black mark on your name that bars you from a great many opportunities for the rest of your life and they can make life a living hell. The for-profit schools don't care about that though, you're just an ATM to them.

    Hey, something I agree 100% with Greevar on, imagine that!

    Not only all of this, but the insane raise in tuition cost over the last 10-20 years, while wages have plateaued, its just ridiculous. $120K for a "game design" degree? FFS.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    greevar - they tell you all that stuff when you are getting the loan, I just have a feeling people just get so excited they just toss that pamphlet aside - maybe people will start being a little more fiscally responsible.

    My approach to loans are to plan for the worst, make sure you could afford to go a year without income.

    I do agree that tuitions have gotten stupid expensive - they've tripled in less than 10 years.
  • EarthQuake
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    greevar - they tell you all that stuff when you are getting the loan, I just have a feeling people just get so excited they just toss that pamphlet aside - maybe people will start being a little more fiscally responsible.

    Right, muttered under their breath between blantant lies about how they offer industry-level training and how everyone who graduates ends up getting a job.

    The problem is bigger than just "ohhh evil for profit universities" though, its the lack of education and understanding by students, and often times, parent's who just want to push their kids through college, but aren't looking at the larger repercussions.
  • greevar
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    greevar polycounter lvl 6
    greevar - they tell you all that stuff when you are getting the loan, I just have a feeling people just get so excited they just toss that pamphlet aside - maybe people will start being a little more fiscally responsible.

    My approach to loans are to plan for the worst, make sure you could afford to go a year without income.

    I do agree that tuitions have gotten stupid expensive - they've tripled in less than 10 years.

    I'm sure they don't point out all the consequences I listed when you apply for Federal Aid loans. They also don't care that you can't pay for it or they'd be trying to find you applicable scholarships and grants, but they don't. They only care about getting another student enrolled with an easy, fast source of money. It's irresponsible for an educational institution to not act in the student's best interest to determine if it's right for the student. Business or not, they have a responsibility to not put students in a position of such high risk. It's not like it's a car loan where you can just give back the car to absorb some of the debt. It's an education, there's nothing to surrender to pay off your loans. You're on the hook for 100% of the debt plus interest and nobody cares to establish if you can shoulder that much debt because the school risks nothing. If you default, they still get the money. They have nothing to lose by you taking on debt you can't realistically pay back.

    Let me repeat that: They have nothing to lose by selling you on a loan you can't bear.

    Screwing you over or helping you succeed, it doesn't matter. They still get paid. They risk nothing and you risk everything. That's the kind of damage these schools do to the desperate and naive. And they prey on these kinds of people intentionally.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    yeah, it's important to realize most people are probably lying to you or spinning the truth. It becomes easier to buy a car or house or negotiate a pay raise.

    Greevar: actually they had posters up on the walls at the financial aid office that spelled all that out with sad cartoon drawings of people who defaulted on their student loans.
  • ericdigital
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    ericdigital polycounter lvl 13
    I think part of the issue is your 18 and your looking to go to school and you see this awesome game design school whispering sweet nothings in your ear and suddenly the cost is irrelevant because your so pumped/naive. Its not really until the end of the program when you realize holy shit its a lot harder to get a job doing this then what I was led to believe. I think to an extent this could fall back to as far as the high schools needing to educate students more about there choices of colleges and the financial risk they may be taking.

    I know with Full Sail after a certain part in the program you couldn't back out and would have to pay the full tuition (around 40% through the program I think) which is at a point you still don't really understand what your getting into.

    I work at a studio down here in Miami and we look over a lot of portfolios from the art institute of ft lauderdale and it's such a bummer seeing some of the work that comes out of there and that they actually believe they can get a job with it.
  • DrunkShaman
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    DrunkShaman polycounter lvl 14
    passerby wrote: »
    or it could mean you the client (the Student) could have done there homework and research and figured out more about the school before applying.

    too many people expect to go to school and come out with companies throwing jobs at them. Well guess what thats not going to happen unless you put the effort in your self and the networking to get your self known and get the jobs.

    and it seems there are too many people taking courses expecting the course to make them awesome at game art with out putting in much effort, all over polycount you see that it is the people with the most drive that are making the best art, and getting the jobs. Not the people with the most education on the topic.

    Actually, many students would take the course just to get a credit. They dont really give a fuck about what goes around in the class as long as they keep up with the assignments and the labs submissions, because they either dont like paying attention in the class, or they are one chapter ahead of the actual course outline's pace. You are half right about people who have put soo much effort in their work, have found jobs. The rest is all about links and solid references of the people actually working in the Game Industry.

    Anyways, my point was, in college, you can not fully rely on the professors' lectures and all. You will have to do studies mostly on your own, even if you paid an over priced tuition fees, because at the very end all that matters is the certificate. So I dont see how can they be blamed for anything aside from over priced tuition fees. =\
  • [Deleted User]
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    [Deleted User] insane polycounter
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    Please separate "College" from Institute. Yes, I realize AI started offering "degrees", but that was only to get the students to stay longer and no University would accredit/recognize.
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    Nitewalkr wrote: »
    Actually, many students would take the course just to get a credit. They dont really give a fuck about what goes around in the class as long as they keep up with the assignments and the labs submissions, because they either dont like paying attention in the class, or they are one chapter ahead of the actual course outline's pace. You are half right about people who have put soo much effort in their work, have found jobs. The rest is all about links and solid references of the people actually working in the Game Industry.

    Anyways, my point was, in college, you can not fully rely on the professors' lectures and all. You will have to do studies mostly on your own, even if you paid an over priced tuition fees, because at the very end all that matters is the certificate. So I dont see how can they be blamed for anything aside from over priced tuition fees. =\

    i was more targeting the whole notion of people expecting jobs from getting a degree or some education, when networking, and having the drive to do the work are the most important factors, Which also means if your area going to go to school you really should be taken advantage of having like minded people around and try to networking with everyone there in case they end up being useful later on.
  • slipsius
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    slipsius mod
    Honestly, there is already so many bad things said about for-profit schools online. If you didn't do your research on a school before paying the truckload of tuition that they ask for, then you did it to yourself.... for-propit or not, a school is a school and you need to research ahead of time and find the right one for you....
  • Ferg
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    Ferg polycounter lvl 17
    slipsius wrote: »
    Honestly, there is already so many bad things said about for-profit schools online. If you didn't do your research on a school before paying the truckload of tuition that they ask for, then you did it to yourself.... for-propit or not, a school is a school and you need to research ahead of time and find the right one for you....

    So it's not the school's fault they lie and mislead students and parents... its the victim's fault for not assuming these school were lying to their face, and researching that assumption online, discarding all the propaganda articles and focusing on the articles about how the schools are lying to them.

    Reminds me of the "dressin' like that, she was just askin for it" response to a rape victim
  • slipsius
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    slipsius mod
    Every business and school is going to tell you they are the best, or that they`ll do certain things for you, just so you pick them. it happens everywhere. Hell, look at every single election campaign ever. Its up to you to make the right choices for yourself. its not so much the response of oh, dont dress like that and you wont get raped. its more like, dont dress like that and go to a registered sex offenders house for a sleep over.... if they have a bad rep, dont go with them. research research research. if I was going to pay that much for school, Im going to do a little research to see if its actually worth it... if theres any benefits for going there instead of somewhere cheaper.
  • TortillaChips
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    TortillaChips polycounter lvl 10
    Sounds like a pretty silly petition. I'm not sure if you can really complain if you graduated, it was obviously good enough for you to continue till the very end. If it does manage to gather a lot of signitures, I doubt they'll do anything about it. If it's anything like UK petitions they'll send out a reply in a year or so's time when you've forgotten all about it with a long drawn out "No".
  • Bibendum
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    Ferg wrote: »
    So it's not the school's fault they lie and mislead students and parents... its the victim's fault for not assuming these school were lying to their face, and researching that assumption online, discarding all the propaganda articles and focusing on the articles about how the schools are lying to them.

    Reminds me of the "dressin' like that, she was just askin for it" response to a rape victim
    This is more like having consensual sex with someone who sweet talked you into thinking s/he was "the one" and then calling it rape afterward because they turned out to be a douchebag.
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    Bibendum wrote: »
    This is more like having consensual sex with someone who sweet talked you into thinking s/he was "the one" and then calling it rape afterward because they turned out to be a douchebag.

    +1 ya more or less, still your fault though,
  • Ferg
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    Ferg polycounter lvl 17
    Bibendum wrote: »
    This is more like having consensual sex with someone who sweet talked you into thinking s/he was "the one" and then calling it rape afterward because they turned out to be a douchebag.

    Love the line of analogy we're in here. But I gotta disagree, unless you add them giving the victim VD after claiming they didn't have it, or something. People are promised a decent education to justify the high tuition, and they don't end up getting it. They consented to clean, honest sex, and ended up with herpes. And Slipsius would probably blame them for not looking up the person's medical records before sleeping with them, even though they promised they didn't have the herpes and even presented some faked proof to back up the claim.

    edit: I'm not saying they shouldn't have done more research, especially given the money involved. But saying "they did it to themselves" is insane. There's a sucker born every minute, and there will always be people trying to rip them off. But that doesn't mean the person ripping people off isn't still a thief and a liar.
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