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Virginia College Reviews

  • 117 Reviews
  • Multiple Locations
  • Annual Tuition: $22,600
47% of 117 students said this degree improved their career prospects
32% of 117 students said they would recommend this school to others
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Student & Graduate Reviews

Aleeta Collins
  • Reviewed: 4/14/2013
  • Degree: Business
"Getting a degree doesn't help with employment. I graduate next month and employers don't seem to be interested in an Associates Degree from VCO. I attempted to transer my credits to an on campus university and literally not one credit was transferable. Considering the classes are going to be some of the same ones I am now going to have to repeat, surprised me. The actual classes and instructors were really good at VCO, but don't expect to transfer credits or have employers look at it as if you went to a "real" school. Their financial aid office also takes weeks to get back to you if you start in the Spring because they only have one person working FA during that time for some reason. Overall, it is money you have to pay back with no help for your future. I have been on the President's List every semester, so I'm still hopeful. P.S. If you want help with employment, go directly to the ground campus. The online employment search is associated with the school, but is not run by the school nor anyone who works for it. It's no different than going to Careerbuilder. Good Luck"
Ashly
  • Reviewed: 3/4/2013
  • Degree: Office Management
"From the very beginning I have had an amazing amount of trouble with this school. They are almost impossible to get on the phone you just leave messages with people who never get back to you. When I was trying to enroll I wanted to do the Accounting program but the admission lady I spoke with convinced me that it was a horrible program and I should just do Office Management. When I told her no she assured me that I could change my program later if I was still sure. From there it became a nightmare in the financial department. They had me enrolled before they even found out if I would be covered by financial aid. A month into my first 3 courses is when they called and said I still owed some money. I covered the debt because I was already started. They didn't give me a choice. In the middle of the year I asked to be reduced to one class for the term because I was working full time and my company is very busy during the summer. It took me 3 weeks to talk to someone about my courses. I sent numerous emails and made at least 2 calls a day only to find out my student adviser had quit shortly after I was enrolled. Instead of reducing my course load they increased it and then suspended me because I could not keep up. They still charged me for the classes that I had only been in for 2 weeks even though I didn't sign up for them. I completely gave up on Virgina College and tried to get my transcripts but I could not reach anybody. I left messages and sent emails but the only call I got back was from a collection agency telling me I owed over $2000 to the school on top of what I owe for my student loans.Now I can't go to any school because Virginia College swindled me. They are nothing but a bunch of cons from Alabama."
Day
  • Reviewed: 10/16/2012
"Save yourself the headache and trouble. I just enrolled this quarter and now I regret it. You never know anything about you funding and if everything as far as classes were covered unless you look into it yourself. I was enrolled in three classes by them and come to find out on my own i was only covered cost wise for two so when i called them and asked them about it they gave me the run around and later i discovered that they dropped me from one class. They didnt even bother to call me about it first and the sad part was that it was a class i worked the hardest in and i had just completed a assignment for and did all the discussion work for. It really upset me how they do business and to be honest I dont even want to continue going to this sorry school. I am now researching other school because I am indeed going to transfer."
Cara A Nahabedian
  • Reviewed: 9/19/2012
  • Degree: Criminal Justice
"I am about to graduate the criminal justice program. I found it very convient. However do not get me wrong even through it was convient to take the classes with my schedule; I found the class extremely challenging and informitive with the current state of our criminal justict system in all its aspects."
Pepper
  • Reviewed: 8/22/2012
  • Degree: Medical Office Administration
"After wasting time and money at another school, I was reassured by the advisors and financial aid department that I was on the right track.I started off as a full-time student or so I thought. After the third 11 week term I was switched without my knowledge to a part-time student. Because they put me at part-time student it push me from finishing an AA degree in 2 years to finishing in 3.5 years.When I had a medical issue that almost cost me my life and needed time to recover and needed medical leave, I was told that there was no medical leave that I would have to withdrawal from school and then reapply. I knew that was not an option for me, so along with fight for my life, I continued my classes. When I was not able to complete a final in one of those classes because I was in a surgery, (they had all the paperwork to prove it), I appealed the decision that stated that I could not take the test after the class was closed. I got a zero on the final and just barely passed the course.After talking to my advisor I was informed that I was getting yet another "new" advisor. Each term you get a new advisor, you never have the same one each term. To me it is too much.Then each term it started to be problems with financial aid. Now it is problems with teachers that can't teach.So in the long run, the problem with Virginia College... THEY ONLY WANT MONEY. They could care less if you are fighting for your life, have no money to give, and your teacher has no formal teaching in the subject that they are teaching you.Before you spend your money with this school, find other schools and ask them questions that you think maybe stupid, but may happen later in life."
billie
  • Reviewed: 8/17/2012
  • Degree: Business
"This site says tuition is 12,000 thats is not correct with interest I am going to be paying almost 30,000. They make you pay for courses that are learning about online and their school. Why should I have to pay for a class that has nothing to do with what I am going for. I wanted to take just one term off so I had time to get married and they made me drop out then said I had to pay to get reenrolled. Plus they dropped me from full time student to part time without my knowledge."
Misty Boyd
  • Reviewed: 8/6/2012
"I have been lied to just to get my money ... I enrolled in the diagnostic sonography program to find out mid-semester when I finally received paperwork in the mail that they had me in the wrong courses. I then found out that they didn't even offer the program I wanted in my area. They got my first semester's tuition & I now I am STILL sorting out all of the mess to try and get into a new college that DOES offer the correct program. I wasn't told that NONE of the credits from Virginia College transfer ANYWHERE! What a crock! BEWARE!!!!!! Do not throw your money away here!"
Lisa
  • Reviewed: 6/13/2012
"I enrolled in April 2009. I did everything I needed to stay in good standards in my courses. All went well until my Financial Aid became an issue from signing forms to finding out that they processed it to get all the government's money every session and not bill me (my part). So now I am blocked out of class every two weeks because of a balance due. When I inquired about this, I was told that for the last four session I would need to pay over $1200.00 in order to stay in school. Tell me who can pay that type of expense and survive with times being as they are. I would not had a problem paying it just spread it out over each session would you think. Only thing I can say is "IF YOU WANT TO BE SCREWED AND PAY THE COST OF IT. VIRGINIA COLLEGE ONLINE IS FOR YOU! You never will know what your graduation date is because it keeps changing. Costly lesson!"
Michelle Ott
  • Reviewed: 5/25/2012
  • Degree: Law
"I have attended Virginia College for 3 1/2 years. The Associates program for Paralegal Studies was somewhat easy but most Associates Degrees are not on the hard side. I graduate and continued on for my Bachelors Degree in Paralegal Studies. The curriculum is completely different. Your electives are always going to be on the easy side but my law classes demand a lot of studying and complete attention. If you do not know your stuff there is no way that you are going to pass the Bachelors Program. Yes, I have spent a lot of money to attend this college but I get to do it in the privacy of my own home and whatever time fits my schedule. I don't have to drive anywhere (which costs money in itself) and I can work a normal job without having issues with classes. The course work have almost tripled for my Bachelors Degree and the tests are never repeats. I have been to a community college where I have a different associates degree which was just as easy as Virginia College the only difference was at that time I had to take all night course drive 45 minutes to get there. An Associates Degree is better than no degree but if you really want to have a job making more money you need at least your Bachelors. If Virginia College wasn't any good I would not have been able to pass my certification for a Paralegal which is an extremely hard test. I have had issues with two instructors but you are going to find that anywhere. Mostly every instructor is there to help you succeed and I will be done in December with my Bachelors Degree. Yes I have a lot of money in student loan debt but it is no more than if I went to a huge University. I have enjoyed my time at Virginia College and it has prepared me for my field."
cindy
  • Reviewed: 5/23/2012
"Very easy courses tuition is to expensive.They ask for students to pay as little as ten dollars towards their tuition and they turn around send it back to you. The stipends checks are slow three to five hundred dollars."
Tieannaca
  • Reviewed: 5/21/2012
  • Degree: Law
"Since I have started with VC online which has been since 2010 I have had many many problems with the financial department and over all the call center that take students calls, they continuely give out wrong information on student accounts from wrong postings to losing funds from careless mistakes on their part these errors have cost me my home and car and has made education from them a learning pain. I wouldn't recommand this to no one and if wasn't for the fact I'm due to graduate in the winter I would have been transfered to another school."
Harry Ford
  • Reviewed: 1/17/2012
"Do you want a huge student loan? Do you want your resume thrown in the garbage? Do you want to laughed at? Then go to a "for profit" university."
Lacee
  • Reviewed: 12/21/2011
"When I graduated highschool I saw the VC website and I was impressed with the way the school sounded and after talking to a rep from the school, I was impressed by the "fact" that the administration cared about the students and their education. I could not have been more wrong! What they neglect to tell you is that you once you begin VC, if you decide that you want to transfer, the majority of your classes will not transfer. That being said, if you transfer you practically have to start completely over and take the classes that you have already taken. They also tell you about their wonderful job placement. My program director came into my criminal law class to lecture us on how the job placement for paralegal students is (as of 12/2011) only 30%!!!! That is horrible and unacceptable on the administration's part! I will graduate in March 2012. My program director had completed 10 schedules as of October 2011. When I went in to see her in October to get my schedule for the next term I told her how excited that I am to be in my last semester and I also told her that an Attorney that I knew was going to let me start my extern with him in 3 days. You are required to do an extern your last semester. She informed me that I was not in my last semester because I had more classes to take than were allowed per 1 semester. Since I signed up with VC my graduation date has always been December 2011. She then told me that I could not do my extern this term and that I was going to have to attend class until March 2012. Her excuse was that she had just casually forgot those other 4 classes! I told her that my last day at my job was in a week and I had to go to work for the Attorney. The Attorney was waiting on my extern to start to hire me. The Program Director's reply was "You're welcome! You can still work for the Attorney, and you don't have to pay us for it since it's not an extern." I finally got my schedule straight, by adding the extra term. The fall term ended 2 weeks ago so it was time to get my last schedule. The Program Director completed my schedule and told me what my classes were, after 1 week of me emailing and calling her. I asked her several times if she was sure that all my classes are on the schedule and none were forgotten. She assured me that they were all there. I checked the catelog and found another class was left off. Again, her response was that she had forgotten it. This would have made me go until June 2012. I was told that it was fixed twice by her. It was not fixed so I called again and was told to contact the registar to have her put in the class. She went several days without returning my calls then told me that it would be on my schedule the next morning. Of course, it was not. I called the corporate office and filed a formal complaint then called the registar again. She told me that she had other things to do and did not have time to correct my schedule. Once I told her that I would just call corporate back and add it to my complaint, she had it fixed in 5 minutes. When you pay your tuition the Westlaw program is included in that fee. It is a very expensive neccessity to paralegal studies. There are still students that are graduating this term that have never had it. I went to the program director about the lack of Westlaw about 75% through my courses and asked her about it. I got absolutely no where with her, so I talked to some of the teachers about it. They told me to go to the dean and let her know. I went to the dean, who at first refused to speak to me. She was livid that I had even brought the issue to her! Her excuse was that she school didn't have the money for Westlaw. When I asked her where the money that we pay for Westlaw was, she said that it was used for other things. Why do we pay for Westlaw if the money is not being used for it. The best thing about VC has to be the Teachers. They are very knowledgable about the subjects that are being taught and are very nice. The Financial Planning Dept. is also a good thing about the school. They are on top of things as they schould be and are very easy to work with. The Administration is a completely different story. They are rude, careless, and extremely unorganized. Your program director should NEVER forget classes! If you are considering VC please reconsider! It is a huge and very costly mistake. If you do attend VC constantly check your schedule against the catelog and do not take the word of your program director."
Lisa
  • Reviewed: 12/13/2011
"I'm into my second year with vco. I've had nothing but good experiences with my classes, teachers, and administration. I would recommend vco to anyone looking for an online program that's worth the money."
Ryan
  • Reviewed: 12/11/2011
"I just finished my classes at Virginia College Online this week. My degree was an Associates of Science in Criminal Justice. When I first started classes here in 2009, the school seemed to be similar to what my expectations were of it. The intro courses were relatively easy but still took a lot of time and patience as well as self-motivation to succeed. Right from the start I realized that online schooling is more difficult than on campus schooling because you are essentially learning completely on your own. Sometimes just a simple question that you might have could take days before it is answered which is very frustrating especially when you need to turn your work in. Most of the professors were very good and covered a lot of material in a short period of time. There are a couple of professors that I did have that were extremely rude and only gave their students negative feedback every single week. It is almost as though they were comparing your knowledge to theirs which is completely unacceptable. These same professors where very hard to receive a good grade from as well. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and in those classes with difficult teachers that were rude, I barely broke a 70 in their courses. Furthermore, they did not relate to my e-mails and simply did not care about their students. When I complained to the school about the professors, the school contacted the Dean of Criminal Justice who then in turn contacted me and pretty much told me that I was lying. Although I was very irritated and frustrated with the way the situation was being handled, I sucked it up and finished school so that I could move on with my degree in hand. Other professors however seem to care very much for their students and take a great deal of pride in how their students feel about them and their professionalism. With my experienced with VCO, I noticed that their courses involve an immense amount of writing and research papers. I had atleast one or two 15-25 page research paper due every semester that proved to be very overwhelming at times especially when working a full time job. The amount of research papers the school pushes on to you almost makes it so that you are not learning but rather simply researching. At times this also proved to be frustrating. Also, they are expensive when compared to community college. I owe $36,000 for a 2 year degree, so you do the math. Overall, the school is just another college. You get out of it what you put in to it. There are going to be good teachers and bad teachers as well as good days and bad days. Just prepare yourself for a lot of time spent in front of the computer and a lot of energy spent researching."
blah!!!!
  • Reviewed: 12/5/2011
"I hate to say, I have only been attending VC for six months and may have done the research a little late. VC is accredited through ACICS which means that credits will not transfer to any other college other than another VC or Phoenix. After talking with some of the instructors, they agree that the college is a joke. Their degrees aren't worth the paper they're printed on. I contacted some other reputatable colleges and they say that in most cases they turn down students just for attending VC, and the same goes for many employers who only laugh at the fact of VC on your resume. For those of you who are attending this college, think about it. The classes are far to easy to be a real college level class, thats because classes are designed so that everyone passes."
Amanda
  • Reviewed: 10/17/2011
"I started going to VCO in Nov of 2010, here it is in Oct of 2011 and I am in my 4th term with a 3.75 GPA. The classes are easy,and I am not one to say I like school. I would recommend this school to anyone looking to go back to school online."
Maureen Emberson
  • Reviewed: 6/30/2011
"I have been a student at VC Online for 2 years and I have had nothing but good experiences with it. I originally went for an Associate's Degree in Healthcare Reimbursement but halfway thru decided to change my major to Medical Office Administration. I have had no problems switching majors and the staff have been extremely helpful and nice with every question that I have had. The tution is higher than a local community college but I also believe that the classes are more informative and in-depth. The old saying applies here...You get what you pay for!!!"
TRIKENA MCGLOSTER
  • Reviewed: 4/29/2011
"I HAVE READ THESE AWFUL REVIEWS AND I AM SO SORRY PEOPLE HAVE HAD SUCH AWFUL EXPERIENCES. I,ON THE OTHER HAND ATTENDED VC,GOT MY DEGREE , AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING IN MY FIELD MAKING GOOD MONEY SINCE THEN. THE TUITION IS HIGH BUT, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO PAY THEN GO TO A COMMUNITY COLLEGE. THE REVIEWS AS FAR AS ACCREDITATION IS CORRECT AND I AM WORKING WITH THE LOCAL CC TO GET MY CLASSES TAKEN BY THEM...FINGERS CROSSED"
Who Cares
  • Reviewed: 4/25/2011
"your financial planner told you that you needed to take out student loans it's because Pell grant only pays about $4500 a year. That doesn't cover tuition anywhere. Also, you signed a statement saying that you would take out student loans and agreed to the pay back conditions before you even started class. NO SCHOOL can lie to you about funds and still recieve federal funding. This is because you HAVE to sign approval for EVERYTHING by FEDERAL LAW! NO school will promise to transfer credits and VC has at least 3-4 documents that YOU sign approving that. I have attended both a major University and VC and it was the same. If you start a class and drop it after the drop/add date then you owe the money to the school! What do you think? These schools work for free?! We are all adults and should act as such. Pay attention when you are investing in something so serious. From what I can tell those of you that have complaints are just ignorant and then try to put the blame off on someone else...just like the American way!"