Virginia College Reviews

"they are rip off I have finished 2 years till now I have not found a job and they never till me how much I owe when I went to school everytime I call for where is my statement for my loan they keep saying the department of education will give away statement when I finished school so I let the go I was stupid I should called the department of education about that. When I finished I got the letter that I owed too much money from the school I am curious why I owe $15,000 for worthless degree I tried to go back to school in Lawson and all of them are not creditable. This is crazy and now I am in debt. So please anyone do not let that happen to you you will end up in debt."

"I read through a lot of these reviews and found them all extremely interesting. It's not my job to sell this school, but I think it's important to really read them and see what people are saying. I think that one that frustrated me the most, was the one that said VC is not accredited. They are accredited. Their prices are the same as every other online school. yea, they're more expensive than a Community College or a University, but HELLO those schools are subsidized by the Government!! Of course they're cheaper! Part of what you're paying for is the convenience. The instructors... are not their to baby you. This is college level work. If you don't understand the work, then yes e-mail them, and I have found they get back to you within 3 days. this is a big school and sometimes there are miscommunications. If you have a problem, see what you can do first, then run it up the ladder. Problems with getting your transcripts in... Did you read any of the paperwork you signed that explains that you need your unofficial paperwork in for transcripts to officially transfer? this is a great school, but like ALL SCHOOLS, they're not going to do everything for you."

"I am currently a student at VCO. I have completed 7 classes and I feel it is a bit too expensive for what you get. The instructors seem to know the subject material but the material is really too easy for college level classes. I was charged for books I did not receive until half way through the classes. Like I said the material is easy so there was no need for the books. They are very disorganized. Good luck getting any straight answers from anyone they just like to pass the buck. I am not a person that complains so I just want everyone to know that this college is not worth the money. I do enjoy the interaction with other students that is probably why I have stayed. I hope this post will help others make an informed choice about VCO."

"I am a current student at VCO. Most of my courses at VCO I have had no problems with. When I started at VCO one of the questions I asked was if all the instructors had a phone number to contact if there was a problem I needed solved. I was assured they did. I just finished my second term and I ran in to a problem with one of my Criminal Justice course this man is the worse instructor I have ever had. His instructions for assignments were to vaige and if you sent him an e-mail to clarify he would tell you to do the work as it says. I had a problem where one of my quizzes didn't post it took him 7 weeks to get the quiz reset so I could take it again. I requested in the 3rd week to be transferred out of his class. Admissions agree to transfer me to a different class. I had to go all the way up the admissions food chain to get them to agree. Then the registration department say I had to stay in his class and I was not nice about it at all. I was really mad about it. My admissions adviser was great she really tried to help. But my student adviser sucked. she had taken this instructors course and liked so she was not really to help me it got so bad I quit dealing with her and would only deal with my Admissions Adviser. I DO NOT RECOMMENDED this school!!!"

"When I first enrolled they told me that my credits will transfer but it didn't. If your trying to further your degree into Bachelors program then VC isn't for you. Your credits don't transfer only to VC online or Devry. VC online is $369 a credit hour!! Before its said and done you will be oweing about $70,000 on a four year degree, that's crazy."

"I was enrolled at VC Online for a year, but withdrew because I didn't feel I was learning anything. I received the books, was told read chapters ##-## and post to discussions. I can self teach a lot cheaper than this.I received over $13000 in financial aid, and was just informed that I owed $300 (tuition was on $11000, and informed after I decided to transfer). Now for my new school I cannot get my transcripts so I have basically given $13000 to VC Online. Please reconsider going here, you will probably regret it."

"I had been going to VC since June 2007. I was enjoying taking classes from them up until the fall quarter of 2008. First, I keep getting letters about receiving assistance from the military due to I am a Veteran. I haven't been using any of my military money because I had a student loan. Next, I had enrolled for my spring quarter, and when I went to log in for those classes I couldn't get in. Now this is 1 wk after winter quarter has ended. At that time that is when I called, and was told I was dropped due to my GPA. Mine you I was never told or talked to about my grades. They said I was sent a letter two days before the new quarter begain. To this day, I still have not receive a letter. Also, every time you call to talk to your advisor it is a different person and they can't tell you anything because they don't even know what is going on. I would not recommend for you to go to this school."

"I was attending VCO a short time ago, and it was nothing but problem after problem. I got married right a week after enrolling, and prior to this I was told I would have no problem changing it over once I did, which is why I enrolled. SO the counselor tells me all I have to do is fax over a copy of the marriage certificate and a copy of my license or ID, I said ok thats fine. So I fax it and call them she says yes we got them but we needed a color exact copy of your license, which she failed to tell me the first time. Mind you it costs about $15 to do this, I know its not a lot of money but for someone who just got married and has kids the budget was really tight at the time. So I say no big deal I'll do it when I get the chance and have the extra money. My next issue was with my transcript. I was told all I had to do was fax over my transcripts and they would take care of the rest...seems easy enough right? WRONG!! I call a few hours later, and they didn't get them yet she told me call tomorrow, so I did and they still didn't get them. So I gave them a few days to give them the benefit of the doubt. They STILL hadn't got them!! SO the next day I fax them again and spend more money doing so. I call them and of course they didn't get them! SO I tell her listen I just took a course that I already took and I'm about to take three more classes that I already took so if you haven't got them by now I'm not going to waste more of my time and money. I already have problems with my loans and financial aid because you people couldn't update my files with my married name and my financial aid is already updated, so if you could please just drop me from all my courses it will be better off for all of us. Funny thing is she puts me on hold and about 10 minutes later gets back on the phone and says we have your transcripts in the file but we need the official ones mailed....I got so mad at her I just freaked out! I was like listen you told me I had to FAX them to you, never once did you say anything about mailing them...its amazing how you just magicly found them after I complained. I said you just lost a student and you don't need to help me drop courses, now I'll let the two weeks pass and be automatically dropped from them, no need for you to do what you get PAID to do...then I hung up on her. I was soooo mad! So anyways, I never got a call back...I think shes scared LOL!! But I got a bill in the mail saying I owe them $1000 which is total BS because I only took TWO courses and had financial aid...just another person I'm going to have to yell at obviously!!! AHHH the battle continues!!"

"All I can say is that this school is terrible! They ran through the paperwork and after 3 quarters there, they dropped me and told me that I owe them 2,000 dollars! DO NOT GO HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I am working on my associate's degree and no one seems to care at this school once they receive all of your financial aid. They have had several teacher quit midterm, web site problems and no one seems to know what is going on with the new system. Also I can find no one who will accept the school's credits, so I am stuck with a big bill for nothing."

"This is my last year attended, but this has been a very bumpy road. When you make contact by phone no one can assist you, but when you owe them money you can always get the information you need to where to send the money. I've been here for two years and just found out this year that I had an advisor. Now that is very sad."

"My problem was VCO letting me take the classes my employer approved. My employer will only pay for classes that apply to my job. VCO told me I needed to take certain classes the first two quarters. I did not know my employer would not pay for the classes I took last quarter because they did not approve, and now I have to reimburse my employer for last quarter, which will come out of my paycheck. VCO told me that they had policies and procedures, and that I needed to take certain subjects this quarter. My employer will only pay for what is approved, and I do not want to reimburse my employer. I would pay cash if I had it to avoid this frustration. The school tells you that they will take tuition assistance from an employer, but then they tell you the courses you can take. My instructors were helpful and I enjoyed the classes."

"This school is an absolute nightmare in my opinion. If you have any administrative issues whatsoever, you will never experience such frustrating, ignorant, incompetent individuals in your entire life. You can e-mail as many student services advisors as you want, even the dean of students, and NO ONE WILL RETURN YOUR CALLS OR ANSWER YOUR E-MAILS. I have taken 6 classes with this school....what a waste!!! I must say, however, that every professor I had was extremely diligent in answering questions and being involved with their class. However half of the time, the school's system isn't running properly and you can't log into classes at crucial times, or you'll hire a proctor that they require to take placement exams and you'll get online and the links for the exams won't even be there on the site! You'll then call to try to rectify the situation, it will take 2 weeks to get a hold of anyone competent enough to fix the problem, and then just when you think the problem is fixed and you go to take the exam again, the link is STILL NOT THERE. This is a just an example of a few minor problems that have surfaced. For me to get into my entire experience with this school would take two years and require me to write a novel. Here's my advice....stay FAR away from this school!!! You will never be as frustrated with anyone in your entire life as you will be with their faculty."

"I agree with some of the previous posts. Many of my professors have been responsive and assist me in a timely manner. I have had several though that don't respond until 2 weeks later & seem like they have more things to do besides help you. Not to mention, they make excuses when they do not meet your questions or concerns adequately. If you have a technical or financial issue, good luck on getting any help at all. Trying to call and get in contact with anyone for anything is difficult, if not impossible. You have to call or be transferred several times to get someone who can actually assist you with the issues you have. Many of the staff you attempt to call do seem unorganized, ignorant, and just incredibly rude when you finally do get someone. While I am almost done with my courses for my degree, this whole process has been so incredibly frustrating, irritating, and aggravating. I highly recommend looking elsewhere for online courses. I am not sure if all online courses are this hideous and unorganized, but it is terrible if you have taken on campus classes before and try to deal with the staff at this college."

"Hello everyone. I just finished with the summer quarter. It was exhausting, but I made it. My keyboarding instructor was amazing between the two of us we got the job done. The email were on point. When I would send her an email it would not be long before I would receive a response. I passed this class and I am excited. I had to take it for the second time. It was not because I did not know the material. It was because I did not have the proper software for this class so I was told. I sat here and watched my grade go down the tubes. I did not do that this time. The school provided us with a temporary file in order to get through the class. I don't know if the rest of the class benefited from that software but I know I did. I practically went from an "F" to a high "B" overnight. I was up day and night trying to get my grade to come. I spent most of the semester trying to figure out why I could not do most of my assignments. I had to keep calling tech support and GDP. I believe I stayed on the phone with them most of the semester but it payed off. I am just about ready to wrap up my associates program up in a bag. I am working on my last year of school. I plan to go back in for the B.S. degree. It is too far away to tell right now. It depends on how I feel when I am done. My decision will be based off of two factors. My student account and my home life.My ultimate goal for this degree will be to enter into the AIT program and work on getting my nursing home administrators license. We will keep our fingers crossed."

"This is overall a good school. Most professors are great, and some are truly exceptional in terms of caring about individual students and their learning. There are a handful of professors who could care less about their jobs as teachers, though, and unfortunately, as someone else has said, you will definitely have that professor again if they are teaching within your major. Classes are usually the same average difficulty, although there are those classes where half the students fail (usually taught by one of the above horrible professors), or classes that could be taken with your eyes closed. I can't say if the classes are as challenging as other universities, though, because this is the only college I have attended. But the math and science departments are very difficult and most likely as rigorous as any other liberal arts school. The campus is small, so you'll always see a familiar face (which could be a blessing or a curse depending on how you see it). You will definitely meet people (even local students) who hate the surrounding town, so if you can't find ways to amuse yourself, or become severely depressed without malls or theaters to make it through a week, then a more urban college is certainly a better idea. Most people here -are- cliquish, because most are locals who attend with the same group of friends from high school. Many are from other areas of Virginia, though, and most people are relatively friendly. A word of advice: Don't cheat! This school is hyperfocused on cheating. Just the thought of cheating will almost send you to the "Honor Court," which almost certainly means expulsion, or if your lucky, suspension and a failed class. Overall, as long as prestige isn't a factor, this is a good school to choose. Small (usually 15-25 people a class), average difficulty classes, semi-friendly students, and 95% of the professors are helpful and friendly."

"I took classes online with VCO. The course work was ok, however, the majority of the students did not seem prepared for college level work. This created extra work when placed into forced group assignments. There were many who either did not participate at all but still got the grade of those that did the work; or the ones who did participate but not at college level thus bringing down the grade of others in the group. Then there is the policies...they change them without giving any notice - no postings, emails or anything. When you are trying to utilize a program and have started the registration for it only to have it removed without any notice that it was going to be removed and no appeal process, leaves a bad feeling.The professors were ok but always seemed to have other things to do and many were not responsive to email within a reasonable time to enable completion of work assignments."