Penn Foster - Healthcare Reviews

DO NOT GIVE THIS SCHOOL ANY OF YOUR MONEY. This school is absolutely terrible. They make you wait, wait, wait, and wait more. I've waited over three weeks for my proctor exams to be sent to me. I've waited over 20 days for a book to sent to me when I was already told it was shipped out. You call the school, you talk to the a representative on your student portal, no one knows anything. I asked for a breakdown of my 4th semester to be sent to my house because the discount seemed like it should be higher to me, they sent me my cost breakdown for the 1st semester. This college is full of a bunch of incompetent workers. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!! I wish I knew this prior. This school is nothing but a big headache that will add to your stress. YOU CANNOT CLAIM TAXES ON THIS SCHOOL EITHER!!!!!

At first, I wasn't going to submit a report on the school. But finding out they are now charging me money without sending my information off to the VA Is ridiculous. Do not attend this school. The work was really simple not really pertaining specifically to my field of practice. They are now charging me 500 dollars. If they would have sent my enrollment off to the Va I would of had money to send them. Financial aid and their va department sucks.

Completed the certificate in Health information management. Excellent. Now doing medical billing and coding diploma. The student services are excellent and the education you receive is very comprehensive. I possess a BS degree and over 25 years in health care field so I can say I have been pleased.

I started the Legal Transcription course for $1200, and they were taking $50 a month out of my bank account. Nearly the entire course was nothing but telling about the court system, which had nothing to do with learning the skill of Legal Transcription. Their tests allowed you to cheat: they would tell you everything you got wrong and then allow you to take it again so you would get a 100. The last four assignments were for actual Legal Transcription, and one of those was writing an essay about one field of law, which taught me nothing about Legal Transcription. So, three assignments were about LT, and for each one, I got the assignment back absolutely covered with red marks by someone showing me the hundred things I got wrong. Then, the course was over. I had been taught absolutely nothing about Legal Transcription. The only thing I was taught was that I knew nothing about Legal Transcription. Then, the course was over, and I can't get a job, I'm not going to even try, because what little I got to do, PennFoster scratched all over it that I was wrong on nearly everything. I was supposed to capitalize things that I didn't know I was. I wasn't supposed to capitalize things that I did. And I have no idea what thousands of words in a contract that I'm supposed to even capitalize, let alone write in any certain format or way. I wasted five months of my time studying about the court system, learning nothing about Legal Transcription, and they now want the rest of their $1200. It was a complete scam. They didn't even try to make a Legal Transcriptionist out of me. They simply took what was in their Paralegal Course, called it Legal Transcription, and they're raking in the dough, but giving nothing of value to anyone. I'm sad. I've since learned from the Consumer Protection Agency that Penn Foster is considered a "diploma mill".

THIS SCHOOL IS A RIP OFF. YEAH YOU LEARN THROUGH BOOKS HOW TO DO THE JOB BUT YOU GET NO HANDS ON TRAINING, NO HELP FINDING A JOB ONCE YOU GRADUATE, NO HELP WITH FINDING PLACES TO TAKE YOUR STATE BOARDS, OR CERTIFICATIONS. YOU PAY TO READ BOOKS AND WATCH ONLINE VIDEOS OF HOW TO THE CAREER YOU WANT WORKS. THIS SCHOOL SUCKS!!!

So, as I stated in my review of the Medical Billing and Coding Program for Ashworth College (I am still enrolled in that one), I was looking primarily for an inexpensive online CPC certification course that I would include medical terminology and anatomy. I got that with this program! Advisory for prospective enrollees: You have to know what you're getting into before you sign up and start the coursework. This is a for-profit school so while they are affording you with a low-up front cost and flexibility, you may feel you've lost out on the guidance and direction of a professor and that the program is not as thorough as you would like. Remember this is an online program designed to help you pass a test, not make you a proficient biller, coder or healthcare professional. Just with any other course you take, they can only teach you so much, you'll learn the rest in the real world. On to my review: The course material is presented in a way that's user-friendly and interactive! I wish I had signed up for this course BEFORE starting the Ashworth course but, nonetheless, it's awesome. The material is easily digested as it is broken down into colorful slides and grouped together in sections. Each lesson starts with a projection for the course of the lesson with an overview and review! I love my coursework and I feel I have learned more from my time at Penn Foster than I will with Ashworth. There is very little staff presence but, really, the program is set-up in a way that you shouldn't really need any in depth help. If you see yourself needing serious assistance perhaps you would benefit better from an instructor led virtual program or a classroom setting. (I have a list if you want it.) This course sets up a timeline for you and you can change it (they have an app that allows you make a graduation plan)! So it'll give you projected exam dates and lesson completion dates so that you can see by when you will have completed your program. BUT IF YOU EXPECT THAT YOU WILL FINISH THE PROGRAM BEFORE YOU HAVE MADE THE NECESSARY PAYMENTS YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE THE NECESSARY PAYMENTS BEFORE THEY WILL CONSIDER YOUR PROGRAM COMPLETED. It is self-paced but that is something to think about. You can pay $100 for extensions but if you need more than 17 months to complete this program, you may want to try a classroom. Also, I found that if you are in this program, the Ashworth program is a good aide and vice-versa. Being in the Ashworth program alone was not working. They presented too much info at one time but this one is spaced out so perfectly that you can supplement with lessons from a more intense program like Ashworth that isn't going to give you the WHY or HOW. Penn Fosters delivers good info in a way that makes it fun, almost lol. Now, the cons: So far, I don't see any except that maybe the exams do not cover as much information as I would like. Given we have about 8 sections in a lesson, and each section is about 15 slides, you would think they'd want to cover more material. I am happy that this course prepares you to sit for the AHIMA, NHA, or AAPC exam instead of just the NHA exam that Ashworth leads to. HOWEVER THIS COURSE DOES NOT INCLUDE THE EXAM FEE. You do receive a year membership into AAPC but your exam fee is an out of pocket expense. At the end of both courses I will have CBCS, CPC-A behind my name! And that is really what this is all for!

Lousy is an understatement. This school is basically a mill for cvs and Walgreens. If you really want to learn to be a tech, you should find a real school who's only affiliations are not just retail. This low class ghetto so called school could not teach the aspects needed to garner a real job. So if you are happy earning 25K a year with no hope for promotion, this is your school, if you have higher more lofty goals then find a real school.

This is the worst school I have ever attended. The "teachers" are graders, they don't actually design the coursework. There is a lot of filler, work that is similar for many of the degrees, that has nothing to do with the content you want; ie, if I wanted to learn how to write or learn MS Office, I would have taken the course for them. The material is not that up-to-date. They encourage you to use tutoring because it is cheaper for them. "Teachers" simply grade and give no guidance at all. I was so frustrated, I wrote a passage in the PF community, and no one bothered to answer it until a month later. I started another course but cancelled it because of the same concerns. I had thought, how bad could it be? Well, I got my answer, worse than I anticipated. If you can afford it, but anywhere but PF. There are many free courses on the Internet that are better. I tried to call administration to air my concerns, but Corinne, who you are supposed to call, is conveniently never in her office. I can't wait until I get the h*** out of there.

I was trying to add more to my bachelors degree and trying to get this diploma but I was mislead and made to think this was a right choice in completing this course. But in reality it was just trying to get a sale and I was in their trap. I got job interviews and people always asked do you have a license to get this job and I would say no because I was made to believe that I was making a right choice but reality I was just giving away money. But reality they tell you what you want to hear, they did an amazing job making me look like a dunce.

The prices and payment plans for this school are very reasonable. Especially with the economical climate as it is. The curriculum is easy to follow, only downfall is I wish they would send the next shipment in a more timely manner. Sometimes I had to take a break just to wait for the next shipment.

But overall I completed what was supposed to be a 9 month course in 4 months. I loved the fact that you could work at your own pace and the online library was available as were instructors if needed. Overall a pretty good experience and much more cost efficient then going to a physical campus would have been. I only wish I had read the faqs beforehand to realize that even though I am done with my course I will not get my diploma until my account it paid in full. To me that is reasonable, it was my oversight.