Western Governors University — Attraction in Millcreek

I want to share the story of how my career was abruptly derailed by Western Governors University (WGU), leaving me without work since March 2024. On March 21st, I was terminated from my position. This occurred just 15 days after I participated in a Title IX meeting with three women from the Title IX office. The meeting was the result of a civil rights complaint filed by a student in January 2024, who accused me of discrimination.

As a remote worker, I had no access to personal information such as mental health conditions, which is not allowed to be posted in our CRM. The complaint stemmed from a call in which the student expressed frustration over missing transcripts and course requirements. While I was the only Enrollment Counselor who was able to provide him accurate information, locate his transcripts and merge his records—he was unhappy with the process. He requested a new enrollment counselor and claimed I was not treating him fairly. Without a manager involved, I was actively trying to figure out who I could turn to for support in handling this difficult situation.

One particularly troubling aspect of this case is that WGU claimed the recording of this call—something that should have been automatically saved—was unavailable. During the Title IX meeting, I was asked why the recording wasn’t found, as if I should have known. Recordings are entirely out of my control, and I still don’t know why it wasn’t accessible. This raised immediate suspicions.

Following that call, I sent the student an email explaining the transition to his new counselor, apologized for his frustrations, and wished him well. Laid out the framework for what to expect and tried to help to the best of my ability. The student responded with accusations, suggesting we were incompetent and that I was making his life difficult on purpose. He insinuated that I was a “racist bigot” and even questioned my literacy. At that point, I believed he was simply being narcissistic and indifferent to the emotions of others, given how he was speaking to me. It was only then that the student disclosed he has autism.

During the Title IX meeting, the focus seemed solely on the student’s complaints, with little concern for how these unfounded accusations affected my professional reputation. I felt cornered by the line of questioning, and after the meeting, I immediately reported my concerns to my supervisor, noting that it seemed like my termination was already decided.

I voiced my fears to my supervisor immediately after the Title IX meeting, I told him I will have to lawyer up and try and get some legal counsel on this issue. I told him that I would be terminated based on the student’s erroneous claims and how one sided the Title IX meeting was. Despite assurances that I would receive follow-up on the meeting and next steps, I heard nothing. What followed was an unjust termination, apparently designed to avoid dealing with the student’s legal threats. All of which he made clear in the email thread.

To add insult to injury, I asked multiple times in emails for clarification on where I had supposedly been disciplined. As was mentioned during the termination surprise meeting on my calendar. I wanted to know on what occasions these warnings occurred, as the statement was outrageous. I had never received any formal warning, disciplinary action, suspension, probation or even a conversation about my conduct. I had always maintained professional standards in my role, and the only feedback I ever received was about being more empathetic and not getting too caught up in the motions that we don’t acknowledge every student differently and knowing when to switch from email to verbal communication with students. Anyone who works in Admissions in Higher Education can tell you the work can be monotonous and repetitive yet I am always striving to make every student feel like an individual rather than a number.

They’ve locked me out of everything, I’ve been out of work since March 2024. No insurance, no income to pay for medications, job search is a joke....

Overall my experience with WGU has been comparable to other online programs with the exception of their proctoring process. When testing you have to have a proctored exam in certain courses (someone monitoring you visually through video with audio, who are NOT educational professionals like your professor or anyone within the school itself) and the proctoring entities, the 3rd party agencies that WGU contracts, have ruined the education process at this school. They are nit picky, argumentative, rude, and make the testing process frustrating, stressful, and leave students questioning if WGU is hindering the education process by using testing policies and contractors that create uneccessary hurdles for students. When I voiced my concerns and complaints to the assessment department, the WGU employee cited "it's policy in the student handbook" in which I would argue that the policies need to be adjusted to adapt to student needs and keep WGU competitive with other educational entities. I have outlined below my personal frustrations with the proctoring process and these have been building throughout my MBA program. I am 1 term from graduation and seriously debating on transferring to a university that is more capable of supporting student success.

(My specific issues are; 1- The proctor after a 360 degree view of my living room demanded I do the load of laundry on my coffee table before testing. This in my opinion is an inappropriate request and does not hinder my ability to test as my desk area was away from the cursid load of laundry. 2- Your proctor will not allow you to read questions, quietly or loudly for that matter, to yourself when testing, EVEN THOUGH you are required to test in an environment where you are the only person in that environment.Thus eliminating your ability to read the question to someone else or cause a distraction to other students. With the video and audio monitoring the proctor can also assure you are not reading the question to a device that would respond, therefore I do not see an issue with a student reading a question to themselves. 3- You are not allowed to wear headphones plugged into your testing computer to hear the proctor as they speak, EVEN THOUGH they have FULL access to your computer and can verify that the audio jack is being used on that device and solely for the purpose of focusing on your test. No other applications are allowed to be open and they verify that there are none through task manager inspection on your computer. 4-You are not allowed to use BLANK piece paper for calculations on math tests, you have to use a white dry erase board or nothing. EVEN THOUGH the white dry erase board and blank white piece of paper are equivalent in their purpose during the testing process. Heck might as well laminate your piece of paper prior to testing and call it a white board. The proctor monitors your desk area the entire time through video and audio monitoring, so if there was an integrity issue it would appear the same on either the paper or dry erase board. 5- Be prepared for the proctor to interrupt you repetitively during your test, distracting you and causing even more frustration. And those interuptions will be of minimal importance like them requesting that the wireless mouse you are using be visible 100% of the time to them because apparently they can not put 2 and 2 together that you are using the same mouse to test with throughout the test that you started with, EVEN THOUGH they have full access to your computer and can verify that the mouse is not connected to any other device. 6- The proctors have very heavy accents that make them hard to understand and require you to ask them to repeat what they are trying to communicate. 7- Proctoring (at least in my courses) is limited to 1am-1pm, making it difficult to schedule testing if you have other obligations. WGU's selling point is you can work your education around your life, but this is not true, you have to fit proctoring around their schedule. Seems like false advertising or a bait and switch...

I hope that I will be able to update this post and add a few stars to the review, but as of right now I'm very disappointed in my experience with WGU. I have my BA in English Ed, and a number of courses at the MAT level. I was interested in completing my MAT in secondary ed with WGU - I loved their education structure in theory, and it sounded perfect for me as a working professional with a history in alternative, self-motivated learning communities.

Let me be clear - I am not a student. My experience is with their front line of communication and enrollment counselors, and it has been very disappointing.

From the get go, the CSR (Jeff) who answered my first inquiry actually used the word "retarded" to describe other colleges and universities, which was a bit shocking, and completely unprofessional and inappropriate. While surprised, I didn't want to judge the entire university based on one young, inexperienced rep, so I continued on and was connected with an enrollment counselor.

I had two scheduled meetings with this counselor - lets call her Jane for the sake of this post. Jane was over 30 minutes late for our first scheduled meeting, even though I received an automated text earlier in the day reminding me to be on time for it (with an attached incentive for an application fee waiver if I was not late). I was on a lunch break for the meeting, so it was frustrating to have my time abused, but hey, sometimes things happen that we can't always plan for, such is life, and I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

Jane's information during our meeting was pretty good, and by the end of our conversation I was excited about WGU's MAT program! I was also happy to hear that Jane would be my main point of contact throughout the admissions/enrollment process; it meant a lot to know that I would not be shuffled around from person to person.

I had a few specific questions that would determine whether or not WGU was in fact a workable program for me, so Jane arranged a follow up meeting for a few days later so she could research my inquiries in depth. I received a couple of helpful emails from her in between the meetings. But come time for our second appointment, Jane wasn't only late, she never called! After 40 minutes, I called her (just in case there was some confusion) and got an automated message informing me she was on the phone. I left a message, and did not hear back.

Eventually, I called WGU's toll-free number and was connected with another enrollment counselor (let's call her Bev) who verified that my follow up appointment with Jane was, indeed, on the books and in her calendar. Since they track communication (many employees work from home), Bev could also see that Jane had not even attempted to call me. I was so let down. Jane and I had a wonderful report, and I truly believed that she was invested in my progress at WGU. I guess I was wrong?

Bev did attempt to answer some of my questions, but not only was it difficult to start from square one with a different person - as Jane and I had taken about 90 minutes to work through things during our initial meeting - but I was disheartened when Bev's responses were completely contrary to the information I had been given during my meeting with Jane.

At this point, after being given the run around, I just don't know if I trust WGU and their employees to manage my master's program. If the communication breakdown with their enrollment counselors is at all indicative of the rest of the program, it does not bode well... Education degrees that lead to initial certification are tricky beasts, with lots of logistics and hurtles to jump through, a number of required state-based tests and very specific check lists that vary from state to state. At this point, I have a hard time believing that a school that cannot get their ducks in a row to give me preliminary advice could handle all the important requirements needed to effectively certify...