National American University Headquarters — Attraction in Rapid City

I promised myself I wouldn't do this but I really feel that people should know NAU is not as good as it seems. I started the Vet Tech program in 2010 within 2 months of moving to Rapid City. I was only moving here for 1 year to take a break from chaos back home but I started work in a vet clinic as a kennel assistant within a week of starting at NAU. Its been 5 years and I'm still here working at the same clinic as a technician and done with NAU. The teachers of the vet tech program were not the problem and I actually quite enjoyed them most of the time but the structure and organization of the program was awful. When I started back in 2010 the main campus was still on Kansas City street. Our small classes were sometimes in the big lecture room which was fine but huge for 10+ people but it was the only space available. When the new building went up on hwy 16 is when the structure and organization really took a turn. Regular classes and generals had to be taken at the new building and actual tech classes had to be at the animal health building on Kansas City street. The schedules were changed constantly and recent graduates had to jump in and start teaching some of the less extensive lessons such as bandaging. Anatomy lab started being taught by a vet and a tech that had never taught it before so the quality of learning and teaching was very bad even though they tried their best. The real issue here is NAU as a whole. Back to when I started in 2010. I had $1500 to my name which was all that was left after my move here due to costs of gas and U-Haul. Luckily I was with my aunt in an apt so I wasn't going to be homeless if I had no money. I had to put all of the $1500 down just to start school because they told me financial aid would not kick in until the following quarter. They did however tell me that I would get that money back "in full" within a week one my financial aid paperwork was cleared so I was fine with it. Two months later after constant hassling (by me) I went in and demanded to know why I had not received my money. Their answers were circles of words which were lies and they would never give me answers. After thirty minutes of getting nothing but BS I walked out and called my aunt (a lawyer). She dropped everything and came to the school and helped me deal with financial aid for another 30 minutes until the lady made a three second phone call and said I'd have my money the following day. Still to this day I have no idea why they were holding my money and lying but I'm assuming they were making interest by holding it. Tuition is also pretty high but onto other issues. The faculty never has a clue of what they are doing and if you have an issue they do not call or e-mail you back and there is never the right person there for the issue to be discussed. If you have questions, especially regarding money or funding you will not get straight forward answers. Last week I registered to take my VTNE state board exam and NAU is not wanting to release my transcripts. I've been on the phone 3 times and to the building twice where they had me write down my credit card info for the transcript fee and sign all papers for the release of them and then three days later called to tell me they cannot send them via e-mail, fax, or mail after they already told me they could and had me leave my cc info. Also now I'm finding out they keep lying on reports about the number of students they have enrolled so they can get more government funding and the current nursing students who have months left until the graduate could end up not receiving diplomas because of wrongful actions made by the school in letting go nursing professors and directors. NAU is hit or miss with some programs but it is not honest, ethical, and does not care to help you. Yes there are people within NAU who are awesome and very helpful but as a whole NAU is awful and I will never recommend anyone to go there. Apologies on...

This school will not call you back no matter how many times you call the Dean, your advisor or really anyone else there. I completed all of my classes that I was told that I had to complete to get my associate's degree. I even have an email stating that I had completed my courses and I was eligible to walk. I was told to pay off my balance to receive my diploma and which I did and I have a receipt for yet I still have not received my diploma. I was told that I have another class that magically appeared that I need to take which is now the second time they have done this to me. I have been promised that I would get call backs and that this would be resolved yet here we are again with no one answering my messages, emails or returning phone calls... I've used up all of my available funds through the VA and I've also used up all my funds to go to this school... I'm now maxed out. The communication is very poor here they would rather you sit in the dark and wonder what's going on then pick up the phone and talk to you for 5 minutes. Since starting my associate's degree I have had over 4 advisors and many different financial aid advisors. I have tried to contact my advisor Stacy in regards to what's going on with my diploma and this supposedly other class I need to take with no luck except ' I'm checking in on it' and never getting a return phone call. I've left three different messages for the dean of the school and still no return phone call. I've worked very hard day and night to receive my diploma. It is a slap in the face when you can't get a straight answer from anyone at this campus. I just want my diploma that I have worked so very hard for and...

I enrolled in NAU a few years ago. The online class said it was 12 weeks when I logged in, turned out it was 8 weeks and you had to get 12 units done in that time. There was absolutely nothing written anywhere about this. Not in the class instructions or the syllabus, so I failed the class. I asked the school for help, they wanted proof from me, but when the class ended, everything online disappeared, I couldn't login. What's worse, is they pushed so hard for me to get into class as soon as possible. I told the admissions rep that I wanted to wait to be sure my financial aid would go through, I had not filed taxes the previous year. It was like high pressure sales, she swore up and down that I would get aid, taxes didn't matter. The end result, I believed her because I thought she had experience, she was wrong, I was on the hook for over $3500. They refused to let me retake the online class for no charge despite the fact that I had no way of knowing it was accelerated. Now I find out, years later that not only did they put this charge on my credit, they also put my husband at the time's unpaid bill on my credit of $6,000. So I owe this school $9,500 for 3 classes that I didn't even get the...