ECPI University — Attraction in West Columbia

ECPI WILL STEAL YOUR FINANCIAL AID FUNDING Military Veteran and Current student at the ECPI university campus in Columbia SC using chp 31(VRE) to help pay for schooling. If I can give ECPI 0 stars I would. I Was told to apply for student loans being that I was in a financial crisis by financial aid advisor Travis Capehart when first enrolled this past June 2025. When I applied for my student loans it gave an expected date of June 30th 2025 to where the funds would be deposited into my account. When the date passed and No funds were credited to my account I reached out to Travis and had no reply. I drove an hr to school to speak with someone in the financial aid department and got Chris Metto (probably spelled his last name incorrectly by accident) Financial aid advisor Chris M also a financial advisor at ECPI Columbia SC walked me to his office where we had a conversation so that I could clearly understand how the loan process works. This was around the first week of July. So when we sat down he informed me that VRE would typically pay out at the end of the 15 week period upon me being in school. That’s when they typically bill VRE. He started that I had a balance on my student account already being a few weeks in of a little over $9,000 which was confusing, alarming and concerning being that I just started a few weeks ago. He explained to me how each loan work and explained thatI would be in his words “a fool to not take the grant money because it is free money” but the subsidized loan and unsubsidized loans would be money that I will have to pay back on my own, but if I need money to apply for it and he can help get me access to it a bit earlier than normal whenever it comes. Anywhere between July 2025 and the first week of September 2025. So again he stated ECPI usually bills VRE around the 15 week period and that any credit afterwards will be forwarded to my account, but since I need the money earlier being that he has no way of knowing when the money (my loans and grants) will actually hit my account that when I do get the email of the funds being posted to my account to give him a call and he can do something on his end to give me access to the funds earlier being that the VRE payment is a guarantee that they will eventually pay when the school bill them. Today the money was posted to my account. I gave him a call and he tells me that it’s nothing he can do until they bill VRE and my account shows a positive balance. So now I’m Stuck with loans that he insisted I sign for with no help at all. I get passed down to talk to Travis capehart and in his exact words he tells me that “it’s nothing I can do, you haven’t earned any money, and If we were to pay you the money now and you decide to quit. It’s no way we can get compensated.” Being a black military veteran that made me feel at ease and uncomfortable to the point where I felt like I wanted to just quit right there. This is unacceptable. But like they said I just have to deal with it until September 2025 when they are able to credit me any money. Seems like once they get you in the door, you’re on your own. Just thought it would be a little different being that I served my country honorably and decided to continue to be an admirable and respectable citizen. Still feeling uneasy about continuing but as a soldier...

The head of financial aid be stealing. The “president” will take days to respond to your concerns and won’t address the problem with his staff so he’s a waste of time. Restrooms are disgusting. The front desk receptionist has a nasty entitled attitude. They also try to make you pay extra fees on top of your tuition to continue on in their program to go to clinical. They offer school supplies then get mad when you try to obtain them. They charge you even when you’re no longer attending. Somebody car always getting hit in the parking lot. Their foreign instructor says rude things to her students and they just let it bypass because oh “well she’s from another country.” That’s what they love to say to justify her behavior. The exams they have, you always got to ask for a review if it’s granted because your answers will be right and it just marked you wrong. This has happened to me NUMEROUS of times. Also they tell you to read out of two different books but then they’ll have one answer that’s this in one book and in the other it’s something TOTALLY DIFFERENT. So you never know which answer to select because you don’t know what book they pulled it from. They have no classes on care plans nor do they teach it. Just give you the work and expect you to know how to do it. They also want everything in APA format but their English course don’t teach that. And God forbid if you fail… you will be waiting an additional 3 months to even return. I’ve had a teacher that only let 4 students out of 15 review their exams. So for all the other students we never knew what we got wrong so we would know and not make the mistake again. Vending machines in the break room stay taking your money. They also say no tattoos showing in the nursing field, but then proceeds to put one of their man instructors in front of us covered with colorful tattoos showing from the neck down. The drop out rate is crazy. The overall school is a headache. Save your time and find...

DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TOO. They do not transfer credits if they think they can make money off of you by requiring you to retake them. After calling ECPI corp. they told me they are supposed to transfer credits but its under the discretion of the school which in other words means: Some get priority and if they think they can convince you that you are required to they will to make money off of you. I would not suggest this I would not suggest this for nursing specifically. You will not have the education you need to care for patients because the classes are only 5 weeks. The advisers are all nice but not educated. After doing some digging around I found out Midlands tech has a better LPN program with better opportunities for employment.(most employers do not want to hire LPNs who graduate through ECPI because they know that they lack the basic skills needed.) I would suggest to someone who has an academic issue with Midlands or others and just wants to finish the program. Also another odd thing I was told is that credits transfer for other programs but not the one I wanted. They wouldn't take my ATI scores which were within the 3 years that they are still good which means they wanted me to retake the ATI test but the company ATI has a rule against taking the test more then 2 times in a year which I had already done. They pretty much told me to take it anyway against ATI's rules but by that time I has realized they did not have the knowledge as advisers or education quality that they portray I was on my way out the door. They easy way isn't always the best so please stay away from...