The Academy of Art University

I paid an enormous amount of money to go to AAU for three semesters, six classes online. The degree, Motion Picture and Television Production, costs a total of $120,000.00. The cost is exactly the same for a classroom student and an online student. Regardless of my having to pay $2,720.00 per class, I had to buy a $40 book here, or buy a $120 software program. In fact, they even make students pay $10.00 for an official transcript. Now, keep in mind that I am not taking up any space on campus, I am not sitting in a classroom, I am not engaging an instructor in front of the class, I am not using ANY facilities, I am sitting in front of MY computer using my electricity and my internet, my equipment, and I am on a website. Yet I have to pay the same amount of money as a campus student. On many occasions, I requested that they school tell me where all my money is going. That's a reasonable question to ask. The answer was ALWAYS eight I don't know or run around double speak, never a reasonable and direct answer. So I did a little research and here is what I found. The Academy of Art University is privately owned by the Stevens family who is also one of the largest property owners in San Francisco. San Francisco property values are second only to Manhattan. They own 40 buildings. The school does $300,000,000.00 in revenue every year. The family is worth a reported $800,000,000.00. Now it is becoming clear where all that money is going. I also found out that the university just settled with the City of San Francisco for a staggering $60,000,000.00 for code violations. They are also named in two class action lawsuits, one by former students for overinflated and dishonest after graduation job placement numbers, and a class-action lawsuit by instructors for unpaid overtime and improper compensation. The school will not buy a $40 book, but they will lie to students, and take advantage of instructors, and try to get away with breaking the law.

1st Year Female -- Class 1922

Education Quality: C, Faculty Accessibility: F

I am a graduate FILM student, went to the school for 5 1/2 years. Here are my gripes:

1) AAU is nothing more than an extension of High School, with a a lot of cliques and teachers playing favorites. As a film student this is VERY discouraging especially when you depend on other students for help. I can't count the times I worked on other peoples set only to get a " sorry I can't help you", when time came to repay the favor. A lot of teachers play favorites. I guesss they feel its easier to help only students who could be potentially helpful to their own career. ITS A LOT like the industry in that it plays to those who have money. For instance, one student flew down to LA, paid to have their film bleached by passed only for a simple class exercise. But thats just a reflection of the real world of TV and Film- only the privileged have a voice.

1) The advisors are incompetent, specially Ron Bun and Cindy Leo. It took an extra semester because my "advisor" was uninformed about my major and miscalculated my credits. Also the administration is sometimes incompetent. The AAU informed me just 3 weeks! prior to graduated that I owed them around $1,000. Since I have student loans, tuition is automatically deducted so I still don't understand where they got this balance from!? Thanks for not keeping your students informed and taking advantage your students AAU! :)

2) I would not recommend this school. Too expensive, outdated equipment (still using clunky semi broken 35/16mm cameras from 1960's), higher level classes had instructors that were RARELY THERE, specifically Randell Love- He was one of the two most knowledgeable teacher but was there only 5/16 classes!!! Also instructors are reluctant to give advise, I guess they see us as competition. The Head of the Equipment Dept Elan Santiago is an @$$hole, no other way of saying it. I dont know one person who has said something postive about him, but no one says anything. Reason why is if he doesn't like you, you don't get the equipment you need. He caused many good equipment techs to quit unnecessarily. Eduardo, David Drum and Miss Sumtner were cool.

I would advise to take specific classes or seminars in LA or NY where there are more resources. Do not get sucked into paying $100,000 in student loans for an education like I did. The degree is worthless, I even had the Senior Year Portfolio Instructor of Motion Picture & TV tell the class that point blank. This makes no sense to a blue collar person such as myself who doesn't have the money to spend thousands of dollars on projects semester after semester. If you want to get into film, buy a camera, pickup a basic book on storytelling and video production, get yourself a job and do self fulfilling projects on the weekend's off. Or just go to LA and work your way up. Thats what I'm doing now and I already have my degree.

Two big thumbs down!
PS- A lot of these problems are systemic of the Higher Ups. Alicia "Bush" Stevens should sell her privite jet AND helicopter AND limo and actually try to fix the school, because its a school not just a business.

5th Year Male -- Class 2005

Surrounding City: A+, Individual Value: F