The Academy of Art University

I have completed 3 semesters as a grad level in this university.
So far, I have been very disappointed with this school. Here are the reasons why:

1. The quality of most TEACHERS is a joke!
They teach grad level, yet almost none of them have a grad level education themselves. Teachers are very arrogant and treat you like you are no equal to them. Most of them are not qualified to be teachers whatsoever. One instructor is

as young as 24 years old. Almost none of them act in a respectable or professional
manner. (including cursing in your face and during lectures, making inappropriate comments about students and their lifestyle, appearances, nationality and the list goes on ) So far, I have had only ONE decent teacher - the director of the department himself. The advisors are very incompetent as well. Most of them have no ida what you are doing, what the classes are all about.

2. The quality of EDUCATION is very poor. Your money is your application, not your talent nor grades to this school. Instructors do NOT teach you at AAU. They expect you to do and know everything on your own. You basically teach yourself everything. It is a really sad fact that you are paying to be taught and end up teaching yourself. Most of the teachers do not give any valuable feedback on your work. As if they scared to say a word. They suggest you go and ask your fellow students for feedback. My question is how do your fellow students know any better then you if you are in the same boat? Also, we do not pay money to our fellow students but to the teachers to TEACH us! In most classes you do not even know what grades you have because you do not receive anything back (grades or feedback). The instructors are told not to give out good grades (this comes from one of the instructor himself) so you will not get an "A" unless you are a Pablo Picasso already. Most of the grades they give out are "C's" and this is for working your ass off with hundreds of sleepless nights. It is simply a matter of them likening your work or not. I know most of the students fail classes. I have not failed any class yet but I know of many who did. My question, again, is how 2-5 students per class fail doing all the work? I do not know. It is simply not right. Your grades are 95% depend on the quality of the materials that you use. If you cannot afford nice paper or printer, do not expect good grades no matter how talented and creative you are.

3. STUDENTS
Most of them are very dissatisfied with their education. A lot of them quit, some stay just because they already have invested too much money. There are also A LOT of asian students and AAU takes an advantage of them. AUU does not require for the international students to take TOEFL so most of the students DO NOT speak english at all or very poor. Therefore, it is very difficult for other students who speak english to work with non-English speaking students in class. AAU only cares about their money that is why they accept them no matter what as long as they pay!

4. The PRESIDENT of the school is a useless woman - Elisa Stephens. She comes to school (and anywhere) in a LIMO! Why? Cause you pay her and instead of fixing the problems of this school, she spends our money on herself and her expensive toys. Everywhere I read, people just despise her, and have no respect for her.

5. CONCLUSION:

I would say that it has been a huge waste of my money. I strongly DO NOT recommend this school. You will be disappointed. This university is 99% concerned with profit and only 1% concerned with the success of its students.There are no school scholarships, loans or grants provided by this school.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2010

Surrounding City: A+, Education Quality: F

I greaduated AAU in December 2012. When I applied in 2006 they told me it would cost roughly $80,000 to get my BFA in Commercial Photography there. By the time I was done I was $144,000 in the hole before even counting in the interest.

While I was there instructors were in and out the door every semester so it was random luck if you were to get anyone good. From my experience you had about a 1 in 6 chance of getting someone good. But probably 3 out of those 6 we pretty awful.

From the time I started to the time I graduated the number of photo students more than tippled, studio hours decreased, and they in no way vaguely bothered to keep the amount of equipment up with the increased demand. (You could see how may of each piece of gear was available, or not, to loan out at any given time.)

The LA classes were laughably easy and were maybe, MAYBE, high-school level.
They charged about $1300 a month for a SHARED studio, while the market rate at the time was about that for a studio two building down the block , so housing rates are pretty much extortion.

The available transportation was never on time, so if you had back to back classes you were pretty much always late for the second.

Every year there they raised the tuition by something like $225 a unit (most classes are 3 units)
One year they told us the reason for the tuition increase was to offer us perpetual CS6 suite licences which they are now pulling from everyone one.

I can't even apply to consolidate my loans that I took to go to AAU because, banks, and credit unions (I've tried 2 banks and 3 CUs) don't believe that someone who attended the academy will be able to repay the loans.

Just don't go. Is there value to the education they offer? Yes. Is it anywhere near $144,000 dollars (roughly $300,000 if you include interest over the standard repayment time, (roughly $1,300 a month)) that it actually cost. NoThe Academy of Art University was the biggest mistake of my life.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000