​​​Mark says:​ I was planning to attend one of these “for profit” schools but apparently there is some shady stuff going on. Initially I signed up to Kaplan University in Somerville, Mass two weeks ago (September 2012) for the electrical course. Oddly, the entire school decided to shut down 4 days before classes started on October 3, 2012. I thought, “That’s highly unprofessional.” I have a two year legal degree from Bunker Hill Community College in Charlestown, Ma (500 ft from Kaplan) and Google-ed lawsuits against Kaplan. Surprisingly I found some interesting facts.

 

Furthermore, I got quotes from the lawyer of Kaplan stating that “it may be odd to see a school operating like a business, but it is.” The class action suit painted Kaplan as targeting low income folks and using crude corporate sales tactics to sucker them into the school, and the Kaplan lawyers admitted this fact but stated that it is not illegal. The federal judge agreed with Kaplan and dismissed the suit in favor of Kaplan. Sad state of affairs in America but needless to say, I will not be attending one of these for profit schools until I Google everything about them. Some facts about Kaplan:

 

-Owned by the Washington Post (Weird)
-Many of the same site Porter Chester Complaints are filed, Kaplan is right there
-http://truth-out.org/news/item/8059-washington-post-annual-report-reveals-widespread-accreditation-and-legal-problems-at-kaplan-university (“Kaplan University is the blood bank for The Washington Post and supplies The Washington Post Corporation with 58 percent of its revenue.”)
-”Kaplan’s answer to regulatory problems is to pay off politicians to weaken or rescind troublesome rules and regulations, thus reducing oversight, disclosure and transparency.”

 

It appears that there is rampant fraud within the Accreditation process, Federal College money programs, banking (where the funds and interest rates originate) and downright criminal activity on a large scale basis. I have made my point. Train yourself through self discipline and the internet.
 

CVW - No Job Placement - Terrible school. They promise the world and give you nothing. They promise to help you find a job when you graduate and all the career department does is change the format of your résumé. I graduated in 2011 from their MA program and I'm not even working in the medical field. Thankfully I found a job in a different field that pays way more than medical assisting ever would. Their financial aide department is less than helpful and full of people who don't know how to do their job and cause unnecessary stress and frustration. If you're thinking of going here, think again.

 

TA says: September 29, 2012 - Porter & Chester is a scam. As a student who is still attending the president and his staff of the school came to meet with us to quiet us since we reached out to the news. Anyone who has had. A negative experience or was lied to please contact atkaymah11@aol.com. The president of Porter & Chester believes that they haven't done anything wrong and the students are still happy even through this.

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j graham says: September 23, 2012  - Hi parent of two students graduated from watertown campus..what’s going on at this school??BS 101..both had 4.0s medical assisting and autotech..no jobs..mr palmer the only one going out of his way to help..in auto..huge loans no jobs as promised. Then the kids give up with my phone ringing off the wall for the $$ to b paid back..this is fraud don’t committ to borrowing federal funds from govt and false promises of jobs after they graduate..its getting worse..no hookups or connections in wtby..or ur not bilingual no JOBS period..terrible..this is fraud and deception. The schooi is pumping out the loans with an 80percent default status upon its grads..putting them in line for food stamps not to mention depression..what is the ratio of grads overall from these campuses getting reliable jobs after their internshios?? These statistics need to b researched b4 any student borrows from any PC institute.. some one might consider a class action lawsuit for fraud!!!

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Parent says:  July 16, 2011 at 5:37 am I am so disappointed in this Porter and Chester!!!! 26,0000 dollars later no job and no placement,,,

Hello the career placement person was fired at last !

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 Rob says:  October 5, 2011 at 4:05 pm Porter and Chester is a joke no help from placement specialist at all, no homework at all, ant at one point they were teaching us addition and subtraction no lie.

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 pissed! says : October 25,  2011 at 3:24 pm i graduated from Porter and Chester in 2010 and found 1 job for 2 months long and after that i couldn’t find work. The job placement says well we don’t have anything for you today! b.s they don’t even try calling pepole or nothing they print out a list of pepole that might be hireing and leave your ass out in the wind fuck them! and i have a highe GPA. former computer networking tech. grad.

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Demos says: December 20, 2011 at 4:10 pm Porter and Chester is a complete fraud. They hire instructors that nearly understand the courses. We went three 3 “instructors” in 13 months. This is mainly a self teach school. The faculty could really care less about you as an individual. They change the “standards” or “rules” on a weekly basis. 27k and this place isn't even worth it. People make false promises here and don't deliver. Would not suggest anyone to come here. Save your money do yourself a favor and goto a real college not a mediocre trade school.

 

Parent Too says: January 11, 2012 at 12:03 pm Typical rip-off technical school… overpay for mediocre, at best, education. My son was 6 months into his program when he had severe car accident (not his fault) and had to withdraw from school and could not continue due to injuries. Not once did we receive a call from instructor or anyone to see how he was doing. Now we have to pay back $14,000 for a wasted 6 months. Others that were in his program and graduated are delivering pizza because can’t find work.
Advising any parents to have their kids stay away from this one!!!

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pissed the f off says: January 12, 2012 at 2:14 pm I beg anyone concidering to come to porter and chester of woburn to reconcider … i am curently attending night auto class and ive necer been so dissapointed in my life this school lacks quality instructors and hire instuctors with no experiance at all in education you are more than often left guessing what to do in the shop because the instrutors sit on there assa in the office .. we are forced to clean up for a half hour every night and most of the mess is not evan ourd this school litterlly makes you pay 27k to work a part time.job … you wont learn much here exect how to clean floors.

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PISSED OFF PARENT says: January 19, 2012 at 12:57 pm Porter and Chester is a total scam. $27k and my son was thrown out a week after funds were disbursed because he was 2 hours short for that term. Do they send the money back? NO!!! He can reapply in April and apply for loans again. WHAT!!!!! Are you f’n kidding me? SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Zack says: January 25, 2012 at 7:45 pm Don’t waste your time or your money. I graduated from the CAD program in 2009. The software we used was 3 years outdated and the curriculum was 20-30 years outdated. The instructor was a looser who lived in his car in the parking lot and was fired 2 months into my 1st semester. The 3rd instructor new CAD but had no idea how to teach and was full of sh%!. It was a waste of $25K, a lot of money… I’ll be paying that off for the next 30 years with high interest. No job placement, no opportunity offered to continue learning after I graduated. They just wanted their money and that was it. I’m writing this complaint because the school called me today, 3 years later and asked me what I was doing. When I told them I was working, they wanted to use my name to promote the school (saying a graduate had a job). I would rather starve to death before I gave them an ounce of credit for what I do. I had to erase everything they taught me and reeducate myself (spending more money) to get a job. Porter and Chester is a joke and a scam. They are using your credit and social security number to take education dollars from the government. You will not benefit from attending this “school”. Pass my message on, Porter and Chester is a scam in every way, don’t fall for it.

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Huge_Mistake says: February 7, 2012 at 2:57 pm Wow. Did i make a huge mistake coming to porter and chester. They lured me in good with lies and making me feel like i would be attending a school that gave a crap about my education. From day 1 this has been a huge waste of my time. I kep saying ill give it one more term and see if it gets better but it never has. The teachers are a joke. Our new teacher was hired with no prior teaching experience at all. thats what i want to do is spend 30k to be taught by someone who has never taught before in his life. Every other week they change the “Rules” of the course and make stuff up. Im really confused how this school has not been investigated yet for bait and switch techniques…. amazing. What a let down. DO NOT i repeat DO NOT attend this school. Over priced and you will not get what you pay for.

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Beware says: February 12, 2012 at 12:24 pm Porter and Chester was bought out by investment company…it is all about the money and not about the students My father went there many years ago when it was ran by the original owner. He cant believe how different it is ..stay away from the scum bags.

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Miss. Take says: February 19, 2012 at 2:28 pm I myself was in their Medical Assistant program, and I agree with Just Disappointed. PCI is an education money mill. They are completely a rip-off and they really do not care what happens to their students once they are out of their classroom. I found for the amount of money that the students pay, the school was lacking. The equipment didn’t always work, the computers ugh…. they were a mess, the programs that we had to install on the computers were confusing and for people who have to do these programs with every batch of new students, they sure knew nothing about them. There was never enough equipment for every student to use and learn at the same time. And seriously… they expect to have people comfortable jabbing someone in the arm with a needle to draw blood only after 3 days of talking about it and practicing on a mutilated fake arm.

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The teachers, as people are nice, while you are in school, but once you’re out… you’re a nuisance. The rules to the school change every week and personally I don’t feel that we are taught what we really need in the field. MANY girls that have left PCI have not had any luck finding jobs or receiving the promised help of finding “GUARANTEED PLACEMENT”. Many girls have had to get jobs doing whatever they can get because almost all of the places that are applied for say that “They need more years’ experience\”.

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The PROMISES that were given to us were not followed through at all, but were just ploys to get us in. We were told that once we left PCI, we would be certified in 3 things,PHLEBOTOMY, MEDICAL ASSISTING, and CPR. The CPR was the only true thing… even though that training class was definitely not long enough and was just rushed through.

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When girls started to ask questions about being certified in the other things, they played dumb… and said that they do not know why we were told that. But many girls were, and they just turned their heads. I don’t think that the instructors are really that educated in every topic. I personally will tell everyone and anyone I hear are going to check out PCI to go elsewhere. The school is a fraud and so are the people working there!!!! All they want is money… Shame on us for trusting them. I can go on forever about my horrible experiences at PCI but I won’t. I have made some great friends from going there but…. I just am disgusted on how I and others have been treated! NUFF SAID!!!