The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale

Date: Aug 23 2008
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
Some have written that negative reviews of AIFL are submitted by slackers, below-average students and those afraid of the real world. Well, I am already an educated person who graduated Magna Cum Laude from undergrad before earning my Master's degree at FAU, a FULLY ACCREDITED university. Obviously I am not a slacker nor afraid of the real world as I am also a former educator now pursuing a new career. As such, I can state unequivocally that AIFL is nothing but a revenue generator as well as a waste of time and money. Please read my full argument before enrolling at AIFL

Classes at AIFL are $1200+ each per quarter not including fees and kits. Each major comes with a kit of supplies sold by AIFL. These can range from $300 to well over $1000. Students are made to feel that they MUST be bought from the Institute. In actuality, the supplies can be bought locally or online for less than 1/2 the cost of the AIFL kit. My own was over $1200, but I was able to purchase everything in the kit locally for about $400.

Additionally, in order to receive financial aid students are REQUIRED to sign over all loans to AIFL so that they can be applied and dispersed at its discretion. If you do not sign, you are NOT even allowed to apply for FinAid. If a student drops a class AIFL keeps the money for the following quarter without informing the student that he or she is entitled to a refund. There are also independent scholarship programs that the students are not even told exist. The only one mentioned, if you ask, is a $300 a quarter Merit Award. Keep in mind that a $40,000 loan for an Associate's degree will end up costing over $600 a month when it goes into repayment!!

Furthermore, students are told that General Education classes must be taken at AIFL. This is untrue. As a transient student, classes can be taken at BCC (less than 5 miles from campus) for a TENTH of the cost and ALL credits will transfer. What AIFL neglects to mention is that many of their credits will NOT transfer if you choose to change institutions. This is because the quarter system which AIFL employs is not recognized by many 2 and 4 year institutions which work on semesters.

Lastly, what I feel is most outrageous is that, I am in my 4th quarter and have had only 2 instructors whose degrees are actually in the field they are teaching. They are titled "instructors" not professors because many do not hold the Master's degree required to teach at the college level. One may think however that because these instructors have worked in their respective fields that they are qualified to teach. This is a falacy. Many cannot put together 5 lucid sentances without slipping into a topic which has nothing to do with the lesson. Valuable class time is wasted while instructors talk about themselves and thier work.

Also, they love to talk about their money and how much money you will make once you graduate. The instructors quote unrealistic and overinflated figures in the hundreds of thousands and even millions. I suspect they do this to discourage students from leaving the program once they begin to waiver over the cost of AIFL tuition in comparison to the little they are learning. In fact, I find it insulting to my intelligence whenever instructors start throwing out money figures.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE…THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN BEFORE DECIDING TO ATTEND AIFL!!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR PARENTS' MONEY!! THE PROSPECT OF WHAT YOU WILL EVENTUALLY MAKE IN YOUR FIELD COMPARED TO THE EXPENSE OF JUST AN ASSOCIATE'S DEGREE IS NOT WORTH IT!!! FIND A FULLY ACCREDITED SCHOOL OR REAL UNIVERSITY AND PURSUE YOUR EDUCATION THERE. OR SIMPLY INTERN OR APPRENTICE SOMEWHERE TO GET A REALISTIC EXPECTATION OF SALARY AND SUCCESS.