The University of Winnipeg (Canada)

Date: Jun 18 2014
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
This was a terrible school, completely false advertisement, completely overvalued. I am in the ISSD (PACE) course, a 1 year "full time" course - tuition is $16k. It is held in another building from the main campus. Before even looking into how the course was not worth it, I will start by saying the building is bland, the computer labs horrible, chairs uncomfortable and there is no communal lounge area at all for students to relax outside of the classroom.

Moving onto why the course is not worth $16k. It was advertised as a full-time course but when the course started we were given class schedules and classes only run from 9-12 with a break in the middle, making it less than 3 hours a day. When I asked why it was only 3 hours after being advertised as full-time they said it was because the work load would be so full that it would technically be full-time with the homework we get each day. This was also a lie. We got literally no homework during the week. We would work less than 3 hours / day from Mond-Frid and would be assigned MAYBE an hour of homework to do over the weekend, due on the following Mond.

We were not provided laptops or licenses for the programs we needed to do the program. The computers in the computer lab do not have the programs required to complete the classes and if you install them, for security reasons, are formatted by an automated system every time they are turned off, deleting everything you have done. Because of this we all had to get our own laptops, something no one was warned of, and have to pay for all software licences.

We were told that we would receive books included in the tuition. That was a lie. They gave us a Safari Books Online membership that expires as soon as the course ends. A tablet is also included in the tuition but they bought us the worst tablet which does not even have a Safari Books Online app in order to read our books.

Most teachers we had were not qualified to teach. Some literally had never learned or taught the material they were hired to teach and were hired last minute, admitting this to us in class. Not only were most teachers not qualified to teach the material they were covering but we just finished a two week "study break"… meaning they cannot find a teacher for our next class even though we are still paying to be at school. They have still not found a teacher for our next class, the only reason that I am typing this from class is because they filled today with a "resume writing class" to try and stall.

The entire class signed a petition saying that this course is not worth what they are charging but were completely brushed off by administration. We will now be pursuing legal action.

This is completely opposite from what I expected from one of the top rated schools in my city.

Anyone looking to take web development should go to Red River College. Their course is much more advanced, you get two years for thousands of less dollars than this one year course costs, the teachers are more qualified, you are provided personal laptops with all software required installed for you, the classes are ACTUALLY full time and not just 3 hours / day and outside of the classroom they have student lounges , tv's , video games , pool hall etc. i am completely blown away by how a program like the one i am in has survived without huge lawsuits before now