My Student Loan Truth: Lyndsie’s Art Institute Story

“It’s wrong and I’m not going to sit down and shut up about it.”

 

Lyndsie Ross attended the Art Institute of California, where she was pressured into signing up for a design program and significant student loans. She soon realized that the school was a “joke” and her degree was worthless, but the Department of Education still refuses to cancel her fraudulent debt.

This is Lyndsie’s Student Loan Truth.

 

What made you decide to attend the Art Institute? 

I was living in Portland, Oregon at the time. I went to the Art Institute of Portland because I was interested in a career in graphic design and they advertised being a really high-end program. They pressured me into signing up for the Industrial Design program, but I quickly realized I didn’t have drawing skills needed for that kind and nobody was willing to help with that skill. When I moved back home to Sacramento a year later, the Portland campus encouraged me to transfer. I assumed it was just the program that was wrong for me, so enrolled at the Art Institute of California, Sacramento and switched to graphic design there.

 

What was your experience like at Art Institute of California, Sacramento?

The Portland campus was a little older and more established, so I assumed Sacramento would be similar. But it was paltry. There was almost no equipment and only 5 teachers who taught everything. I figured out about ¾ of the way through that this was a fraudulent situation, but felt at that point I had to finish and make the best of it. At one point, students even gathered signatures to try to petition to get the bad teachers fired. We were angry that we were spending so much money and time on a bogus education and were not learning anything.

 

Did your experience at this school help you obtain a job in the field you studied?

Absolutely not. Career services was a joke. They sent us Craigslist ads for job placement and many of them were entry-level positions that required no degree or real design skill. I was told at interviews that they were shocked by my portfolio, which was something that Art Institute promoted as a sure ticket to a job. Some places wouldn’t interview me at all with that school on my resume.  Eventually I secured some in-house design work, but I got that job because I hustled and networked on my own, and I got lucky.

 

How has the debt from this experience impacted your life?

I’ve been in a situation for years now where I am trapped by my financial responsibilities with this student loan debt. I couldn’t move up or move on in my career because of this debt. I’ve had to work a lot of side hustles to make ends meet.

 

The Department of Education has refused to cancel the loans of thousands of former students of for-profit colleges. It ignore the many thousands of students who filed for borrower defense. What would you say to the Department about the need to cancel these loans?

It’s extremely disheartening. They’re punishing students who were just trying to better themselves and do the right thing. We shouldn’t have to put life on hold until these student loans are cancelled.

It’s wrong. I’m not going to sit down and shut up about it.

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