Victim Impact Stories

At 18 years of age, admittedly, I had no clue about how student loans could affect my future. CEC admissions representatives found me in a vulnerable and financially difficult time, going through a divorce and returning to my country of origin having fled a domestic violence situation in California. Like sharks, they smelled blood in the water and saw my desperation and lack of comprehension of their predatory nature. I had little to no resources, and it only took one conversation with the Brooks recruiter for them to see my desperate need for hope. During my enrollment process, the recruiter lied about the [job] placement rates and misled me about financial scholarships. I was homeless at the time and my dad had driven me to the interview. The recruiter saw my dad was unwilling to sign any paperwork and if I was going to attend I would need additional assistance. My father refused to help financially as he felt the school was too expensive, I was homeless and didn’t even own a car at the time, so the recruiter told me they had a presidential scholarship I qualified for which would help pay for tuition. I was told the scholarship was for $12,000, but wasn’t explained that that money would be spread out through the 3-4 years I attended, and that it wasn’t $12000 per each year but instead it was about $3,000 a year which was less than 1/7 of my $21,000 yearly tuition. The entire application for the scholarship took place in less than an hour. I don’t even remember writing anything on the one page application, within a few minutes she said I qualified and had me sign enrollment documents. I was in a horrible car accident about 6 months later, I missed some weeks of school but all of my teachers worked with me. However, my grades slipped barely under the 3.0gpa needed [for the scholarship] to a 2.97gpa. and the scholarship was immediately revoked. There was no option for me to appeal, even with the support of the administrative and faculty teams, the financial aid person refused to help. It is my sincere belief that the scholarship was just a ruse to get me to enroll quickly. After completing school that session I decided to transfer, because I felt like I wasn’t learning anything. I was encouraged to remain and told it would be best if I completed my degree because otherwise I would have to start over; it was only then that I learned that if I transferred to even local community college that none of my Brooks credits would transfer, and that I would be starting over.