Porter and Chester Institute, Inc.

Change of rules and agreements.I signed up for the school in July of 2012 for the HVAC field. While signing up I explained to the recruiter that I have three children and may be missing some time due to their well being. She told me that it is understandable and that the school would help as much as they can. She then told me about the hours and how it worked. That to get credit for the course that we have to be in the class for at least 90 percent of the time. So we are able to miss up too 10 percent of the total hours. If we go over 10 percent we have to make up the hours until we are under 10 percent. If over 10 percent by the end of the course you fail the course, and if you hit 15 percent they drop you from the course. So they kept that up until my third term, where they tried to change the rule to we have to make up any minute missed, unless excused. Now if one of my children are sick and throwing up, I stay home from school. I tell them what happened and they tell me I need a note. From who? My dad? I haven't lived at home since I was 20, a note means nothing. I am paying to go to this school, if I could make it trust me I would but my children's health means more. I am only going back to school for their sakes. So me and a couple other students complained to [redacted]. He agreed to come to our class and explain to us the new policy. We tried to explain to him that this was unfair. So he didn't start the new rule until the next term. Well it's still hard to make up time when I work right after school. I work to put gas in my car to go to school, money to the school, rent, car insurance, and other bills. I really can't afford to miss work. So I went to [redacted] again and tried to explain my problems to him. He politely said that I need to stop coming up with excuses and that 100 percent is expected. Well this comment leads to another problem. In the HVAC course there are a lot of things the school needs to get so we can actually preform the labs and class work the school asks for us. I was in the Oil course first and some of the units we were told to work on had broken or missing pieces. Some units just weren't hooked up altogether. Screws were stripped on the trainer boards, when we told the teacher he said that we don't have the items to replace them. Then in my second course, Refrigeration, there was a whole section of the course that we are doing piping principles and its all about copper pipes and black iron pipes and we run out of copper. We tell the teacher, he tells the department head, and that was the last we heard about it. We never got the copper, so we had to just keep cutting the old copper and work with what we had. My third course, Gas, was the one we really had no problems with having stuff but, a good portion of the units we work on didn't even work. When we asked the teacher if we could try to fix them he told us that we didn't have the parts that we needed. And now I'm in my fourth and final course, A/C, and we don't have any refrigerant (R-22) to charge the units we are working on. Also, we still have the same copper problem as I did in my refrigeration course. So when the school asks me for 100 percent and they are only giving me 70 percent I think that the 27,000 dollars (roughly) I paid for the classes I'm taking is crazy. How come we don't have all these things we need? We were also told that we would get 2000 hours off of the 6000 hours needed to go for our refrigeration license. Now there is a rumor going around that we will not get them because none of the teachers here have a refrigeration license to sign off for the hours. I just feel that they sold me a dream and now it's becoming a nightmare. I have tried to be positive but, I can only give so much. I feel that the teachers are great but the people pulling all the strings are not doing what they are suppose too.Desired SettlementTruthfully I would like for my tuition to be paid for. If not all some taking off. Also, I would like to be able to finish of the rest of the year without having to make up the time owed. If they would like to change the rules they should do so in writing and have the people it changes on sign a piece of paper stating the rules had changed. Not just something that sounds like a rumor do to the fact that they send the change of rule by word of mouthBusiness' Initial Response Please state briefly what attempt you have made to resolve this dispute.After being notified of this complaint I spoke with the Career Program Specialist (Admissions representative), both day HVACR Instructors, the HVACR Education Supervisor and the student in an attempt to determine the accuracy of this complaint. The Career Program Specialist does not recall speaking to this student about his children and the possibility of missing time "due to their well being". Our Career Program Specialist also stated she never had a conversation with [redacted] relating to percentage of time that can be missed. She knows this because she has never had this conversation with any prospective student. Attendance is discussed during the interview process while reviewing our "Steps to Success" when it is explained that we expect 100% attendance, as the potential student's employer would expect. What [redacted] states in his complaint about time allowed to be missed is generally accurate with the exception that students are allowed 10 percent of "excused" absences. I did speak to [redacted] concerning attendance on more than one occasion. I explained that we do in fact have a robust attendance policy under which we expect 100% attendance. [redacted] comments that I came to his class and spoke to students because they were concerned that we had changed our policy when we had not in fact changed the policy. But there was much misinterpretation of the policy and after I explained the policy again and answered question all students said they understood it. [redacted]'s class was the only class which had questions and concerns about the attendance policy and it appeared the instructor did not adequately explain our policy of 100% attendance expected and 10% of excused absences allowed. Since there was so much misunderstanding of the policy I did agree with those students that at this point we would consider all absence to this point as excused but they would need to justify any additional excused absences and going into the following term there should be no one who does not understand our attendance policy. I specifically asked [redacted] if he felt this was a fair solution and he said he did. All other students agreed and thanked me for speaking to them.In our labs we have many units that students are exposed to during their education. A few units are not intended to be connected and are demonstration units only. Other units are wired not as they actually are in the field but again this is for demonstration purposes so that students can understand some of the ways the electrical controls work on these units. All other units are operational but it is not to say that on occasion a unit or component of that unit may break or accidently be damaged by students during their training. Instructors request repair parts for these units on an as needed bases and as soon as the repair item arrives the unit is up and running. If parts fail during the course, often due to the inexperience of the student doing the lab, they can be hard to replace quickly, which may cause a delay in other students being able to complete the labs. We place an order for these emergency parts as soon as we realize they are needed. Some screws on the equipment panels are worn and this is due to the high usage of students which is much higher than the normal field usage. These loose screws do not impact the students ability to perform their labs..All necessary supplies and materials are available to each student during the labs that they are completing that term. Instructors give their supervisors new parts and materials listings before every new semester, so that enough parts will be on hand. It appears that we had some instances where copper piping was not available due to student theft. We addressed this by securing our two storage areas and not allowing student access without instructor supervision. There is one lab during the Refrigeration course pertaining to soldering and brazing that the students perform and this class was able to accomplish this task. We also discussed that the use of "old copper'" is done due to high cost of material and the old copper is still sufficient to complete our training needs. Speaking to [redacted] I found out that his concern was he felt he was not proficient at this task. I explained that we are not training him to be an expert but to be competent a entry level technician. Proficiency will come with experience. I also arranged for [redacted] and his fellow students to be able to spend a little more time to practice brazing and soldering so that he feels a little more comfortable performing this task. He also asked if he and his classmates can spend more time recovering and recharging A/C systems and this has also been arranged with his instructor.Lastly [redacted] commented in his complaint that there was an issue with students receiving hours toward their Refrigeration license. There is in fact no issue at this time with students being able to apply for their license once they earn their field hours and applying school time towards this license. The guidelines for meeting the requirements of licensing are determined by the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety.It appears that my conversations with this student, as we clarified his observations and addressed all of his concerns, has helped him to understand and agree that most of his complaints were a misunderstanding of how he perceived the program to be run. We also spoke about his request for a refund and agreed that he did in fact receive the skills to meet our objective of educating students to be entry level technicians. He only felt he was deficient as mentioned above, in the areas of Brazing and Soldering and Recovery and Recharging. These tasks and procedures will be reinforced over the last 4 weeks of [redacted]'s education. We feel that we have addresses all of [redacted]'s concerns.

I am a medical assisting student at porter and Chester. I believe strongly after paying over 25,000 and a 13,000 student loan bill with 5 kids just to better my life for my kids I was horribly misdirected and mislead by the type of education I would receive . The instructor is does not teach students she does not prefer , she only puts attention to the students with stronger personalities or people that like her more. Very unprofessional and I am not the only student, I have just hit a breaking point and going to a higher manager of the institute only has got me looked at and accused of being a trouble maker and I am not. I am a single mother of five I expected to get a education that would make me succeed in life and from the angry students that have left ahead of myself , none of them are being helped or placed as also told by porter and Chester. I believe strongly I would receive a much better education at either another accredited institute or by just going to a actual college. When I approached porter and Chester in regards to just returning my aid and letting me go to another business they refused to let me go and said I would be stuck with all of my loan and no education. Again making me feel like I was the trouble maker . I just want the states money returned so that I can find a better fit for my education and help my family and I do not know where else to turn!Product_Or_Service: [redacted]Desired SettlementState aid returned, my student loan to go back to zero so that I can immediately find another school that fits my age group or learning pace. Just cut ties and never look back so that I may get a education to help my family.Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted] DOEContact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted]January 28, 2015After being notified of this complaint I interviewed the Instructor, the Department Supervisor, the Career Services Advisor and the student in an attempt to determine the accuracy if this complaint.Present for the discussion with [redacted] were [redacted] (Director of Education), [redacted] (Education Supervisor) and [redacted] (Campus Director).One of the issues mentioned by [redacted] was that the students with stronger personalities get more attention. She clarified this by stating that "in phlebotomy the students that are the first to begin the hands on activities are difficult to remove from that environment because they switch places with each other and don't give others a chance". The Education Supervisor made mention that we can correct this issue very quickly. He will work with the instructor on ways to give each student equal time such as making a list on the board for all to see with times for skills assessment. We will check up to make sure that this process is in place.[redacted] made a comment about going to a higher manager of the institute only has got me looked at and accused of being a trouble maker. She clarified this statement by stating "the reason I have not brought any matters I was facing to someone at the institute was for fear of being labeled a troublemaker", not that any staff members at the institute did actually accuse her of being a troublemaker. I gave [redacted] the process for bringing any concerns or complaints that she may have to the necessary personnel on campus which would include her instructor, the Education Supervisor ([redacted] the Director of Education ([redacted]) and then the Campus Director [redacted] also made a comment regarding students that left ahead of her are not being helped or placed. I reached out to our Career Services Advisor for placement information from the last two graduating Medical Assisting Evening classes. The PCI Chicopee campus had 6 graduates in July 2014 from the evening Medical Assisting class, of the 6, 3 are placed in the field. We also had 5 graduates in October 2014 from the evening Medical Assisting class, of the 5, 4 are placed in the field. When I gave [redacted] these statistics she was very surprised and pleased to hear these numbers.[redacted] and I have agreed that refunding her aid and having her student loan go back to zero so that she can immediately find another school was not what any of us wanted. [redacted] stated "I have no intention of leaving Porter and Chester Institute and do, in fact, want to continue and graduate". She also stated that "since I filed the complaint, things have gotten better mainly because I am in a better place and in a different frame of mind". She also has increased her communication with her instructor which has led to a better feeling about her decision to attend Porter and Chester Institute. [redacted] also stated that she will be calling the Revdex.com and updating them on our conversation and the status of her complaint.