The North Coast College

The north coast college used to be the Virginia Marti college of art and design. I attended the fashion design program from 2013-2016 when I decided to leave because the fashion instructor, Judy *** got overly emotional and argued me because she felt disrespected by me not coming to class.
I already had a fashion design degree from the *** After leaving ***, I learned that I didn’t learn much from them as far as construction. So after looking at VMCADs curriculum, I decided to apply and got accepted.
There are so many problems I faced at this school. Racism, favoritism, unprofessionalism, lack of resources, lack of qualified staff amongst more.
First day I attended for preliminary classes, we had to buy a pattern. I never bought a pattern so I’m like, I’m reinforcing these with Manila board because this pattern was expensive but the paper is cheap. *** cussed me out every way about this board paper. She angrily says, that’s not for you to use. Then storms to the back of the class saying, he using up all the damn paper, we barely have any. It was a shock to me because at ***, supplies flowed freely. We got to use as much paper as we wanted. They let us take home whole roles of drafting and Manila paper. So that was my introduction.
The first issue was with the registrar Lisa who was not very good at her job. They only transferred about 4 of my credits, even after I gave them substantial proof that I didn’t need to take some of these classes. I later contested and got some transferred but ended up having to PAY to test out of classes I had already taken. Every quarter there was a problem with registration and it was not only a me problem, many students complained about Lisa. We would just sit and talk about how she never got anything right.
The second problem I came across was a co-requisite policy for designers, where they had to take Anatomy 1 along with Fashion Design 1. I didn’t know about this policy until I tried to take a design class my first quarter. And I could only afford to attend the school part time, which meant I could not take both Anatomy and Design at the same time; I guess they didn’t consider the poor students when they made the co requisite policy. They said they would come up with a solution since it’s a problem they’ve never faced. I, already having a degree, thought if I talked to someone, maybe I they would just let me take design first quarter. Besides, I didn’t need to take Anatomy or any other drawing class because I did at *** So I decided to write a letter to *** and the rest of the M family asking if they could possibly just let me take Design because that’s what I really needed and was there for. I gave the letter to the then education director Joseph *** I don’t even believe he gave them the letter and just read it himself because I asked some of the M about the letter and they had no clue about it.
The answer I got was a no to taking design first quarter. I thought it was stupid but I accepted it. The solution they gave me was to start with anatomy 1, and when I passed that, I can take design 1, then Ill keep alternating.
So my second quarter I took Anatomy, entrepreneurship and Millinery. I guess the original millinery teacher was going through something personal so they had a replacement. The class had no syllabus or any books, it was basically a sewing circle. There were different levels of student in the class from millinery 1-5. I knew nothing about making hats. First week, the teacher gave us books to pick out a hat. We did. The second week we came in, she asked did you guys pick a hat, then she said, ok, now make them, then went to go sit down at her desk. That was millinery.
I took Entrepreneurship with Katherine *** which was a whole issue. After about 5 weeks of class, I noticed that I hadn’t learned anything. We were just going over the stuff we were going to do in the future. I’m paying for this, I need to learn something. So I addressed it to her, she said were getting there.
So the next week was the midterm. There were 5 questions. I answered only 4 because I didn’t know the 5th. I turned it in, 3 minutes later I walk to the library room and checked my score, I had 100% which was impossible because I left 1 question blank. The girl next to me got a 80 something and she answered all the questions. At this point it was clear to me that she couldn’t do her job. She was a motivational speaker and was great at that, but being a college professor was not her thing at all. It was a bird course where you just fly right through it and I paid to learn, I’m not paying for an A. She would also forget homework that she assigned us previously. She would just ramble through class until it was over.
So the next week in class, I asked her a question, and she got mad and clapped her hands at me and said, I ????will ????talk ????to ????you ????after???? class????. Most people know when you clap your hands at someone, you want to fight. So I left the class to talk to go talk to the director of education ***. She hightailed it right after me, bombarding her way into his office behind me.
I told *** that I had an issue with ***, I told him that I felt she was incompetent as a teacher.
He immediately became irate and denied my claims INSTANTLY. Didn’t listen to my complaint, wasn’t empathetic, just flat out denial. He told me if I used the word incompetent again he would kick me out of his office. Then he goes over her accolades and then blamed it on me as if I had a learning disability. He really sat there and said, well maybe you’re just not getting it. Maybe the content is over your head like I’m mentally challenged. His solution was a tutor, then he patronized me out of his office, he says we all like you here, we think you’re incredible, then he digs his own grave by saying, I think you speak so well.
There is no situation where an old white guy should tell a young black man he speaks so well. What did he think I was supposed to speak like?
So I was offended and I addressed it to one of *** sons who was one of the MANY *** in administrational positions. They refused to punished either *** or *** and told me the class would change. I took entrepreneurship the next quarter just to see if there would be changes made and all she did was add a reading selection.
She was unqualified as a teacher and should not have been there in the first place. Dennis *** said out of his own mouth that he had known her for a while, so basically that was his friend who he gave a job. I’m not here paying for people who have no idea what they’re doing. How does that help me?
Next I was trying to add photography to my quarter. I was calling the teacher and the school because the camera they required was nowhere to be found. Finally I had to drop it because no one got back to me about the camera and it was becoming too late.
Come to find out, the teacher I was contacting was DEAD. No one told me that. The registrar didn’t even know and kept sending me the requirements for the camera even after I told her I wanted out. This speaks to the lack of communication between staff. Unacceptable and unnecessary.
Other stuff happened between this period but it’s not as important. I’ve had to call lawyers because of their incompetence.
So FINALLY, A WHOLE YEAR LATER, I got into Fashion 1. I was next to a white girl named Elizabeth. She was saying how this was her first quarter at the school. So since she was in fashion 1, I’m like....oh, are you taking anatomy 1 as well. She says NO, I didn’t have to.
I was so confused. It took me a whole year to get into a sewing class, and here is this freshman who got to stroll in with no co requisite. She said she had taken art classes before so she didn’t have to take the drawing classes. She also said her mom cursed them out. Meanwhile, I had a WHOLE fashion design degree and I could barely get credits transferred. Then I came across another white guy named John. No disrespect but he wasn’t as talented or as dedicated in the design department as most of the rest of us. Come to find out, he didn’t have to take any co requisite either. I don’t understand, because before I even started going all Angela *** on the school and built a reputation, I was denied entrance to Fashion 1. So I can only see one reason why they let them in and not me.
So in these design classes we only had one teacher and that was Judy ***. She was the ONE design teacher for ALL 7 design classes. Classes were OVERCROWDED. If you had a question, you would have to wait at the very LEAST 5 minutes to get some help....sometimes up to 15-20 minutes...in a three hour class. You had to FIGHT for her attention. She would just disappear sometimes and would get mad if you asked too many questions. She would forget to mark down grades amongst other issues. There were no extra study classes where you could get help. And once 5 o clock hit, Judy *** was grabbing her *** and hitting it. If you needed help after 5 you were ***. Which presented a problem in trying to get projects done when you don’t know what you’re doing and have to wait til the next day or next class when the project was possibly due. One quarter they stuffed about 3 or 4 levels into one classroom at once. There was no way to get attention because once she was done with your lesson, she was going to the next class. So I complained because I didn’t pay to be stuffed into a class with other classes. I paid for a full three hours of attention. They put John *** in the class to help which it really didn’t. That didn’t help because 2 still wasn’t enough. Most questions ended up having to be answered by ***. Or you would get conflicting information...even though Judy taught John at VMCAD. And when you needed help you would have to interrupt their gossip sessions they held in the back of the class. He was very much her pet and attack dog. He protected her at every cost, especially my last day when she had a emotional temper tantrum because I didn’t show up to class twice. That prompted me to leave. These people are beyond loyal to each other. An entire staff of good friends and FAMILY.
Most administrative positions were held by family members of the creator of the school and most staff were people that attended the school. So they had a tight bond and any complaint you had fell on deaf ears because they’re all family. Even teachers I loved ended up playing me like Patrick ***. He was the best instructor at that school and honestly didn’t belong in such a cesspool of a school. I gave him some of my notes and books from *** so I could test out and he “lost” them. The most educated and aware person at VMCAD “lost” a whole stack of books, binders and notebooks. Maybe he did, but I personally believe he just kept it so that the school had some kind of idea how to improve. I could be wrong though. Regardless I’m missing good notes from 2005 because of them. The school also “lost” my award winning design that I gave them to display.
At the end of the quarter designers would have a major project to present called Critique and they always picked a winner. I won one quarter. The next quarter I KILLED it. I fit wool so closely to my models body that Virginia *** herself had to ask was it really wool and got up to inspect the pants herself because she couldn’t believe it. But they gave it to my friend Hannah, which I had no problem with, her design was good. But the problem I did have was when Judy came up to me after and said, we WOULD’VE given It to you but you won last quarter.
Now ANYONE who attended that school in 2012, ‘13 or ‘14 knew that EVERY QUARTER they gave Kailey the best design award. Back to back. She won almost every quarter she was there, definitely consecutively, but it was a problem for me to win back to back. That’s the unfair *** I went through with this school.
Teachers would talk *** about each other to the students. We all knew a lot of their business.
The teachers would gossip about students to other students....as if the students never talked to each other at all. I was sitting in the room one day after class and Andre *** came in to converse with sarah, they were quiet and then suddenly he said as loudly as he could, if you don’t like it here, then you should leave. Obviously referring to me. They all always talked to Sarah. She was the holder of the information and I got a lot of my information from her, but the teachers constantly ran to her to tell her stuff. Teachers loved gossiping with students for some reason.
For example, there was an opportunity to design costumes for a Little Mermaid play at a local theatre. Judy *** told me herself that the director of career services, Matthew *** NEVER came to her with the opportunity. He never gave any other student a chance to have the opportunity by posting it or telling her to tell the class.
We just came to school one day and it was assigned and they were asking who wanted to be on her team and help her. They gave it to Jen who I am still friends with til this day. I love her but I have to be honest because of what this school is trying to do to my life now...but we ALL knew that she did not have the time to achieve this monumental life changing opportunity. *** said out of her mouth, After the Whole thing fell apart and the theatre had to FIRE us and go rent costumes, that she would’ve never picked Jen, when she knew that Jen had to travel 2 hours to school, two hours back home, had a whole job, and a kid and a marriage. She said that *** never even talked to her to see who would be right for the position at all. He just gave it to her.
***. I don’t think it’s fair that we’re just giving out great opportunities to people just because we want to *** them and not based on experience or skill. If we were just giving away the opportunity it should’ve gone to me or diamond because at that time we were the longest tenured students at the school and were in the highest level of design. This is the unfair *** I dealt with at this school.
Now, they have sued me because I owe them for the last quarter where I left when Judy went ballistic on me because I didn’t have the gas to come to class twice a week at the moment. After I walked out on her tantrum I went to John and that’s when he started defending her saying she feels like no one cares and no one wants her when people don’t show up to class. I don’t know what kind of professional gets emotional over attendance. At this point I feel like it’s my money and I show up to class when I want to and deal with the F or whatever grade that comes with the consequences. The class was draping 2. The whole class, ten weeks you are there to make just ONE gown. The first day you were to pick a dress. I hadn’t yet and she said that’s okay Then you were to pick a VERY specific kind of fabric that you couldn’t find at *** and HAD to order online. I hadn’t received my refund so I couldn’t get the fabric yet. There was nothing she could teach me so I just waited to show up until I had everything I needed because I didn’t have the gas or energy to get up and drive from Shaker to Lakewood to just sit in class for no reason. And she took that personally, how juvenile. And I guess john saw his master in such distress that he decided that he was gonna turn on me at that moment. So I decided to say *** that school. It wasn’t worth the stress and my high blood pressure.
That experience sent me into such a deep depression to where I’m just now coming out of it. I quit fashion and I quit life period. I laid around and did nothing for three years because I couldn’t handle anymore rejection. I quit trying.
Now they have sued me. Sent the subpoena to the wrong address. 6 months later AFTER THE CASE DATE, I got the subpoena.
and now are trying to garnish my wages from any job I get.
After all the *** this school has put me through, they are now trying to get $2,000 out of me. Even after selling the school to a man who’s supposedly a millionaire and doesn’t need my $2,000, they are adamantly coming after me for this $2,000.
I would not recommend this school AT ALL. I don’t know what kind of changes they’ve made since they’ve become the north coast college, but if they have any of the old administration, don’t do it.
I wouldn’t recommend fashion school AT ALL.
Coming from a person who has put themselves in extreme debt going to two totally different fashion schools, don’t do it. They cost WAY too much. You can learn how to sew from ***.
Getting into fashion IS NOT ABOUT THE CERTIFICATION, it’s about how much MONEY you have and WHO you KNOW.
You can be the most talentless person in the world, as long as you have money and the connections, you can get your clothing into major department stores. I’ve seen it myself....several times.
If you really want the hands on knowledge or the degree, I would recommend you go to this school and get the design knowledge because it is helpful. I would take the design classes and whatever few classes I had to take with it, go part time, and when you’re done with the design classes, just drop out. You’ll have all the design knowledge you’ll need. Then if you want a degree (which is not important in fashion at all), after you’re done with the design classes, transfer to another fashion school like *** But before you follow your fashion dream, go to trade school, get a trade, a job and work and save up money. Become stable, get a place and a car and build your life. THEN follow your dreams and go to college. If you go to college first and follow your dream like me, you’ll be a poor, broke desperate person trying to succeed at every chance possible. And every failure will break you. I know.
If you get a trade, which are in high demand right now because of silly people like me following their dreams, you’ll be able to have an income and have money so when/if you fail at your dreams, it’s ok because you’re stable.
This school ruined my life. It mentally sent me to a place where I never want to go back. But I would do it all over again because it taught me a lot about people and their behavior, how to stand up for yourself, how for profit colleges are ran and a lot about the people cuyahoga county.