Full Sail University located in Winter Park FL, has laid off over 150 Educational Faculty members on Friday May 2nd via Zoom.
Staff were blindsided by this and also the manner in which it was conducted. There are still scheduled meetings happening and employees who typically work on the campus are being asked to work virtually in anticipation of the Zoom layoffs.
@1f0 yep, me and four others got laid off from LA Film literally the year prior on May 1st, 2024 - the previous October, all but two program directors got let go on the same day.
@m3 I'm told there was. I'm not sure what was given, but when they had layoffs in 2013, those laid off received a paycheck for every year of service, so if you had been at Full Sail for 10 years, that equaled 5 months severance.
@16y Definitely someone who "failed up." She CONSTANTLY mentions that her parents were teachers as if that gives her expertise in education. If someone's dad was a doctor, that doesn't mean they can perform surgery...
@xp hey man I’m currently enrolled here right know getting my associates degree in graphic design, and I’m actually looking at switching schools know and getting a different degree as well since AI came out I know for a fact I will be wasting my time so I’m only 5 months in.
I need some advice am I going to be wasting my time reading all these threads got second guessing this whole graphic design choice
@g1 that’s pathetic, this makes me not even want to be apart of this school
@OP I worked there for a year and a half in Graduate Success and they constantly talked about hire ups talking about a plan to get rid of phone workers in trade for using Ai.
@16y add Jason Capobianco to that list! He’s going apartment by department and gutting roles.
Allegedly it’s not just FS. Their west coast campus, The Los Angeles film school has also been affected.
There is no such thing as 'tenure' at Full Sail. There is a lot of misinformation in this thread.
This same thing happened about 10 years ago. This is mostly fat being cut off the bone.
One person you can thank for Full Sail's over expansion and predatory degree programs is Nell Thompson. A VP who has spent a decade creating half-baked understaffed degree programs with record dropout rates. She has kept her job by firing subordinates, owning stock, and blaming others.
Fox 35 is looking to hear from individuals who have been laid off and are willing to share their stories. If you're open to speaking about your experience, please reach out to them. It's important that these voices are heard and documented in the news.
I was one of them. I worked there for 20 years as an instructor in the Education department. They said that my position was being eliminated and to turn in my computer by 4pm that day. That meeting was very cold, and it seemed like they did read from a script. It's a great year to be laid off!
At least my health insurance lasts until the end of May.
For those that are still there, this has to be demoralizing. If you think you're next, start looking for another job now and/or wait until they give you a severance check.
Extremely toxic place. Worked there for 8 years and questioned all my life decisions while there. If you weren’t fired, you should find an exit strategy immediately and save yourself.
I work here and I've heard there are 2 more rounds coming
Full Sail is a fu--ing cult where rich executives give their nepo babies 6 figure jobs while everyone else barely scrapes by. Greedy fu--ing pieces of sh-t.
I went to this sh---y school in the 2010s era and I loved the school at first. Then I met some unsavory teachers who should not have been employed there combined that with in my opinion their questionable financial aid department.
They were predatory from the start promising everything only to deceive and lie. So much so that after I graduated I applied for a borrowers defense and won getting every penny forgiven. After that I vowed to Help give documents to any student that asks for them, help compile more information and I will assist in any lawsuit that I qualify to participate in. I have spoken to thousands of people over the years telling my story in the hopes that no one else makes the same mistakes that I did. Seems I’m not alone in doing this as their enrollment is down and they have a bad reputation now.
After this came out about the way they treat staff and laying them off over zoom, which is unacceptable and horrible to treat your staff in that manner. I want nothing more for the school to go under and they are forced to sell that entire pathetic excuse of a school.
19 years at this for-profit college, multiple roles, and I thought I’d seen every sketchy playbook. Wrong. This place went from the a creative, fun, positive working environment to a micromanaged hellhole faster than you can say “student loans.”
Enrollment’s in the gutter, shocker! Students aren’t exactly clamoring to sign up when the college’s reputation is crumbling and tuition costs more than a luxury car. These layoffs are just the rancid frosting on this greed-soaked business model.
Everyone hates layoffs, but sometimes teams need a shakeup to declutter and reassess. Unfortunately that means some good people will get in the line of fire. During my time there about 25% of my instructors were incompetent or lazy and mostly there reading from a script, the rest were on a spectrum ranging from amazing to, at minimum, decent but still interested in growing or teaching others to grow.
Hopefully this is more of a growing experience in the long term, albeit painful in the short term
Just heard that 3 people from my team were let go. Two had been there Forever and were staples of our department. One was part time and that made it easy to chop I bet. God what a cr-p Monday.
This place is truly toxic. I worked there for 4 years under an extremely micromanaging boss who was only concerned about being the golden child to Senior Leadership. My mental health was at its worst when I was at Full Sail, and it seems other people I've talked with feel the same. They're cheapskates who are only looking out for themselves. I am now making $30K more a year with way less stress/mind games.
I hope they paid off the counselor who dropped me from school for being hit by a car on Semoran and needing physical therapy. There are some teachers there who truly care, and I hope they are able to hang in there or get a job at another school as they deserve if FS dies, but... That counselor who practically ra--d my future after I was hit by a car. I hope she has to live on the side of a bridge during a hurricane like I did.
Can anyone speak to whether or not any severance was offered?
Ah Fraud Scam University, doing Fraudscam Things. Colour me surprised.
I love this capitalist short term thinking brainrot these executives just destroy every product and service out there in the name of making 1% more profit tomorrow.
All true. Would have been there for thirteen years on July 3rd. The read off a script and the cut off of everything is immediate. They let go of another guy in my department who has been there for 24 years. I don’t see how the school is going to survive for another 4 years with the amount of money they waste. But…I’m just going to eventually find a place to work that definitely pays more. Full Sail doesn’t pay well at all. Good luck to those left and to those in the same boat as I am.
Funny they are still hiring when laying off people who have given years to this place. Of course departments still hiring are what make the machine run, enrollment, financial aid. If DOE shudders the house of cards will fall. The work will always fall on the people left behind. To all the pick me’s…don’t keep su-king G. Jones D**k, buddy!
Full Sail University is first and foremost all about profit and their bottom line. I’ve been in and around this institution for 20 years in different capacities. The shareholders care less about the staff and students and more about profit. They have some lame excuse of enrollment being down yet I know of several departments who have increased numbers. They have always overworked their instructors so this is no surprise that the remaining staff will be forced to pick up the slack. Don’t get me started on how they treat women. The executives have no clue what goes on day to day. Tenured employees of almost 20 years just let fog like nothing and all read from a script. PATHETIC!!!
I know of 8 people who were laid off. 1 was a position that was eliminated. 6 were employees who had been written up for poor performance. There are some people who have been barely pulling their weight for YEARS. I know of three instructors "left behind" who were appalled at the way assignments were being graded (and sometimes ignored) by those individuals. I'm not saying that everyone was a problem, but some of those "let go" were certainly justified.
They’re not done yet, there was more this week.
The two laid off in my dept. had been on "performance improvement plans." Thry were definitely low performers. Students are better off.
Management who I have worked with for over ten plus years did not even have the decency to reach out to see if I was ok. As always there was no real rhyme or reason as to why this happened. Only that the company had to make a "hard decision.". Good luck to all the survivors.
For all the employees, our hearts go out to you. Does this mean anything for the students? Are we just as fu---d?
Wow. What is the reasoning? Anybody know?
They read from a script and it was cold and heartless.
The best part, every boss took the next business day off to avoid being in the office when staff came in to collect their things.
Yep all true. Every dept is affected and it makes no sense in who they let go. You could be tenured high or low performer doesn’t matter. They just letting folks go and with no warning.
Some people were even asked to work from home that are usually on campus and some even had to meet with them on zoom on their off day just to be told they are fired . Cowardly way to handle it.
Can confirm this is true
All true
They have laid off people from every department to include many tenured staff.
I'm surprised the news hasn't caught hold of this yet.
10 people in my department laid off, friends in other departments have been laid off. Managers and directors have been laid off.
Can confirm this is all true.