As an admissions counselor for 2u, I can tell you that we never ever took on the decision for the school to admit, or not admit. That was totally on the school. I can tell you that it is definitely a sales job. We were told that from day one. We are told by managers to create urgency and have the student deposit, even when they still have months before they truly have to deposit just to get them hooked. We also tell them to fill out a FAFSA and get federal loans. We call them once a week sometimes two times a week and we push them through. Although typically an admission decision is good for one year, we are not to tell them that. It’s definitely a high pressured sales job, without commission. The more you bring in, the better. We need to bring in an unrealistic amount of registered students or we are put on a corrective action plan.
12 replies (most recent on top)
This company is gonna be another reason thousands don't pursue the completion of their degrees sadly
This org is also looking for tips on misconduct in higher ed: https://www.ppsl.org/contact (click Contact Us > Send Us a Tip)
Halperin's contact email is on the Republic Report website. Lisa Bannon may also be interested.
https://twitter.com/lisabannon
If you have evidence of securities fraud at 2U, please contact CNBC here: investigations@cnbc.com. They are doing a story on this now.
Crazy- leadership is Crazy!
These partner will soon, if they haven't already, realize that 2u is a shell of what it either once was (quite some time ago) or was promised/packaged to be.
No real quality and quickly evaporating quantity.
I was the most tenured on my team and had double my registered student goal for my last cohort, got laid off anyway.
The new process they started this year is to call people who requested program info or opened an application every day for 5 business days in a row. It turned us into telemarketers vs admissions counselors. Even the spoofed numbers we call from register as spam LOL
Quit tam. https://www.whistleblowers.org/faq/false-claims-act-qui-tam/.............................https://www.whistleblowersofamerica.org/
If this has anything to do with federal loans, you may want to contact the FSA Tip Line. FSATips@ed.gov
.........................If it's deceptive and misleading advertising and sales pitches, the FTC. The CFPB may also be interested.
Riddle:
What do U get when you partner a company (that seemingly only read a few cliff notes @ the legal requirements and moral obligations assigned to top tiered higher education institutions when dealing with prospects and students) with said top tiered universities and colleges?
(Hint, part of the answer can be found in the question. The other part of the answer? Duped)
I just had a friend of a friend apply for a 2U MBA program. They were highly pressured and did not even have their letters of recommendation in before they were accepted. This person is also taking out huge loans for the program and thinks it is awesome they were encouraged to enroll so quickly, because the program "really wanted them."
I found this out about it because my friend asked me to reach out when she thought the applicant (her friend) was being taken advantage of. By the time I reached out, they had already been accepted, sent in a deposit and were taking out huge loans for an MBA program they were not qualified to complete.
The friend of a friend is now a few months in and completely overwhelmed and people are dropping out. Definitely taking advantage!
"8pGs" - You described the AC role, of today, accurately. 2u can be described as one seriously shady place of business!
But, you may not have been with this org for as long as some others. In the past, 2u program management Had (at least a time or 2) also taken on the role of the applicant's admissions decision reviewer. For a long time, we were trained and required to say (as a pivotal selling point) that the review of each application ( as well as the courses taught) were conducted by the given school's faculty - hence, referring to the process as "faculty review." You'll notice that the process is no longer referred to as faculty review (makes you wonder what the process has morphed into).
And when a field member says this student is not suited and will not pass, they’re ignored and punished.