Hi Hi-
I'm a MO College student and while MO College used to be an independent school, it was bought out by CEC - Career Ed. Corp.
My tuition was around $12k wihtout the dell laptop they tried to sell me for like $2k. (I'm a computer geek - I already have 3 working computers - one's a laptop & I knew that they were overcharging at that price.)
It's a 9 month program with all your books, 2 sets of scrubs and your table included in the tuition.
Yeah..... I have had no problems with the texts - I understand that part of the game, but the table????
Oh no! They sell you an Earthlite Avalon package that has the padded face cradle, skinny bolster and carrying case for $519.17 - exact same package from Massagewarehouse.com? $369. Now, you can't tell me, that being an international company, CEC doesn't have a corporate contract in place w/ like Massage Warehouse or even Earthlite direct to get the tables. So, why are they overcharging the students by $150 for this?
If I'd had the spare $$, I would have not bought my table via the school, since I've heard that a Massage Envy just east of school is selling all their tables for $100.
I'm very disilusioned w/ the school practices, but most of my teachers have been fairly decent.
Check out who owns your school - if it's run by like CEC, be wary. Seriously - pay attention to your options.
And, if the school says, "Oh, your table is included in your tuition..." Ask them how much. If they say, "I don't know." Tell them to find out, because you want to know before you sign the papers.
Also, another sign to look out for, "Oh, we base your tuition on your income."
That's not exactly true. They apply for financial aid for you if they are an accredited school, but they usually don't "adjust" the tuition if you are in a lower income bracket than the next person who walks in the door. My tuition was around $12k like I said, but the next group to start immediately behind me? They raised the tuition to close to $16k, from what I heard.
Do your research & look closely. I almost jumped into one school also owned by CEC and didn't like the "sell sell sell" attitude they really had. Come to find out - their MT program is all screwed up. It's like a $17k/16 mos program and the new dept chair was never to be found, wouldn't return calls and such - even the staff didn't know who she was, since she never held staff meetings!
Okay, I have housework I need to get done if I'm going to get on the road to Chicago tonight! 8)