Hello, my name is Quenton Ross. I’m a disabled Navy veteran. I’m here to tell you that I did not get the high quality education that Full Sail University promised. Before leaving the Navy I was told about Full Sail University and I decided to give them a call. On the call they highlighted how the school was State of the Art and that the instructors were all from the industry. They told me that I would receive real world education and that their graduates worked on the biggest projects in the industry. I was promised an education that would ultimately lead me to a path of success.
The instructors at Full Sail barely cared about any of the students. Many of the instructors were not even reading the assignments we turned in. I know this because I turned in some assignments completely blank and still received an A+ and a generic great job! It was clear that some of the instructors did not know enough to teach the classes. They just taught from a powerpoint and regurgitated what was on the powerpoint. I knew I was not learning enough and I wanted direction, but they would not give any instruction or feedback.
After finishing the accelerated Recording Arts Bachelor’s program, I was not going to be able to get a job in the field and my school counselor convinced me to go for the Master’s Degree in Entertainment Business. The Master’s program was no better than the Bachelor’s. They did not provide much instruction and the grades were meaningless. They gave almost everyone in my class a Course Director’s Award to signal that you did exceptionally well and better than everyone else in the course. My final project was supposed to be a well researched and organized proforma, but I was never taught what I needed to know to complete the project. I couldn’t even get my Excel spreadsheet to calculate correctly so I just added random numbers. Still, I received an A on that project which was shocking.
I graduated from Full Sail in 2016 without having learned much of anything, and I never got a job in any way connected to my degrees. It is painfully obvious that I wasted my time and my student aid. I came out of Full Sail University having exhausted my GI Bill Benefits and with $100,000 in loans. I am hoping that by speaking today I will be helping other veterans avoid what happened to me. As you consider new rules, please think about experiences like mine to make sure schools are providing real training and education, which is what veterans and all students deserve.
Thank you for your time and effort.
Student Veteran Submission- Quenton Ross