Hello, my name is Tyler Dean. I am an Air Force veteran. I enrolled in Keiser University’s online accelerated Applied Engineering degree in 2021 to become an engineer. Keiser’s admissions counselors knew I wanted to become an engineer and told me that they were fully accredited. I realized after I enrolled, however, that the program does not have specialized accreditation, like ABET accreditation, which is what gives an actual engineering program validity.
I became suspicious about the accreditation because the coursework was so bad. It was full of errors. The classes that were specific to engineering were just awful. The math was all wrong and the instructors just read from a powerpoint. It seemed like the only qualification for the instructors was that they be able to read from a powerpoint.
There was no teaching. You had to read the book and teach yourself. I complained to the Dean about the poor quality of the classes, and that I realized they did not have an engineering program accreditation even though they told me they were fully accredited. The Dean said that while they were not ABET accredited, if one of us would graduate they could get accredited, so I should just keep going. I did not keep going. I withdrew in early 2022. It was clear that they were not educating us to become engineers even though the program was called Applied Engineering. Because they lied to me I wasted almost a year of my time and almost a year of GI Bill benefits, and I even ended up with $9,000 in student loans.
I am here today to ask you to think about experiences like mine when considering new rules for accreditors or any government agency that approves schools. You must make sure that schools are providing a quality education to students and that they are honest in describing the programs they offer and the accreditations they hold.
Thank you.
Student Veteran Submission- Tyler Dean