#rmcad

So when I applied it was a great school with a great reputation. This was back in 2011/2012. However, unbeknownst to me and everyone else, the school had actually just been bought out by a degree mill (Full Sail down in Florida). So the school looked great on the surface, and it was still fully accredited at the time. And for the first year or so things were mostly fine.

Then some student workers uncovered everything that was in the works for changes and came to the campus in the middle of the night and wrote it all down in chalk allllll over the campus. So then everyone else started showing up for classes and it all kinda went to hell that day. Rumors were rampant, a lot of classes got canceled, emails went out, meetings were held.

When all the dust settled, a bunch of really shitty changes had been pushed through. They moved us to a fully hybrid online/on-ground system which had been optional before, so a bunch of studio classes had been moved online which didn't fucking work because most people don't have a damn art studio at home. A bunch of the best teachers also left because they refused to teach online. They also shortened all the classes to eight weeks, which again doesn't fucking work for studio classes. They got rid of the career support department. They stopped letting students make their own schedules (and sometimes classes wouldn't even have a teacher or even a damn classroom assigned until the day classes started). And there was a bunch of other things that happened.

Financial Aid was also just completely screwed up. When I graduated I got a full accounting of my degree and there was about $15-25k that couldn't be accounted for, which was around 1/3-1/2ish of my total debt. It was from stuff like the wrong tuition rates being used, doubled fees, missing scholarships, etc. RMCAD refused to ever fix it. I never had one dedicated financial aid advisor, and I had about ten different academic advisors in my four years there.

The only reason I stayed is because I was DEEPLY depressed and unmedicated, and every time I would ask my mom for help or express how frustrated I was and how bad it was, she'd just brush me off and tell me not to give up on it. So I muddled through, even though I really wish I didn't.