Complaint Review: Westwood College - Denver Colorado

In 2004, at the age of 52, I decided it would be wise to further my education, like the advertisements on the TV say, and thereby, be able to find gainful employment in the field of my choice.

My Daughter drove me over to the Westwood College Denver South Campus at 3150 S. Sheridan Blvd., Denver CO 80227. We went in to the office and were taken to where we could speak to a counciler, who talked to me about what my plans for the future were. I told her I would like to be a Victim's Advocate. The lady talked to me about taking a course in Criminal Justice, in order to achieve my goals. I thought that it was a good idea, and went ahead with setting up student loans as well as the pell grant.

Around October 11th of that year, 2004, I started my College career. I enjoyed the classes and maintained a high GPA of around 97. As time went on, I took even more classes per term, and stayed in classes year around, to make sure I would graduate early, and be able to get into the work force with as little delay as possible. I ended up finishing my studies in December of 2006, a whole term before my classmates.

It wasn't until the very end of my last term that I learned that it would be difficult to almost impossible for a person my age to obtain employment in the Criminal Justice System. As I aready had my degree, I tried not to let this knowledge deter me from going online and filling out multiple applications. I filled out applications on top of applications to no avail. I finally did get a chance to go in for an interview for the position  of a probation officer. The interview was enjoyable, and went well, but as I walked out of the office, the waiting room was filled with young people seeking the same position that I had just interviewed for. Needless to say, I didn't get the job. I constantly called back, to check for information on the job, and wasn't able to get any, until finally one day when I called, the man who had interviewed me happened to answer the phone. He promptly informed me that they had hired someone who was more qualified for the position. We can't cry age discrimination, when the very nature the field, requires the hiring of younger individuals. It would have been good to have known this prior to putting so much effort into getting a $65,000.00 degree.

While in College I was able to pay back approximately $30,000.00 through monthly payments, grants and scholarships, but after graduation, finding that ellusive job, was becoming more and more difficult, as I was getting older, and older. It came to the point where I was being called and threatened by debt collecters several times a day, and the harassment was unbearable. Finally one day I read somewhere that if you are being harassed by debt collecters, all you have to tell them is that they are not to call you again, or you would file charges against them and/or sue them for harassment, so that is what I did, and they left me alone.

Now, I am in the process of getting out of default on my student loans, but I don't know what will happen when the cost of my monthly loan payments go up. Keeping up on my son and my living expenses is difficult enough, without trying to decide whether to by food or paying to stay out of default again. I really need help.