University of North Dakota UND
University of North Dakota and UND aviation sucks. Do not attend this school. This site serves as a warning for prospective students planning on attending university of north dakota. More articles will be written in the future.
Grants and loans at university of north dakota
I urge any new prospective students to read this and think twice about attending the university of north dakota or UND aviation, especially the UND aviation program in Grand Forks, ND. This page was made by an average student who once attended UND. As you can see online, there is a lot of controversy over the aviation program as well as the school itself. This page isn't about its fighting sioux logo (although that is a MAJOR national debate right now and how the school is sticking up for the nazi. Google it to read about that other problem), but what this school is like for the average student who attends this university. Take this page as a review of university of north dakota reviewed by an actual A+ student who attended the school. You can see elsewhere that UND has much more of a bad name than any other aviation school as well as most other schools in the nation in general. Check the links on the side of this page to visit some of these sites. Hmmm, I wonder why that is...
University of north dakota financial aid costs
A lot of the blame for all this mess going on at UND falls on the shoulders of the administration and UND Aviation Financial Aid program. What will happen is your incompetent financial aid office at the university of north dakota will somehow get your papers mixed up and they will make you jump many hoops. Things never just seem to get organized there. This is what happened to me for many days there. I would be told that they would take care of processing my loans, send paperwork to the government for grants and the usual. While they say this, I would have to keep coming back every other day for months to check up on progress because the financial aid office is so disorganized and incompetent. As you guess, eventually near winter break you'll get letters from the financial aid office telling you that you have to pay off your balance for the Fall semester or you will not be able to attend school the next semester in the Spring. It's just a sick cycle going on at UND. So eventually, I had to drop out (pretty much kicked out on the streets in the middle of winter, 500 miles from home) of college because of this and fell about 8 months behind. Eventually after a cost of $87,000 in debt with interest over 3 semesters, I did transfer to a smaller but far more successful and effective aviation flight school that has an amazing aviation program and financial aid team. I've never had a problem since, so obviously something is wrong at university of north dakota.
"Graduated from UND's CTI ATC program in 2013 and over a year later I'm still waiting around with no job. I double majored in commercial aviation, but the pay at the regional airlines are so low ($16-20,000/yr). I ended up getting a job back home flying skydivers, but it isn't paying the bills. I was told about all kinds of great connections UND has and I would easily get a great paying job. Over a year later, I'm still broke and wondering why I didn't get a degree in business. Don't waste your money here, go somewhere and get a regular degree. If flying is what you want, go to ATP because they truly have connections. UND doesn't. As for the other comments about rude staff.. Its true, but thats just how they are up there"
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1403491085&u=841
Government funding at university of north dakota
In case you were wondering if I am making all this up, the following spring semester after I was forced to leave UND and go home, I got a financial aid check in the middle of May. This check was over 5 months late. If I'm not mistaken, this could be against federal law. If their financial aid office workers weren't so incompetent and got off their lazy asses and did something, I could have gotten that check in the beginning of fall and wouldn't have to take all that time out of classes and all that worrying about getting the "same story" lie from the financial aid office each day. I have PROOF of this, and when I get the time, I will scan all my documents and letters and the record of that late financial aid check and post this information online for all to see. I will also scan my letters of rare appreciation for earning a 4.0GPA and getting on the dean's list.
"I came to UND for UAS (unmanned aerial systems), but I was disappointed with my experience at UND. My professors were generally unhelpful and they didn't seem to value you as a customer or student. Its a huge school, so you're just a number here. Instead of helping or giving advice, my professors have generally told me not to return and figure it out myself. I will be moving to a different school and taking my money elsewhere."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1402121192&u=841
UND Aviation
I've heard from students who have attended UND, and attended other great schools such as Spartan and Embry Riddle tell me that the only reason UND was named one of the top flight schools was because they own more aircraft than most schools: basically they have more money. This says a bad thing. Like other students, I've noticed that the administration cares more about making the money and not about the students, which is why the drop out rate is horribly high. The administration claims they have the best aviation safety record in the country, but if you look online, you can see that UND aviation has one of the worst accident and aviation records. Students have committed suicide in aircraft at UND aviation, that's all you need to know about how badly UND can ruin people's lives. Take note, this isn't student error problems, crappy students or wash outs. This is something that goes far deeper than the classy flyer you get in the mail (UND aviation - Harvard of Aviation Schools) and their one sided sales pitch. I'm going to point out where the roots of these problems descend and if average aviation students were driven to suicide, I myself was driven to go as far as making this website. Also know, the students that committed suicide in UND aircraft were fine before they got into UND, they were some of the best and brightest. I was luckily able to pull myself out of all this crap by going to another school and get back on two feet again. I am especially far more determined to build this website against the university of north dakota... Well, let's just say "what comes around, goes around".
"Came here for aviation. While it is one of the best, I honestly would rather gone to a school far away from this school. People are friendly at first, and then people become hostile. I'll tell you why. It's because of the winter. Now it's bad enough the winters can go from October to May (we had a snow day mid-March), but it is the coldest winter you will ever experience. Google top cold places in U.S and Grand Forks, ND is number 2. And it lives up to the ranking. Me personally, I don't mind the cold since I am from the area, but it's the people that come here from around the nation. And when they all get pent up, the cabin fever starts to break out."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1401514439&u=841
Academic Programs at University of North Dakota
I would also like to say that I aced the private pilot 151 class and FAA test, but because of what the financial aid office did, I didn't get the financial aid that was ALREADY awarded to me by the government in the financial aid award letter. I wasn't able to complete the actual flight training because of this money problem since there was no way to pay for flight training. Therefore I received an F on my transcript which permanently ruined my 4.0 GPA status. Something got screwed up along the way at the financial aid office. The government approved my aid but it never got to me until months after I was forced to drop out of school. For all I know, that check could have been sitting in their office that whole time. Just like the time they told me they sent paperwork to the government in the beginning of the fall semester and after me coming back every other day for 2 weeks, a financial aid lady tells me along the lines: "Oh! someone was supposed to send your papers out, but it looks like they never did." The worst part about it is they told me the lie every day that everything was fine, yet they would be sending me letters every other day, threatening to drop me out of school if the tuition for the Fall semester wasn't paid. Yet they are the ones who are responsible for getting my money from the government, which the government already approved! If I had authority to do it myself, I would have, but this isn't the case. There isn't anything I can do at this point, I had to leave responsibility to the incompetent financial aid people of UND to finish it, and they failed miserably. Like I stated above, I eventually got my financial aid months after I was forced to leave due to no money! That just PROVES north dakota financial aid was at fault, not me! This is why a lot of students became depressed at UND. Students who had enough intelligence to actually do this stuff themselves but were forced to sit by without any control in these situations. I wouldn't doubt that this is one of the major reasons some of the brightest students at the university committed suicide: getting dropped out of school when they didn't do anything wrong, having to pay back student loans while you're not in school anymore and before graduation, tarnishing a perfect 4.0GPA record, losing all your money and having to move out and start over again months or years behind with a ruined credit rating, and having this all out of your control: courtesy of the University of North Dakota.
"Despite reading reviews about this college on this site and others, I decided to try my luck and enrolled in the Commercial Aviation degree program because I want to become an airline pilot. My biggest complaint isn't the -30's temps or the fact that there's nothing to do, but rather the professors that work in the aviation program show little interest in being helpful. I was shocked that my aviation professors were so mean and arrogant. The flight instructors are simply there to build time and get out. I felt like I was 'just a number'. I've decided to transfer to another school and pursue my flight training at a local school. If the faculty cared more about the students and valued their customers, then they wouldn't see so many students walking out the door after the first year and they wouldn't have to devote so much money into marketing!"
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1402797252&u=841
University of north dakota aviation program
The administration of the university of north dakota is also at fault and I will talk about this at a later time as well as the incompetent UND aviation administrators and the MANY stories I have to say about THAT. In fact, I just updated a new story so you can read all about the UND Aerospace Financial Aid problem
"I left Missouri to study Commercial Aviation at UND. I felt welcomed during the tour, but when I enrolled and started going to class, I was shocked to see how rude and unhelpful the staff were. The professors and their attitude toward you is why I decided to transfer to ASU. While I did complete my private pilot's license, I spent a lot of time on the ground because of the weather. UND housing is the worst, if you come here, please live off campus. I wouldn't recommend coming here."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1401323538&u=841
Living and housing at university of north dakota UND
You know, people like me aren't going to waste their time to make a website like this unless it something major happened. You don't see many websites like this for other schools either. I'm just an average student who accepts that once in awhile, people make mistakes, but they correct them and it's no big deal. UND made so many mistakes that it is just sickening and I'm not going to let them get away with it. I made this site to ward people away from going to this school for their own good and to get back at UND. They should have known not to pull a fast one with a 4.0 GPA student who knows not only how to build a website but also has professional corporate webmaster skills and online marketing skills in some of the world's most competitive industries to get this page on the top pages of Google when someone types in "university of north dakota" or "UND aviation" and it will hurt a much larger UND financially far greater than they hurt me... "Just like what has already happened to me, when you put enough pressure on a shining star in the night sky, it will reach it's critical point of no return and collapse into a black hole, you think it's gone but it STILL remains unwavering in its place, only now it's indefinitely..." (in roughly the same biographical words of a massively egotistic NASA/aeronautics UND "professor", who I would like to subtlety point out and who every UND student gets to meet at one time or another.) In the end, this will be resolved, whether it's getting a full refund plus compensation for the time lost or UND will lose millions with the loss of prospective student interest from researching aviation schools on Google.
"Sprint, don't walk, away from this school. Horrible institution for many majors (besides aviation and biology). Had many opportunities to transfer out, chose to "stick with it." Most miserable four years of my life. Close-minded professors, students, and community members. Racism everywhere. My friends and I joke that this place is a time-machine straight to the 70's: worldviews, buildings, you name it. If you have another option than this school, for the love of God: take it."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1393913845&u=841
University of north dakota Transcript
This goes into another subject as well with UND. When they forced me out of school because of the financial aid problems, all my grace periods on my loans expired, so I had to deal with all the trouble trying to avoid paying my student loans back while I'm only 1 and a half years into school. This is not something you want to deal with, and I've heard from other students as well that have had this happen to them. This is a widespread problem, it's not just happening to me.
"Came here for aviation as I had some friends doing the ATC program and commercial aviation. After 2 years, I have decided I have had enough with this school and have officially been accepted into a school in Michigan for aviation. Fact: If you don't finish all your flying by the end of the semester, you fail the ground portion as well and they make you re-take the ground portion next semester. Fact: The faculty aren't the worst, mainly laid off airline pilots with no desire to teach."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1395785500&u=841
UND Academics and programs
At my new school, there hasn't been a single problem, all my financial aid is in perfect status, there was never anything wrong with my financial aid status. The only problems that arise every now and then are things that happened back at the university of north dakota! Those problems never go away, it was all because of the incompetent financial aid office at UND. If i need something done at my new school, the problem gets solved in a matter of minutes and you never hear about it again.
"I really dislike attending this university. The aviation department takes a lot of money for what they offer and they treat me as if I were still in high school, not like a customer. The social scene is terrible since students have to deal with the gestapo-like campus police force. Not the mention the weather is so ridiculously frigid... However, I have met a lot of nice fellow students and a few nice professors, but that is not enough to prevent me from leaving."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1389755843&u=841
That is it for now, I will be back later to share more of the bad stories, this is only a fraction... There are a few new ones below that explain specific people involved and more details into this problem.
"The aviation department is large, and the name is known by many in the industry. But, bigger isn't always bigger. Here, you're just a number. The flight instructors only care about building flight time so they can move on, not your progress. They were treated the same way, so why should they treat you any different? The faculty are horrible, most are Teacher Aids with no clue on how to teach a class. They're just teaching because its a requirement for them to get their degree. The professors "advisers" don't give a crap if you need "advice". My adviser once told me "This is my second job, do you think I really care about helping you?" Moral of the story is, look somewhere else. Its cold, flat, and boring. Don't come here. Take your money where it can be appreciated!!!"
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1360037276&u=841
"This is my second year in the aviation college. As others have said, take your money elsewhere. I had a terrible experience, and I am in the process of transferring to Embry-Riddle in Arizona. The problem is customer service and they keep forgetting that students are also customers who can leave at any time."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1347674341&u=841
"I spent 3 years at this university in the Aviation program double majoring in ATC and Commercial Aviation. I have to say, it was the worst 3 years of my life. The city is boring, the faculty could care less about you, and the work load is super easy. Everything I learned could have been accomplished at a community college and a local FBO and at half the cost. Do not waste your money here unless you want to pay around $500 per flight lesson and be treated by snotty professors. Oh, and the University itself stinks too, especially the Dean of students and UND housing department. In terms of flying, there is discrimination with favor towards the Chinese contract students. In fact, China bought all of the UND planes as part of the agreement, so of course UND will favor the international students over the Americans. In fact, when you go here, YOU feel like the international student. I would go elsewhere."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1345926854&u=841
"I was in the aviation school because I read great comments on the internet. I usually don't review things, but I had such a bad time I had to tell the truth! They lie about the costs, faculty are mainly fired or laid off pilots with no interest for the students. Once they take your money, they no longer care about you. They treat you like they own you with no regard to customer service. They don't undertsand that students are customers, and can take their money elsewhere and influence others. So far, about 40 students in the flight school, including me, decided to take a stand and leave. In addition, we are spreading the message about how you will get treated like crap, live in the most boring place, and regret not taking this seriously. There are other options to education. The classrooms are old, the food is terrible, and the morale is lower than ever (they can no longer be the UND Sioux). Seriously, listen to this and take your money elsewhere."
Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/viewprofile.php3?k=1344466113&u=841
UND "Best" Aviation School: More Information and Experiences
- Worst Flight Schools
- UND Aviation Financial Aid
- UND Aerospace - List of undesirable facts, college life, costs and not-so-obvious reasons to steer clear from attending UND Aerospace.
- Warning to Prospective Students!
- UND Aviation