Yelp Review 2024 #93: I've never heard of Trident University before but somehow they showed up on my credit report for sending me to collections! How can I enroll at a school I didn't even know exists??? I already have 2 degrees and getting a third one was not even a thought that crossed my mind. I, of course, had to dig and find out what this was about. They're an online school and all of my employers do not honor online degrees so, there's absolutely no reason for me to visit their website until I found out somebody stole my identity but with a different mailing and e-mail address. I contacted the collections agency they used and Trident University Ombudsman, Brandie Riegle who told me to file a police report and fill out forms to prove my identity. Obviously, they don't collect transcripts from applicants and only care about having them pay for tuition. It seems like their admissions process is backwards. Now, I had to go out of my way to prove who I am?! I reported the incident to the police and to FTC and sent Brandie Riegle the paperwork she asked from me but I never heard back from her. I've emailed her and left her voice messages multiple times. THIS IS A BIG SCAM! read more

I have no idea why this university has such a low rating on Yelp. I was with St Leo University for my Bachelors - not a great experience - and was looking for a new school when a coworker said she had a terrific experience at Trident. I checked it out and was so glad I did. Not only did I finish my MBA but went through and completed my DBA as well. Throughout the entire process I only ran into one professor that was a challenge - and when I reached out to my Student Advisor about it - she immediately linked me up with a different professor who instantly resolved the issue and I could move forward with confidence. Love this University and refer everyone I know to it. read more

Veteran's beware! Do not waste your VA benefits here! My admissions advisor and financial representative were fantastic, but that is all I can recommend about this school. I am so disappointed in Trident. A few years ago, I completed my Master's Degree from them and was eager, as a veteran and spouse of a 100% disabled Veteran, to return and complete my DHA with them. From the first day of class, it was a mess. I was told all books were included when I enrolled, but that was not true. I had to scramble to purchase a required book and, as a result, had to have it sent overnight at my expense. It was totally avoidable. After two weeks of class, grades had yet to be posted, so I reached out to my teacher requesting some feedback before submitting my assignments. The feedback I received was unfounded and provided by a faculty member who appeared frustrated that I asked her to do her job. The learning management system could be better. It was clunky, old-fashioned, and frustrating for students because you had to go out and back in to switch pages most of the time, and information was not easy to find about the course, rubrics, or required reading. Oh, and most of the references need to be updated and very old based on academic standards. Updates are needed very badly as some of the information I found has been republished already. I have a family member I referred to Trident who is experiencing the same problem with her healthcare faculty (not general education, as they are on top of their game), so it is a common incident. As a full-time professor and former Assistant Dean who has over 15 years of hands-on higher education teaching experience, I was very disappointed by the half-measures taken regarding my grades, poor attention to detail, and implementation of grading policies that do not exist anywhere in the literature provided by the college and my teacher, Dr. Geschke. From what I can tell, she is only invested in pulling another paycheck and not student success. I have since requested to withdraw as I do not have the time or money to teach my teacher how to be a teacher. I strongly suggest that Trident audit their healthcare faculty as soon as possible as they are not doing their job or following the school's policies at all. Veterans, refrain from wasting your time or benefits at this school. It is not worth using your VA benefits to be frustrated and disappointed. There are better schools out there. read more

Fellow vets do not attend this school. I enrolled, and they started my classes earlier than I wanted. Approximately two weeks into the course, I was told I was behind and didn't even know I was enrolled. Now they are making me pay $800 for the course. If I don't, it will go into collections. I asked if they could waive the fee and have me continue the school, but they refused. Don't go here unless you want to waste your money. Just checked the new balance its $925 now. Don't go here big SCAM read more

I received my BS degree from Tident, prevously Touro. My professors were responsive. The greatest challenge that I faced was the content delivery. CDs provided were helpful; however, we were expected (at the time) to read content from various web sites. On a fiew ocassions the web sites were no longer viable; however, after notification staff and faculty were very quick to provide an alternate web site location. I found that reading material from web sites and trying to link the material together resulted in a disjointed result. Ultimately, I went out and purchased books from bookstores for a consistent explanation of various topics. The extra research ultimately became a benefit as I really had to learn the material. For my MS degree, I chose a different university (also and online program). The difference was the university provided text books (eithe hardbound or digital); this difference enabled me to focus exclusively on the study material without the added challenge of interpreting web sites by different authors. I received a 3.8 GPA from Trident (BS) and a 4.0 from the university where I received my MS. I"m now considering a PhD, also online (necessary as a working adult). I am a Senior Test Engineer (full time) and an Adjunct Professor for large university (part time). The education is important...regardless of where you get it, go for it. Larry read more

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the communication and administrative processes at Trident University, which have resulted in my being dropped from my classes for the third time without adequate warning. Additionally, this lack of proper notice has caused my CHAMPVA benefits to stop, further exacerbating the situation. Dropped from Classes in January 2024: I was removed from my classes due to a payment set up issue. Despite making the required payment setup, I was dropped from the class the very next day causing delay and inconvenience. Dropped in March 2024: This time, I was dropped due to issues with transcripts, I wasn't given any notice about me getting dropped if I didn't provide for my transcript. They advised me to start my class regardless of not providing any documentation about my old school. Even after letting my student adviser know several times that I haven't been in school for 30 years and I can't remember the last school I attended. I received notification only a day before being removed from a class that I had already begun. Causing another delay and inconvenience. Dropped in June 2024: After making my 3rd payment. I was again dropped from my class in the middle of the session without any prior warning. Causing more delay and inconvenience. These repeated disruptions have not only caused significant stress and inconvenience but have also resulted in a loss of money and time. Moreover, these issues have negatively impacted my Chapter 35 Navy benefits, affecting my payments and my ability to complete my classes. read more

Trident strong is a bunch of crap! I am a long time trident student who was in the doctorate program who had a professor that took days to respond! I filed an extension to do my work and was corresponding with my Professsor who took 8 days to respond to my emails on a 14 day extension....almost half the time of the course. Required to pass B- I received a C+. Filed an appeal DENIED. It takes days to hear from anyone!! However when they are trying to convince you to enroll they are persistently contacting you. I have THREE degrees from Trident. However no understanding or compassion was given to me!! read more

I am finishing up my Associates for Cybersecurity relatively soon. I must say this school is the worst. They genuinely don't care about their students, just a cash grab university. I have friends and colleagues tell me about how helpful their schools are with helping students. Not to forget some of the schools give vouchers or include certificates to help build resumes. Where this school I have to pay $150 for a piece of paper with no ceremony? Moving on, the course resources are horrendous. I had one class where the video was outdated (2002). Some of the professors/staff are helpful but most take a long while to reach back out if you need help. I think the school would be better if they updated course material, exams and reduce the amount of essays you have to write per course. In one class I had to write two 2000 word essays. I will not be returning for my BS since I found another case grab school that will at least give me certificates for CompTIA and others. Update: As stated before finished up my Associates. I contacted the personnel from the Registar primarily Jose. He is a pain to get in contact. When you call it goes straight to voicemail he takes about 3-5 days respond to an email. Sometimes he won't even respond. My main concern was to get my official transcripts sent to the next university I will be going to. They can't even follow a simple request. He had the company Parchment send my Diploma electronically and physically mail the transcripts to my house. I don't need the transcripts I need my school to get them so I can finish my student orientation and enrollment. Thanks for nothing; I to this day will still say it was a mistake going to this university. I should've just paid for a cheap cloud certificate then use that to get into WGU. It would be done already and so much easier. And again why did I pay $150 for a piece of paper if 1.) when they "ordered" them they did it wrong now I have to pay to get an additional transcript sent. 2.) it's not even a physical copy anymore. read more

I am a Masters student at Trident. While the cost to get a degree is unbelievably low, it is the format of how they teach and their amazing professors that make this an obvious choice for any adult learner. I am civilian but what I live is how Trident services the military population in a way no other brick n mortar school could. I enjoy engaging with my fellow classmates and learning more about what the military student does for our country. Hats off to them and to Trident for being so supportive. read more

I graduated Trident's MBA program while I was still active duty awhile back and loved the support I received during my time there. I am contemplating returning for a DBA. Just trying to figure out how to pay for it since I have one child in college and another one starting next year. read more

One of the best staff and facility I've been involved with. All my professors were very demanding on work excellence but most important they were fair across the board. Thank you Trident for giving me the opportunity to accomplish my goals. "Awesome Educational Institution" read more

There are some really great people at this University that are committed to helping you achieve your goals. I have had advisors and professors that have been less than excellent, but the university has worked with me (when I made concerns known) and ensured that I can complete my degree how I need to. Rebecca Jones and Olivia Caballero were both instrumental in assisting me and correcting past mistakes, both from the university and myself. It is a worthwhile university to attend, just ensure that if you are having an issue find the people dedicated to helping you succeed. read more

Trident University International (TUI), recently acquired by American InterContinental University (AIU), is NOT recommended. TUI is no longer WASC certified and they don't care about their students. I have a 3.9 GPA and I completed all the required courses for a PhD in Business Administration over a year ago. I formally requested a new IRB chairperson in June 2019 so I can complete my dissertation and graduate with my doctorate. After ignoring my emails, I may have to reapply again and likely have to pay more money. I should start charging Trident for lost wages because I should have had my degree already. It's very unprofessional and disappointing to a student who is buried in debt. read more

If I could rate this school a no-star I would. My experience hopefully will help someone in deciding to go or not. The administration staff is quick to get you signed up and collect your money however, they are lazy in getting back with you when help is needed for actual class time. They string you along until the drop-deadline is passed so you can't get a complete refund for withdrawal of a class. They are quick to try to collect money but super slow in responding back to you with the help needed. Do NOT attend this University, find another creditable university to attend. read more

I appreciate the time I had at Trident and the skills I received through my education there. They do online education right. I had professors call me and personally interact through my course work. The guidance counselors stay engaged and ensure that you are on track with your education goals. Financial aid is very interactive and helpful, and they make an effort to make school affordable especially for service members. My favorite class walked me through the job application and hiring process. From writing a letter of interest to how to professionally decline a job offer, this was one of the best classes I have ever paid for. I would highly recommend to anyone seeking a program that is friendly to those with a busy schedule and feels that education may be out of their reach. I am currently in a traditional Grad program and I feel that Trident set me up for success in higher education. read more

My experience with Trident University has been very positive. I started a bachelor's program in 2016. During the admissions process the staff was very helpful and quick to respond. I spoke with several people who guided me in a direction to maximize my GI Bill benefits. I was impressed enough with TUI to continue my education there and am in the later stages of a master's program. I feel TUI has several things going for it which help it stand out. * Regionally accredited. Accreditation is a requirement for me to attend a school. TUI was WASC accredited when I started. It has recently changed accreditation to The Higher Learning Commission which is another respected accreditation organization. * TUI has a preset course format. Many schools treat online classes as an afterthought, with format and expectations drastically changing from one class to the next making the most challenging part of any given course figuring out what the professor's expectations are. The coursework at TUI is challenging and the information presented in the class is good. Having consistency in delivery allows the student to concentrate on learning subject matter instead wasting time trying to guess at what is required. * Grades rely heavily on essays. This was extremely difficult for me at first. I have always been a good test taker and relearning how to write essays 25 years after graduating high school was very difficult. Despite the challenges of this instructional style I stuck with it and appreciate it for two reasons. First, I figured it would turn me into a much stronger writer, which it has. Second, I have watched students at other institutions breeze through classes after purchasing test answers online. The nursing program at a local college is notorious for this. I feel Trident's requirement for writing essays and submitting them to plagiarism checkers significantly reduces the rampant cheating that occurs at other institutions. * Responsive professors. Most instructors respond within 48 hours, with many getting back to students much faster. * No political indoctrination. It seems like students can't get away from political indoctrination forced on them by professors in higher education and often student grades suffer if they do not fall in line. During my time at TUI I have only encountered one professor who tried to push a political viewpoint but even when students openly disagreed with her their grades did not suffer for it. TUI has a very large proportion of military and former military students. Even some of their professors are prior service. This familiarity with the military makes it a great choice for veterans. Their experience with the GI Bill makes it much easier to resolve problems which arise. Student discussion boards often relate to student personal experiences. Veterans will appreciate how easy it is to relate to other students when they have so many shared experiences. The only concern about TUI I have going forward is its recent acquisition by American Continental University. ACU has unfavorable reviews and is currently having issues with the VA. So far, I have not seen any significant changes since the takeover and am cautiously optimistic. I would seriously suggest prospective students pay close attention to future reviews to determine what impact, if any, the ACU takeover has on TUI. read more

I had a great experience with my Masters program at Trident University. The staff and faculty was never less than excellent. I would recommend this school to anyone without hesitation! Best of luck in your education pursuits. read more

This review is because of the experience I went through during the admissions process. They require a TRA (Transcript Release Authorization), pretty standard but not always honored by all schools. When they attempted to retrieve my transcript from a previous college they were denied (which my previous college had a right to deny, in all honesty the TRA looks very unprofessional and when digitally signed your signature looks akin to a Lucid`a Handwriting Font). TIU's representative Leslie fabricated a conversation between my previous college and herself stating that I had defaulted on my student loans with this particular school and I would have to retrieve my transcript from the school. At this particular school I had been able to attend due to PLUS Loan, there were no loans in my name, no outstanding balance, and I was in good standing upon exiting. I called the school to verify what had taken place between TIU and the institution, the exchange was documented in their system. I would have respected her and this institution more if she had admitted they had been denied access to my student records. It sent me into a panic attack, I went back into student loan history to recheck all of my statuses, called old schools, made sure I had not been accidentally dropped from one of my current courses to be sure my In-School status had not been affected by some unforeseen circumstance. There were no errors and I suffered copious amounts of unnecessary stress in my personal, professional, and academic lives. Do not attend this school. read more

Short Version: great staff, good content, poor content delivery. ===== [Categories that won't be graded: professors (had the same professor for all three months I spent with the school) and value (which would be whether I could pass one of the national exams after graduation).] Admissions: 5 | Ron(?) was there every step of the way, called me a few times, had his supervisor talk to me at one point...I don't think there were any questions he left unanswered. When he finally handed me over to my advisor after the first week of class, I didn't feel abandoned at all. Advising: 5 | I think it says something about a school where the only thing I'll miss more than my classmates is my chats with my advisor. Rafael has to be the best, most friendly advisor I've ever had. Even when he was out sick on Tuesday, his colleagues jumped right in and ensured I was able to withdraw less than twenty-four hours after I put in my request. Thank you for your dedication and care! Financial Aid: 3.5 | My FA rep gets five stars; it's just the system that he works within that is less than stellar. The online bill takes forever to update, so I was two weeks into class before my financial aid registered, leaving me a little paranoid. When I withdrew, I was told I might have to pay in (despite quitting the second day of my fourth month), and it took me several days (and emailing several people) to find out whether I owed anything. I'm still waiting to learn whether they're sending the remainder of the money to me or back to the lender. Content: 4.5 | Did I pass the quizzes? Yes. Was it interesting? No, at least not last month. (But electronic health records was never going to be an exciting class to begin with.) The bigger problem (and what drove me out of this school) was... Content Delivery: 1 (and that's probably being generous) | Last month, we were introduced to simchart, which had quizzes after each exercise on topics that were never mentioned in class and that we didn't have a textbook for. (One was on advanced directives--something I haven't studied since undergrad 11+ years ago.) When I discovered that these quizzes affected our grades, I appealed to the professor, whose department head eventually ruled that we shouldn't be graded on them. I found a textbook that looked like it belonged to the class...on Amazon, at the end of the month. (We were given ebooks, but there didn't appear to be one for EHR--at least for the first few weeks.) On Monday, I received codebooks for this and the next several months. Since they bought us packages from a national organization, they apparently assumed everything we needed was there. After comparing covers and information on Amazon, I realized we were missing the primary book (which is apparently not even sold individually on this organization's site) and got upset. I considered giving them the end of the week to get this book for me, but decided that after last month's fiasco, I wasn't going to wait around for them to make a third and fourth month's mistake. Conclusion: 3.8 stars. If I'd been aware before enrolling that Trident's billing/coding program was relatively new (according to my professor), I probably would've gone somewhere else rather than risking what might have been the beta test. read more

Do yourself a favor and spend the time to find another university to complete your Phd. This place is fine till you reach the dissertation process. I have been waiting on my thesis advisor for 1 year to move the process along. The comments are vague and she responds once every 2 months to "show" that she is being involved. Even after expressing my concerns to the dissertation dean in multiple emails, no action was taken. If i had a way to I would transfer to another university. They do not care about you in the dissertation process and If i knew this i would have never started here 4 years ago. read more

Trident University International was the most educational online institution in 2011. Everything about the school worked for the military student. No books, but that doesn't make it easy. It meant you must obtain your own research materials. No tests, tests are replaced by 10 research papers and 5 online discussion threads which the student must participate in, per course. What can I say about Trident....Here is the downfall as a Veteran I have learned that in 2017 Trident University International had used misleading information to recruit "survivors" who have Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. Survivors are the children of a father or mother who was killed while on active duty and their widows or husbands. Trident was sold and merged shortly after this became public and General Looney and Lieutenant General Metz along with fellow board member Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) William J. ("Joe") Gainey were replaced with AIU Board members and Trident was merged into American Intercontinental University who the VA intends to suspend enrollment of new GI Bill students ASAP. (After careful review and consideration of findings provided by the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General Offices, VA has concluded there is sufficient evidence to support a finding that these schools have utilized advertising, sales, or enrollment practices that are erroneous, deceptive, or misleading either by actual statement, omission, or intimation against GI Bill beneficiaries, in violation of the law.) read more

Excellent University! Trident offers a flexible educational opportunity, for those individuals that are searching to pursue their career. We all work as a team and gaining remarkable insight. I highly recommend Trident University International where your dream will come true. read more

I spent thousands on doctoral program not worth much. This included having no dissertation protocol to follow and really poor customer service. read more

I graduated with my Bachelors and my Masters from this school. I am the first in my immediate family that graduated with a Masters degree. I worked extremely hard to get to this point to do something many people said i would never do. I spent a lot of money and long nights to be able to walk cross the stage with my Masters Degree in front of my friends and family. I understand covid-19 is here but a virtual ceremony is unacceptable. They could of moved it back to the end of the year of gave us an option to walk next year. read more

Something not jiving here!! They will sell you one program , and change your degree path to graduation. Issues with accounting, and many of the courses are repeat information with a different course title. An audit for the Department of Education is due. read more

Trident University promotes themselves as military and veteran friendly which is true unless you have a life issue. I had death in my family and asked for an extension to deal with the funeral service and family grief and they took my tuition money and denied my extension request. Now they want to charge me a second time to take the same course again. They accept no accountability and wonder why I won't reenroll. They will screw you if life happens to you, Veteran or not! read more

Really good school. Having attended a UC for under grad , I went to Trident for a masters program and the academic rigors and paper writing were much more challenging then a lot of the work I did at UCSB. Granted it should be being a masters program, but it was very educationally enriching. Also the online environment worked great with my schedule working and raising kids. read more

Trident offers a flexible educational opportunity for busy people wanting a degree. By no means is Trident easy, the research and writing is proportional to what you want to learn. I am a Trident alumni and I strongly recommend Trident. read more

Got help when needed. Received my graduate degree. I'm satisfied!

I completed my Bachelors Degree and my MBA in this school. I had an experience here that I was and am proud of this school. When I was taking my MBA, in one of the course, I had more "A"s than "B"'s, and ended up having final grade of "B". I disputed the grading because I thought I'm supposed to get a final average grade of "A", but according to their computation, it should be "B", and I'm glad they stood behind their policies because I can tell that this school is not one of those diploma mill kind of school. Proud of you TUI. I'm thinking of getting my doctorate degree in the fields of Quality Assurance. I hope they have one. BTW, all their Professors have Doctorate degrees, and they are all great and available for questions. read more

TUI is a great school with high quality professors. I see some people who expect TUI to be Harvard and then complain because its not. This is a great school and the MBA is very challenging and difficult. I have attended 13 schools throughout my 21 years in the military and this is up there with the top brick and mortar schools. Yes it is online and yes it is very military friendly with flexibility of classes. However, that does not mean this is an easy degree by any means. I have read the reviews of people in Bachelors degree program saying how easy it is and they must not have had the instructors I had. I have learned a lot with all the classes I have taken with TUI and have recommended this to colleagues and friends. I have never had any issues with my advisor, in fact Christina if you read this you are awesome! read more

I just graduated here with a Bachelors degree and am very happy with all the classes I took. All of the professors were different on levels of difficulty for each class. I felt that I learned so much by doing the work on my own, on my own free time and at a steady but consistent pace. The discussions with other students were very insightful and always interesting because you actually were engaging with real people with real opinions. All the other students in every class I took were military. I felt like I was the only civilian at this school but that was not a bad thing at all. It was nice to hear personal experiences from people that fight for our country. For the people that get bad grades at this school...that's most likely that you did not perform well and not anyone else's fault. I would never blame these professors for my own failures...if anything they always gave good feedback to improve upon my own work for the next assignment. If I didn't do something good enough, they would tell me their honest opinion as to what I did and how to fix it for next time. I feel like you don't always get that straightforward input from regular brick and mortar colleges. Luckily there was no such thing as failure for me at this school as each class had its own syllabus outlining exactly what was needed to get a good grade and understanding of what the professors expected. There was a lot of work to do but it was doable even with a full-time, graveyard shift job. Worth every penny I have put into this education. The prices are not that bad and they do give discounts for military and law enforcement families. I would love to go for my Master's here but plan to take a break. Hopefully when I come back the prices are still reasonable for the Master program I want to take. I think the turnaround for jobs here is high because I always spoke to a new student advisor for every session. I do wish that they had nursing degree bridge programs as this is something they need to get into. Also, if they had more science courses (no virtual labs but those at-home ones) that were transferable to regular colleges, this school would be absolutely perfect in my eyes. read more

Trident is a good school if you love to write papers. I personally didn't feel like I was getting anything from Trident. Technical classes were nothing more than writing 2-3 page papers. Not to mention there was a 2-3 page page for case study and 2-3 page paper for SLP. I find it impossible to develop a technical skill from writing papers. The upswing is my student adviser was helpful during my time at Trident. read more

A wonderful online educational experience if you are serious about getting a degree. The rigorous program at Trident really enabled me to learn much more than I ever imagined. More importantly, I am able to apply what I have learned in my professional and personal life. Thank you Trident University! read more

If you are planning on using federal financial aid, I urge you to find another school to attend. The US Department of Education as placed them on a Heightened Cash Monitoring 1 payment method because of compliance issues. This means that TUI will string you along about your financial aid, sometimes outright lying, until you end up owing them money or are stuck in their crappy, overpriced institution. They have no regard for their students, only the profit. They are not required (apparently) to notify you of the HCM1 status and will pretend that financial aid will be disbursed as usual. I am now going to owe them money and lost loans for a good institution like Western Governors University because I did not do my research. Please do yours and choose someone else. read more

This is a good school to get your education from, and I don't want to detour anyone from going to this school, however with my experience, I found out first hand on why its a for profit school. I was in the Master of Arts in Education, and I was close to graduating, and one of my courses, I wasn't doing so good in, but I asked the professor what can I do to bring my grade up, but she didn't give me a straight answer, but using the grading scale, I was able to calculate what I needed to pass, and I ended up getting the grades to pass, but when I the final grades cam out, I ended up with a C+ instead of a B-, which made me fail the course. I tried to appeal the grade with the director, but of course, she sided with the professor, and my academic advisor didn't even put up a fight, telling me to appeal the grade, but even she didn't have any faith that it would change, and advised me to spend more money to take the course over. Apparently I was on academic probation the whole time I was in the program, and I had a 3.1 GPA with 40 credits, four credits over what I needed to graduate, I passed my capstone, but failed a concentration course, and it got me fully disqualified from the program, with only one course I need in order to graduate, and if I choose to go back into the program, I have to wait a whole year to reapply to take that one course over again, but its safe to say that I'm not returning, because when youre there, youre on your own, theyre always in favor of the professor and not for the student, even though youre paying your good money for their programs. I'm just confused on how do you fail a course, but still get credit for it? read more

I was a transfer student and two admissions advisors (Rachel and Melanie) both told me that I would receive credit for the two graduate classes that I completed at another university. This was good so that I would not have to complete the same classes again both Rachel and Melanie LIED to me in order to get me to attend Trident. I used the complaint resolution system to no avail. I spoke to vice president Liz who did nothing. My suggestion is to find another university because these people are liars and do not honor their promises. read more