What Kind of School is Ave Maria?

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CoolRich59

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I am still burning up about this.

Ave Maria aggresively recruited my daughter (numerous phone calls, mailings, and a campus visit), but she utlimately decided to go to the Univ of Dallas. Ave Maria promised her a number of times that they would refund her deposit but has never done so.

It’s not the money, what frosts me is their hypocrisy. They go around the country casting themselves as the vanguard of the restoration of Catholic culture and education, but then cheat a kid out of her admissions deposit. I think their behavior is shameful.

Here is the note I sent to their Associate Director of Admissions earlier this morning:

Mr. Williams,

When I look at Ave Maria’s website, I’m told that Ave Maria is an “institution committed to Catholic principles” and that its mission is “the formation of men and women in the intellectual and moral virtues of the Catholic faith”.

Well, from my perspective, Ave Maria is failing miserably.

Ave Maria was one of the schools my daughter, Abigail ******, was considering for the Fall of 2008. She applied to Ave Maria and was accepted. She sent in $150 as a refundable deposit; it was her own money she had earned while working in high school.

Abigail ultimately choose another school and requested her deposit back. She made the request at least four times but never received it. Due to the demands of her classwork, Abigail eventually gave up calling Ave Maria, figuring she was never going to get her deposit back.

However, I decided to step in and I called and left you a message on January 8th. A young lady from your office, Stephanie Smith, called me back on your behalf, assured me that she was submitting the request for the refund that day, and that Abigail would receive it within two weeks.

When Abigail did not receive anything after two weeks, I called you again last Thursday (January 22nd) and left a message asking you to call me. As of today (Monday), you have not called me back.

So, what kind of school is Ave Maria?

How does cheating prospective students out of their deposits help “form young men and women in the intellectual and moral virtues of the Catholic faith”? How does ignoring my calls and my daughter’s numerous requests reflect an institution “committed to Catholic principles”?

Richard ******
 
Hello,
I think from the lack of responses you have received here, you can see that people in Ave Maria are afraid to speak.
I don’t have any information that would really help you here, just that it is known that the school is having financial problems. I would say, please try not to take it personally, and know that the entire town may be in dire financial trouble…
 
At the very least they are not saying “you’re not getting your deposit back”. Maybe you’ll get it soon? I don’t know anything about financial trouble, but I do know when I get any money back -be it a rebate or refund - it usually takes awhile. I don’t think it warrants your assumption that the school is not promoting Catholic values.
 
Well, the good news is that my note finally did result in an apology and a check for the deposit.

For the sake of clarification, I’d like to point out that it took more than six months before they refunded the deposit. More importantly, my daughter called a number of times and was told someone would look into it and call her back (they didn’t), or that the check was in the mail (it wasn’t).

So, yes, I do believe this episode is a reflection of a school that is not abiding by the Catholic values it putatively espouses.
 
Rich,
A poorly run admissions department isn’t necessarily an unchristian department.

Before you ascribe bad motives to someone, consider they might just be doing more with less, and either didn’t have the money or had no way to track your request.

As someone who has worked in several startups, your experience could simply be a process problem.

Glad you got your money, though.
 
I have roommates and several friends that are students of or have been involved with Ave University/Ave Law School. It took 6 months to get your money back, but the bright side is that at least your daughter isn’t stuck there 👍
 
PaulinVA said:
Before you ascribe bad motives to someone, consider they might just be doing more with less, and either didn’t have the money or had no way to track your request.

As someone who has worked in several startups, your experience could simply be a process problem.
Click to expand...
Good points. One of my continual failings is to jump to bad conclusions and to impugne others.

However, I am a firm believer in the adage “Don’t make promises you can’t keep”. So, when someone told my daughter (more than once) that the check was in the mail, they should have put it in the mail themselves or made sure it was, in fact, in the mail.

Nevertheless, as you indicate, their lapse was likely due to organizational “growing pains” and not an intent to cheat my daughter.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and charitable admonitions. I appreciate it.
 
My cousin goes to the law school and he has said that the law school isn’t run too well by the adminstration and he has heard similar things about the university in Naples, Florida.
 
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