Sylvan Learning Centers

Donna of Camas, WA February 19, 2009

Donna of Camas WA (02/19/09)
The Sylvan Learning Center my child attended went into bankruptcy. Do Not pre-pay if you send your child there. It may reduce your payment a little but you won't get back any money still in your account if this happens. A concerned teacher is the only person to contact us and let us know they closed. Of course, she lost her job and had no idea what was going on but at least gave us a call rather than have us show up and find the note on the door telling us they were closed permanently. I know it is a franchise but shame on the corporate office.

Jamie of San Diego, CA January 29, 2009

Jamie of San Diego CA (01/29/09)
My son attended Sylvan Learning center for a total of 9 months while in 1st and 2nd grade. During this time I received bi-weekly reports stating that his progress was good. My son received multiple awards for passing each test and advancing to the next level in both reading and math. I noticed that the reports I was receiving from Sylvan were contradicting compared to the reports my son was bringing home from school. I eventually addressed my concerns with Sylvan which led the Director Rebecca to make the decision to offer a few free sessions.

Needless to say the sessions were a waste of time just like the entire 9 months. I took out a loan through Sallie Mae for 7,000 which I am still paying 55.00 monthly. I feel cheated, my son is currently in 3rd grade and was just assessed with a learning disability. Sylvan took advantage of the opportunity to make money instead of helping a child who was in need. I have read the other complaints on this site and I pray we are able to start a class action lawsuit!

Milton of Riverside, CA January 23, 2009

Milton of Riverside CA (01/23/09)
I signed up for an 8,000.00 loan through Sallie-Mae, my first mistake. Sallie-Mae is a third party, they fund Sylvan fully upfront, then you are on the hook for the entire loan, whether it works or not. After a couple of months in the program I was curious about why they were still going over odd and even. My daughter was in 3rd grade, at school they were learning multiplication tables, yet Sylvan was still doing odd and even numbers. The center director, Rachelle told us that they would not move on until the students were firmly established in the basics, Basics that my daughter would recite with ease when we were in the car or at home,yet somehow Sylvan's tests said otherwise. I finally removed my daughter from the Sylvan program when I received my daughter's report card and her grades WENT DOWN in every area that Sylvan tried to help her in. She made it through third grade, but by the skin of her teeth.

Rather than subject my daughter to Sylvan for the entire summer, I said enough is enough and pulled her and demanded a refund. I was informed that the Sylvan Advantage is that if the student does not improve a whole grade then there would be additional classes at no additional cost. I did not want my daughter's grades to suffer further so I demanded a refund of the unused portion of the loan so that I could be through with Sylvan. That was in early summer. In September I folowed up with an e-mail demanding my refund. I was told by R. Stortz on Spt. 29 that my loan would be reimbursed the unused funds in 6 to 8 weeks Processing time.

After 10 weeks and still no refund, during which time I continuued to pay my monthly amounts to Sallie-Mae, I contacted Dave at Sylvan, the second in charge at the center. He did not initially return calls because he was ill. I finally caught him in late December. His explanation was that due to the hard financial times, the owner, John was behind in processing refund requests. He promised me that the loan would be refunded by Jan. 15. Today is Jan. 22, my loan still has not been refunded. Sallle Mae is a third party in this. They funded the loan and now demand payment. I am stuck paying them.

No one at Sallie-Mae will return correspondence asking for help. And Sylvan continues on with what amounts to free money from my loan which they so far have not refunded. I would not recommend Sylvan to anyone. A better bet would be to check with a local college, they offer tutoring by students at a price less than half of what Sylvan charges, and with no contracts.

I am stuck paying an 8,000.00 loan at 185.00 per month, when most of that should be refunded and my loan payed off quickly. Sylvan has been a dissapointment to us.

Debra of Everman, TX January 13, 2009

Debra of Everman TX (01/13/09)
My son was enrolled in sylvan back in 2006. at the time he was in the 3rd grade and struggling that year, sylvan gauranteed me that he would be on 4th grade level by the time he completed the course. during his meeting they stated that he had showed a lot of improvement and that he was on 4th grade level, by the end of the course i was then told he wasn't proforming, and wanted me to take out another loan so that he could do another course, for what i don't think so

sylvan learning center may have benefit but as for my son, the following year he repeated the 4th grade and i'm still suffering behind it, that loan was 4,000 for 1-2 hours 2 times a week for 4mos and the only somebody that benefit from it was sylvan learning center now i'm being sue by sallie mae for over 7,000 something that i don't have even though i started out paying the loan fine until my son didn't benefit from it.

i stop paying because i was getting behind on everything else trying to pay for something that didn't even help my son, just put me in more debt. i wish that there was away sylvan learning center can pay that money back to sallie mae 

Edna of Texas City, TX January 12, 2009

Edna of Texas City TX (01/12/09)
My son has problems with his eye sight and was struggling in school. I thought Sylvan was a good thing for him because of one on one teaching. I was wrong, Hurricane Ike cause our city a mandatory evaculation and my son was unable to attend classes and before signing any documents I explained that I'm a disable mom and can barely get around at times.

After the lady assured me that if my son missed an sessions he could make them up in make hours, I felt comfortable with going on with his enrollment. Due to transporation problems I called and let them know my son would no longer be attending the program until I could get another vehicle. Sylvan refuse to reburst any of my money and also kicked my son out of the program. I made three apointments with Sylvan's director (to explain my situation about transporation), either apointment the director never showed up. Sylvan's director was never available for conference. I was completely mislead by Sylvan and I wouldn't recommend anyone sending their children there.

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