I had an excellent experience working with Indira Khaytimbetova, my admissions advisor at Westcliff University. She was professional, knowledgeable, patient, and exceptionally responsive throughout the entire admissions process. Indira explained every step clearly, answered all of my questions thoroughly, and made what could have been a stressful process feel organized and manageable. She was always supportive, attentive, and willing to help whenever I needed clarification or guidance. I truly appreciate her dedication, kindness, and outstanding customer service. Indira is an amazing admissions advisor, and I highly recommend her to any prospective student considering Westcliff University. read more

I have had multiple issues at this "university". I was there for business administration BA degree. But ever since I've been there it's been hell as the administration is all over the place and there is so much miscommunication. This resulted in me dropping out and going to a better school. They have messed with my financial aid as some of my grants and scholarships would be either taken out and put back in which resulted in me being overcharged for each of the 8 week semester. I also used to cheer there in the athletic department, so for them to keep placing me on financial hold while they messed up my financial aid is beyond frustrating and ridiculous. I have tried to communicate with them multiple times but they never pick up the phone and even when I am there in the office, no one is barely even there to help out. It seems like they do some shady stuff and then they quickly hide their hands behind their back like they didn't do anything wrong. They even referred to me as a damn F1 student when I am a domestic U.S. citizen who has been literally born on United States soil but they refuse to change it and there was no answer. Not to mention the education there is a no go. If you were to ask me what I learned from this "school" I wouldn't even give you a full answer. As I mentioned I was in a business administration bachelors program and some of these classes didn't even associate with business. Like I was in a class for social movements....now you tell me if that's part of business. As well as some of these teachers barley know what they are teaching as they just have use do discussion questions and watch a YouTube video over zoom. I also know other people at the school who have had issues where they had messed up a persons class schedule which resulted in them missing half of their basketball season and they were unable to play. As well as someone who was in the cheer team had issues where they put them in summer classes which was already two weeks in but decided to tell her two weeks later. And as you know already, that could mess up her financial aid as you have to be in attendance in order to receive aid. This place is a major scam and for whoever wants to come to this place either as an international student or a domestic student, run as far away from this place as possible. They only care about money and money only, not for your education and wellbeing. This place practices illegal policies that should be investigated and should be shut down!! read more

Westcliff University - Missing athletic scholarship and voided state grant with overcharged balance. - Colleges & Universities Near Me - Irvine, California

Believe the reviews, my experience can only be summarized as a comedy of errors. During my MBA, staff turnover was so high that I had no less than 5 different student advisors. There were also constant issues with billing, either being overcharged or not having my scholarship applied. My worst experiences came during the DBA program. Last year a professor didn't enter grades on time, resulting in a low grade on my official transcript. My student portal reflected an A, so I didn't discover the transcript grade for almost a year. I reported the discrepancy to the school, which should've been one email and a correction by administration. Instead, I was told the deadline to correct grades had passed and basically, too bad. I had to contact the registrar's office countless times demanding to file a grievance for them to finally correct their own mistake. But wait, it gets worse. This Spring, I had the same professor again for a different class. Again Westcliff's employee did not enter final grades on time, resulting in a D- on my transcript when I'd earned an A in the course. I opened a Grade Appeal which should've been the end of it, but sadly was not. The school didn't bother to review it, instead taking the opportunity to re-enroll me in the same course AGAIN, at my own expense without my knowledge or consent. I had already signed a payment plan and agreed to pay installments for a different course, but they literally switched me into the course I'd already taken/passed without informing me (breach of contract anyone?). I immediately withdrew. Solved right? Wrong. They refused to unenroll me, claiming I was an international student when I was not. My student advisor repeatedly told me during our withdrawal meeting to "stay in the course and just wait a few more weeks"... A few more weeks so the refund deadline passes and you won't owe me my money back?? No thanks! I had to retain an attorney to help me deal with their office, and my bank had to issue a chargeback to recover a percent of my funds. As of 7/9/2025, Westcliff is now trying to charge ME a $35.00 fee for the chargeback! Seems like more unethical business practice. Although they eventually corrected my grade, I enrolled at another more legitimate institution. This place is one big nope. read more

Westcliff University - Colleges & Universities Near Me - Irvine, California

See all

I'm usually not the type to write reviews for colleges, but I've had such a great experience with Westcliff University that I felt I should share. Every time I reached out with a question, someone actually called me back and pretty quickly too. They walked me through the enrollment process step by step, which made everything so much easier. I also had a cousin interested in coming to WCU as an international student, so I asked a lot of questions about the visa process. Even though I'm local, they still took the time to explain everything clearly and patiently. I never felt rushed, lost, or brushed off. Their team really cares, and it shows in the way they communicate and support both students and families. I'm genuinely grateful for the help they've given me. read more

Double charges for courses. Had to pay 5000$ instead of 2500$ for a single course I have taken from university. Later it was sent to debt collectors with 4 days notice and it's impossible to reach them over the phone. It takes 5 days for them to get back with you over email. read more

I attended Westcliff previously during its humble beginnings and was interested in returning to pursue a higher degree; however, the unresponsive and horrible customer service has put a horrid taste in my mouth. Perhaps, the university should front load resources and personnel to ensure there's enough coverage to assist all prospective and current students. I was contacted for an appointment at 2pm, and repeatedly I was told that I would be contacted shortly. It's 3:36pm. I took my lunch break to speak with this university. There was no accountability or professionalism in acknowledging the delay. I'm no longer interested in returning nor pursuing anything here. The lack of customer service speaks volumes about what type of institution this place has become. read more

0 help 0 service 0 respect to the students 0 inner staff communication When i went there to register they were very Friendly, after the registration they were the opposite read more

Worst University ever. They take advantage of International students and their status issues by charging unnecessary fees with no quality education. All staff are racist and rude towards the students. No education provided just a scam to take money from desperate students. read more

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS PLEASE READ Quite possibly the worst experience I have ever had with anything in my life. Every single person that works here is incompetent, from the professors to the administration. If you are an international student hoping to come here to earn a work permit, do not waste your money. The administration is horrible at responding to phone calls, emails or anything else even in the middle of the school day. It takes me dozens of phone calls to reach anyone, especially for important things like work permit forms. As a result of their incompetence and inability to do anything correctly, I lost my ability to work and had to quit my job. This has been the worst waste of time and money I have ever done in my life and my experience here has most likely taken years off of my life. That is not an exaggeration. read more

This school is a young, improving school. They are doing better and better. But there are some problems in their cashier department. They charge extra for nothing. My friend experienced this. She didn't get any class at the beginning of the session but later she received a letter saying that she owes half of the tuition fee. It comes out that later school gave her a class but didn't notify her. And dropped the class also without notifying her. So at the end school charging her tuition fee for nothing. Their own fault and why my friend has to pay for it if she didn't study that class. read more

This school had problems right from the start. The enrollment process is being done manually at some points. They have to assign you a counselor who picks your classes and even after two months, it wasn't properly. Communication is all over the place and I would get emails out of the blue from someone I didn't know or I would have to send multiple emails/ phone calls to get a response. I spent about three out of eight weeks in two online courses. I had trouble understanding one instructor because of her heavy accent. The submission of assignments had problems weekly and it wouldn't get fixed for days. When comes to the course lecture itself it's about a 6-grade level with the writing being in APA format and grading depending on how closely the instructor followed the writing format. The only help I requested was writing and appointments would fill up within the first two or three days. The tutor didn't even show up when PHD running the online center put me in a room alone. When it comes to the good the professor I had both had a great personality and knowledge of what was being taught. The power points were easy to understand and I had time to ask questions. If I needed to pursue a degree from PHD to MBA it can be done here. In my case, I was going for a BS in information systems technology. In the end, this is by no means worth $3500 for eight weeks with this amount of problems for what's being taught. Westcliff has a high turnover rate for instructors and staff because they only hire part-time. They are also going through some management changes because of past mismanagement of the school. I could only find one fine from the city for financial aid practices and a few reviews from Google and Yelp that look like they were done by former students and employees. https://www.bppe.ca.gov/enforcement/actions/westcliffuniversity_ord.pdf https://www.yelp.com/biz/westcliff-university-irvine https://www.reddit.com/r/irvine/comments/ubvzph/westcliff_university_scam_school/ https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Westcliff-University-Reviews-E1453473.htm Note: Even if this review shadow is banned by Google it will still appear in other places. read more

Believe all the bad comments especially if you're planning on enrolling to the school. They put me in a constant loop and asked me questions I already answered, bc I believe there's no actual advisor in the office. Just a bunch of students running it on their free time, where no one really knows what they're doing. Even after I sent in my app, never got a response, in fact they asked me questions a different advisor already asked me, and would have known the answers to had they paid attention to my emails. Also, they clearly didn't even read my application lol. I'm glad i only paid $50 on the apps instead of whatever the poor students would have to pay to go to this shit school. If you're looking for cheap tuition there are other accredited schools in the area, so don't bother with this one. If they're already this bad before you're a student, imagine once you're actually a student. Trust your gut. Go elsewhere. This school is a red flag through & through. read more

An awful awful institution. Professors and support staff are uninterested and unhelpful. Financial department is full of scams such as tuition surcharge (which is ILLEGAL in California for private institutions) on every form of tuition payment, which adds a significant amount to every payment. Horrible scam of a University. It's hard to even call it that. It sucks that they just get away with it and it feels like theres no way to stand up to them. read more

Westcliff university didn't care about its athletes or students. I would not recommend attending here it's way more hassle than it's worth! Our athletic training facility was a joke leaving the athletes and the trainers to suffer. The men's athletic teams always received the better fields/stadiums while the women's teams were tossed aside The academic side was just as bad teachers were told that they are not able to change the curriculum that was provided to them. Most of the teachers were very helpful but there was little that they could do to curriculum. I was at Westcliff for three years and in those 3 years I was assigned 8 different academic counselors. None of those academic counselors stayed for more than four months. And because I was switching counselor so often, nobody actually knew when my graduation date was or what other classes I needed to complete to graduate, so my graduation was pushed back almost a year. The financial side was the worst of all Westcliff has lost multiple checks of mine, and after promising financial aid to many students they never fulfilled those promises, leaving students to pay full balances. After being out of the school for 2 years I am still receiving phone calls claiming that I have not payed my full balance even though I have showed proof that they have cashed all of the checks that I have sent them. They are very unorganized and manipulative. read more

Jordan as my admission advisor has been very supportive and responsive. Her efficiency helped me maintained status in a tough situation. Wonderful experience working with her and the admission office! read more

Good lord, where do I start. So called billing department : The people who work there are known to make mistakes, sometimes they overcharge you and sometimes undercharge you and they take absolutely 0 responsibility for their actions, calls and emails never get answered, unless you're new student trying to get admission. Student services : bunch of young people who do not wanna work their or just don't wanna talk/help you at all, barely anybody follows up with you or ask if you need any help with your school. If your goal is to get quality education, this university isn't for you. read more

How can this even be an accredited Business School with such poor quality of management, teaching, and services??? I dropped it as soon as I figured what was going on.. read more

Westcliff University has been a pivotal part of my academic journey, first as an MBA graduate and now pursuing a Doctorate. The MBA program offers a dynamic curriculum, expert faculty, and real-world applications that set the stage for success in the business world. The faculty's commitment to student success is evident in the personalized attention and collaborative environment. Small class sizes ensure meaningful interactions, and the emphasis on practical knowledge equips graduates with confidence for real-world challenges. Continuing into the Doctorate program, I've found Westcliff University to be a hub of research, innovation, and supportive mentorship. The resources and opportunities for doctoral students are outstanding, making the research journey both enriching and rewarding. Beyond academia, the vibrant campus life and inclusive community at Westcliff University foster personal and professional growth. From clubs to networking events, the university provides a well-rounded experience. Westcliff University is more than an institution; it's a community that nurtures dreams and transforms them into reality. I highly recommend it to those seeking excellence in both academic and personal development! read more

If only there was a NO STAR option, I would choose that!! DBA student, final semester, and I wish someone had told me about the reality of this place before I started. Overall, Westcliff University by far is the worst academic experience I have had in my life!! And surprisingly they are so good at getting worse each semester!! With the whole new management team, they pushed me to the edge to write this review!! I can write pages of complaints and true, horrible experiences I have had especially recently! But let's just say in bullet points how they: -Overcharge you for no reason and takes forever of your time to take correct it (if they do) -Undercharge and then charge back and add penalty/ late fees -Blocking students from their portals when they cannot find your payment and as the result, you cannot attend your class -Harassing in different forms -Advertising for various services and not actually offering them to students Not to mention that Students Advisors change so often I lost count and every time there is someone new who doesn't know anything when you ask them questions!! On the most recent occasion, Student Services mentioned about 5 errors on my account that they made, and without even apologizing, from a $0 balance they charged me $1000 after their adjustments!! And NOBODY from upper management could do anything about it!! This is horrible management!! Awful customer service!! If only I was not this far in the program, I would have run as fast as I could away from Westcliff!! Anyone who is reading this review, please be very careful, and if your time, money, and mental health are important to you, just look for many other options out there that will know your worth!! read more

While my experience with the University is mixed overall, my interaction with the billing department is unfortunately extremely subpar. Constant miscommunication and inconsistent actions have led to a substantial amount of financial loss on my account. They charge you for no reason, and while it maybe good for their bottom line, the inconsistency of their accounting is so irregular that it could warrant an IRS audit. read more

Let's start with the fact that nobody cares about you at Westcliff and they only look for ways to charge you more and more!! This has been an ongoing issue with this university as many students share the same experience. The quality of the professors and management has drastically decreased over the years and has never been worse than what it is since I joined Westcliff. The retention rate should be very low as I witnessed multiple students dropping courses and joining other schools. If you chose to come to CA and seek a Doctor of Education degree, I advise you to look for alternatives. Universities with less tuition fees and better services. read more

They Never pickup the phone and didn't respond email I'm trying to reach through phone call call so many times send voice mail even they didn't respond and email also they didn't respond. WESTCLIFF management team please hire good people. Staff member were lazy I have ever seen and didn't want to experience. read more

This is coming from a parent. This schools scouted out my daughter in 12 th grade (July 2022) and several more girls for softball. Said they would be on campus learning 5 days a week have weekly study hall and softball 3 days a week and games. This was made to be a packed schedule, so myself and 4 other mothers chose to let the girls rent an apartment that Westcliff arranged for $800 each (let me add most the girls live under 30 miles from the school). Three months into schools, none of the girls were getting play time, all the classes were online and were like advanced high school classes, attendance was never taken, and the school has NO counselors or even some that answers the phone. This school is a scam to get your money and makes promises to get your child excited about going here. My daughter is online Tuesday and Thursday, no softball and $16k a year, plus $800 a month lease I'm stuck in. It's a joke .... Don't trust this school it's only about making money. They overcharge and what makes it worse there is nobody to go over the overcharged invoices with you. read more

I graduated from westcliff learning here was fun. But i am so sad to say this. There is not helping here. Students services is the worst. No one to pick up the phone. And not sure why they doing this. Been behind a inquiry for a month and response was not helpful. Pretty much i did all, even visited the college to get help. But still didnt worked out. Do you guys have similar help desk in college. That which never attends the call and help students. Does the students in need to wait days just to ask some simple questions. I feel they dont want to help. read more

Hated it here. The school, athletics, housing... everything. The accounting department is so unorganized and tried to cheat me out of thousands of dollars of my fafsa. The housing department is such a mess and never responds.... wish I could 0 star it read more

I am a MBA student at westcliff University, my experience about the university was really great. The admission process was really quick and I never had any issues. Few things I really liked about this university: I had an option to have Day 1 CPT, all the staffs at the university are super friendly and helpful, the convenient class timings and the highly professional professors. I would definitely recommend Westcliff University as a wonderful business school to continue your education. Thanks read more

Received my grad photos and they're amazing. I also saw the VTR. It did take a while but as they say the best things take time. Want to acknowledge Analy G. she used to help with recruiting new students and now she helps with Student job placement. Heidi is another person to love about this school but after many years she decided to move forward in her career. This school is amazing. New campus and rennovations took place and a lot of accreditations since 2016. read more

If you are thinking of attending Westcliff, it must be for a specific purpose: to receive a student visa, in order to stay in the United States. If you are not someone who needs a student visa, you should not be attending Westcliff university. This is a for-profit degree mill, which is run like a money-laundering operation. Admin are all family, classes are all overpriced, and degrees are largely unemployable. read more

This is my first visit to Westcliff University. The campus was beautiful and well maintained. Everything was clean and well organized. The staff was very helpful and informative. read more

I would recommend finding a different school. Not happy with my experience at all. For example, they demand payment right away (with late fees), but they hold your refund for months. You also have to fight for the right amount. I always had the feeling that my growth as a student has never been their main concern. read more

I'm DBA student. The first time I visited Westcliff, I fell in love. When I came back for orientation and school, my admiration did not dissipate. WU is a prestigious university with many outstanding qualities. The professors are excellent and provide resources and advice. It is such a well-rounded school, truly blending the importance of academics and extracurricular activities together. The environment is not only beautiful, but it also makes anyone feel welcome. WU is great. read more

Great support team for international students - they know the job and meaning of the word 'support'. The faculty is awesome and the learning portal is amazing. I love the modern look of the building - it resembles a corporate environment that effectively primes a business student for the workplace. read more

I am currently pursuing my MBA program at Westcliff University. The program is good and the professors are professional. Their employees are nice and helpful. The only thing I hope they can improve is their work efficiency. read more

Good university with knowledgeable resources and professors . Appreciate their environment

Update: my issue has been solved -- picked up my check over the weekend with no problem and the university had investigated through the issue. So definitely let the school know if you also have a problem receiving you refund, they will work with you to get it right. read more

I was thinking about getting my English teaching certification from here. This is the only place that is part in class and part on line and still pretty much counts as a in class TESOL certification - at least for my knowledge. They were really nice and really helpful. I thought they would be super pushy, but they weren't like that at all! They called me the other day to check up on me and see if I was still interested. They were SO NICE about it though. When I explained that my situation had changed, they were so happy that I was moving on to bigger and better things. The rep was like genuinely excited for me. I thought it was very nice and I would definitely go to this place if I was thinking of getting my TESOL. read more

Perfect university for international and domestic students.. Also if you work and you want to study more.. Just come to Westcliff university.... read more

If you are looking for a professional business program Westcliff is definitely the place to go! They have very experienced professors like Dr. Sayagh and Dr. Goodstone, very welcoming International Affairs director like April and very professional student coordinators like Dominic and Jessica . I am almost in my second year in my MBA program and I can't wait to take more business classes here! I highly recommend this university! read more

Westcliff University is extremely professional but very welcoming at the same time. Their admission process and teaching methods are streamlined to provide optimum level of education to both Students and Professionals. I am highly pleased to recommend this university to prospective students and I am sure you will love to study here just like myself. read more

I have been studying in this university since a year and my experience so far is astounding. Basically Westcliff is a growing university at a great pace and all students here pose a faith in its integrity and credibility. Teaching staff is well qualified and very eligible to teach the doctorate students as well. In classrooms, a practical approach is used for teaching. Graphical presentations, visual examples, practical activities, lots of group discussions are in the center of any subject. Administration is very assistive and active in terms of students queries and in general, anyone can easily reach and be replied via phone, mail or in person. This university works hard in the direction of building a qualified youth for the world of tomorrow. It's quite an experience to be a part of this university, Thank you Westcliff. read more