News Publications

"Vince De Quattro, who directed AAU's online animation and visual-effects program from 2004 to 2011, says the school misrepresented job-placement rates. In his complaint in a 2012 wrongful-termination suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, De Quattro said the 75% job-placement figure that AAU advertised during his tenure didn't include online students, who had more trouble finding jobs. De Quattro claimed he was fired after bringing up concerns at a meeting in March 2011. (The suit was dismissed because he couldn't prove he'd mentioned the statistics at that meeting.) AAU declined to comment."

"Attorneys: Jessica Riggin, Valerie Brender

We have filed a class action lawsuit against the Academy of Art University on behalf of Part-Time Instructors (PTIs) who teach on-site and online courses for AAU.  The Complaint alleges that AAU compensates PTIs on an hourly basis but fails to pay PTIs for all hours worked, in violation of California law. For example, on-site instructors are only paid for their in-class teaching time but are not paid for any time spent on tasks outside of their in-class teaching time, including grading assignments, corresponding with students, or preparing for class.  Plaintiff similarly alleges that online instructors are similarly not compensated for all hours worked. Accordingly, Plaintiff asserts claims for breach of contract, unpaid minimum wages, waiting time penalties, wage statement penalties, unreimbursed expenses, and unlawful business practices, as well as Private Attorneys General Act claims."

"Four former recruiters for the Academy of Art University in San Francisco are accusing the private art school of defrauding the government out of millions of dollars in financial aid by using illegal tactics to get students to apply.

Suing in federal court, the ex-employees say the art school used an illegal compensation scheme - adjusting their pay up or down based on how many students they registered and dangling trips to Hawaii as an incentive - then lied to the government about it to collect millions of dollars a year in financial aid.

The school says it did nothing wrong and that its compensation method was allowable under a legal loophole."

"As an Academy student, you will carry a professional reputation with you that will give you an edge in the marketplace. The Academy has been partnering with top companies for decades. And that's not even counting the hundreds of internships and part-time jobs our current students find every year. The list of companies that hire our graduates every year reads like a who's who list of art and design -Alexander McQueen, Pixar, Sony, DreamWorks, McCann-Erickson...the list goes on and on. Chances are, many of our graduates are already working in a job you've always dreamed about. Let us show you how."