George R. Harrison, Ph.D., President
Class Cancellation Policies
Several times a month we will receive a call from a concerned appraiser who registered with another school to take the required continuing education recertification classes and who has just been notified that the classes have been canceled.
In some cases the appraiser had been registered for several weeks and had no idea the classes might be canceled, and with late notification, the options now are limited.
Many times the appraiser is so desperate that he or she is willing to "go anywhere to get the hours this month." We try to help them as best we can, and have conducted one-on-one classes, but this is not always feasible. It has, however, made us aware of the serious ramifications to appraisers when a class is canceled at the last minute, so we decided early on that we would not treat our students that way. As a result we developed a reputation for "never canceling a CE class. While this was essentially true at one time, we have had to amend the policy. As the school has grown, it can not afford to offer classes that clearly will lose large sums of money. We pledge, however, to respect our previous commitment, and will not cancel even marginal classes, but if we find it necessary to cancel, we will make every effort to provide you with alternatives, either with another school or on-line.
We encourage you to register early. As always, if you register but do not show, there is no charge and any funds paid will be reimbursed. Further, we do not charge your credit card until after the day of the class.
Our goal is to provide meaningful education and service at a reasonable cost, and by meaningful, we mean that we are student friendly. We appreciate your consideration.
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About The Columbia Institute
The Columbia Institute was founded in 1992 with the mission to provide quality appraisal continuing education at a reasonable cost. Subsequently, we have expanded our programs to provide real estate education as well, and have begun to offer pre-license/qualifying courses through Columbia e-Campus. Consequently, our mission statement has been amended: to provide quality education and service at a reasonable cost.
By the term quality education for continuing education we mean courses that are directly helpful to practitioners in their daily practice by providing either insight into alternative methods of expanding their practice or information that can make them more productive in their current activities; for pre-license/qualifying courses we mean courses that will provide a firm foundation for successful career development.
LIVE CLASSES:
A school is only as good as its faculty, and Columbia instructors have each had extensive experience in the fields they teach and are well aware of the problems of the practicing professional. In addition, they have had experience and training in teaching their specific subjects, and understand the problems of the adult student. We subscribe to the slogan, "If the student failed to learn, the instructor failed to teach."
The excellent faculty is complemented by course materials which are designed for use both in the classroom during the class, and for future reference purposes. We strive to have informative and comprehensive materials, even for the shortest course. When it is also considered that the classes are conducted in comfortable hotel meeting rooms, we believe that we provide a very competitive and beneficial service. We think that you will agree based on your own experience by enrolling in one of these offerings today.
ONLINE COURSES:
Columbia e-Campus was created in 2002 to provide real-time, 24-7 online courses for both pre-license/qualifying and CE in those states which accept such education. Columbia e-Campus has experienced thousands of registrations throughout the country since its beginning. It has three affiliates participating in its offerings: Cengage Learning and Hondros Learning.
BOOK STORE:
Columbia created its book store in 1999 to serve as a Resource Center, offering books and other media. Check to see the new titles we are adding, and if you don't see something you would like to have, give us a call.
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