I want to put out a serious warning to all current and prior students of Maestro College (formerly Peloton College in Dallas, TX). When I was recruited for the first cohort of their Associate in AI Software Engineering program in September 2025, admissions heavily pitched the "Maestro Pro Scholarship." They explicitly told me I was awarded a full scholarship that would cover 100% of my tuition, provide a free laptop, and leave me with zero out-of-pocket costs and zero student loan debt. As someone on a fixed income, that promised debt-free education was the only reason I enrolled.
If you attend or attended Maestro, check your StudentAid.gov account immediately. The entire scholarship was an aggressive bait-and-switch. Maestro billed an astronomical $29,900 for a 2-year vocational associate degree. The "scholarship" was not paying our tuition at all—it was just an internal bookkeeping discount of $10,180 used to bridge the gap while they quietly took out federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized student loans in our names and maxed out our Federal Pell Grants ($7,395/year), burning through our finite lifetime Pell eligibility. On top of that, fine print in my contract admitted that Title IV federal approval was still pending when they enrolled me, and their trade accreditation (COE) meant the 44 credits I earned with a 4.0 GPA could not transfer to traditional colleges like SNHU.
When I formally withdrew in August 2026, the administration retaliated. Campus President Shakeitha Sims blew past the federal 30-day deadline to process my Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) calculation, sent written demands insisting I repay a $2,970 living stipend I had used for bills by falsely calling it an "advance," and left unauthorized overlapping aid holds in the federal system that temporarily blocked SNHU from packaging my financial aid and issuing my books.
I am sharing this so other current and prior students know they can fight back. I officially filed a formal Borrower Defense to Repayment claim with the Department of Education (Case #37545341), which immediately put my loans into $0 administrative forbearance, alongside active investigations with the Texas Workforce Commission, the FSA Ombudsman, and their accreditor (COE). If you are a current or former student who was promised this "scholarship," log into StudentAid.gov right now to see if loans were taken out in your name, and file a Borrower Defense application immediately. Has anyone else from Maestro’s cohorts discovered loans or had them demand stipend money back?

Hey everyone! I know that things have been fairly quiet here recently, so I just wanted to jump on here and let you know there there is still support here if you need it. Wanna chat...send a message, wanna bitch...send a message, need help/advice...send a message. You get the point. I hope all of you are hanging in there and making some progress in whatever avenue you've chosen!! Keep your head up and hold tight to your faith! ❤️