Apparently, Nouveau Riche is a get rich quick setup, like so many others, with the ones marketing the product receiving many times more than one would normally make for their services.
But, the value is decided by the amount the students get out of it. So, in most ways, it’s not a ‘true’ scam. An overpriced product is not a scam.
So many people posting negative comments are upset by the actual ‘tuition’ cost, when, in some ways, that’s almost irrelevant. Since just bringing in two referrals pays students back for the total cost of the ‘tuition,’ it’s a pretty great system for ‘believers’ to make a lot quickly. A LOT. And a great way to bring more students in to the program.
I credit the company for the marketing concept. It’s not designed to be a scam, anyway.
Imagine you BELIEVE in the system, and you can bring 4 students a month to the “university.” It means $40,000 in your pocket. Per month! OMG. But, you’ve got to be a believer.
I wanted to believe. Unfortunately, I have spent years in universities and I got a copy of the NR course curriculum. I was disappointed to see that 3 “credit hours” can be earned in a 1/2 day session.
Even assuming it’s a good school, setting it up to APPEAR as a university is sort of borderline ‘scam.’ Why?
At universities, a one credit class means approximately 15 hours of classroom attendance, give or take.
A three-hour class means 45 hours of classroom attendance…(usually over the course of 15 weeks or a 5 week intensive summer program). It also usually implies at least the equivalent of that in homework (many professors insist on about 2 - 3 hours of homework for every hour of classroom work).
But at a university, 3 credit hours buys you 15 hours with a professor (even if it’s online) with at least a master’s degree, and 15+ hours homework.
NR would seem to offer you 3 hours with a real estate agent, and no homework.
Does it mean you can’t get rich with the Nouveau Riche education? No.
Does it mean Nouveau Riche is a scam? No. BUT… it’s NOT a university.
The problem is… they are a real estate school, or a real estate seminar course that one should probably pay around $1000 to $4000 for.
But they’ve developed a great marketing scheme.
My problem is, they are calling themselves a UNIVERSITY, and they are not that.
I remember when I tried to start a foreign language school in Arizona, I was called to a state school review board and was told I could NOT call myself a ‘school,’ without completing a long list of very complicated, almost impossible requirements. I had to change the name to language tutoring…
So, unless I’m wrong (and I might be, and will change this if I am), it’s not a university and it’s not a school… but it’s definitely real estate education, and a decent real estate investing network, and it might actually even be “worth” it if the student walks away and makes $100,000 in real estate investments, or encourages others to join and makes $30,000 per month doing that.
But, for me to sign up and pay, I’d need to believe that it’s a university and it’s not because it’s not accredited and it never will be as long as one credit hour = one hour, when university credits mean 15 hours in class and plenty of homework hours to go along.
Hey. They’re building a campus and they’re teaching people how to make money in real estate… that has a value. Many overpriced real estate seminars are doing the same.
Obviously, the ‘real’ price paid to Nouveau Riche is $10,000 because $10,000 goes to the former ‘student’ who brings other students to the school.
Final assessment:
Nouveau Riche… not really a scam because they ARE providing education, inspiration, a network, and some other things hard to define. But, it is NOT a university.
If some naive students see 3 credit hours and believe that NR classes are a good value compared to university classes that are 3 credit hours, then, then using the word ‘University’ is borderline deception.
If they change the way they give credits, I might even sign up!
Is it a scam? Not in the pure sense of the word. A scam would be where they take your money and give you nothing and walk away.
The “graduated” students rarely think it’s a scam, from what I understand. And that in itself, if significant. I mean, if someone pays $20,000 and makes $90,000 that year as a result of what they learned, $20,000 is cheap… maybe even a better deal than most universities, which rarely teach students how to make money.
NRU DOES appear to be a get rich quick scheme. And no one’s getting richer faster than the company’s directors.
I just wish they’d called it Nouveau Riche Seminars. But then, that would destroy the entire marketing concept and they wouldn’t get many students.
If scam is defined by making people think that they are getting a kind of university education, and getting university credits… then, maybe some might regard it as a scam in that way.