Since you are here, you must be looking into honing your skills for your business or employment.

Great initiative!

In this post, I will lay down all the facts about Shaw Academy, an online training program that also offers various courses for you.

To be successful, you need to make an effort to research every aspect that pertains to your business or income earning potential. And since you’re here, this means that you are into building a business or building a professional image and are doing a lot of investigating to make sure you make the right choice.

I thought Shaw Academy is worth a deep dive look especially given that it offers diplomas in various fields of expertise. Imagine how this would look in a resume, and also imagine how much value it would bring an entrepreneur who wants to have an edge in their business. However, it seems that Shaw Academy also has some skeletons in the closet and that’s another thing worth looking into.  Is Shaw Academy A Scam?  Learn more in this Shaw Academy Review.

Shaw Academy Review Summary

Product Name: Shaw Academy

Founder: James Egan

Price: $49.99 to $199.96

Rating: 37/100

Best For: anyone who wants to take a course for accreditation and improve a resume

Recommended: Not Recommended (Proceed with Caution)

What Is Shaw Academy About: An online training program covering different specializations

Summary: Shaw Academy is an online training program providing interactive classes on photography, finance, marketing, beauty, and others. 

What is Shaw Academy About?

At its core, Shaw Academy is a global online education institution. Shaw Academy provides interactive classes that are designed to allow students to learn at their own pace. Established in 2013, perhaps one of the things I find interesting about Shaw Academy is that they provide certified distance learning courses from a range of disciplines such as photography, finance, marketing and beauty.

Shaw Academy would tell you that it is created by top-rate educators with extensive knowledge in their field. They also say that their courses are well known for the high level of knowledge and expertise provided by their lecturers. And we would of course hope that is true.

So how are classes conducted? All classes are filmed to create a fluid learning environment both online and offline. This is because you can download recordings you can listen to anywhere.

Shaw Academy gives certified online courses that are internationally recognized.

This is attributed to their courses conforming to the required standards and their learning materials being thoroughly looked into to ensure expected criteria are met. According to Shaw Academy, their courses have empowered individuals all over the world, to take control of their future. 

Shaw Academy mentions that they understand that their students lead busy lives and need a flexible study environment for it to work. For this purpose, Shaw Academy classes are not live but are instead scheduled every hour, so students can pick class times that suit them or reschedule if life gets in the way.

Personally, though, I’m not sure why there is still a scheduling part. Can’t you just click on a video/course whenever you want? I saw one review that remarked on this. If it was a live class scheduling, it would be understandable but why schedule a recorded class?

Anyway, one big claim about Shaw Academy courses is they are said to be officially recognized and accredited globally in countries such as the USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and India. In fact, the professional diploma courses of Shaw Academy were previously accredited by the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) through validation from Edinburgh Napier University. However, it appears that this accreditation was withdrawn on 24th July 2019.

What I understand is that a diploma you get from Shaw Academy is more like a Certificate. But they are actually least valued or recognized as a qualification in some places such as in Australia. So I assume the best way to use your Shaw Academy diploma or qualification is to use it as an example of professional development or training.

This will be a good way to show that you are keeping current in whatever industry you are in and sharpening your skills. This can also be helpful if you have no other credentials, as long as you don’t try to pretend that you have the aptitude for a job or more knowledge than you actually do —but that’s a given.

Shaw Academy promises that it is their mission to deliver great education, accessibly and affordably, to everyone. But will they live up to their promise or is this just part of a big Shaw Academy Scam?  Let’s find out more.

Shaw Academy Review [Background Info]

Setting out to revolutionize learning and join in with the movement of digitizing the classroom, Shaw Academy was founded and has operated since 2012.

Shaw Academy offers classes that can only be accessed online. Offering 39 programs, Shaw Academy provides training for 1 qualification and includes a Certificate of Completion. The duration to complete this education training ranges from a month such as the Online Photoshop course to four and a half months such as the Photography course, depending on the qualification. 

The most popular reported benefits of attending Shaw Academy are the flexibility of the class hours as well as that it is affordable. There is also some feedback about good teachers and that it serves as good career preparation. 

I guess it’s also a good thing that Shaw Academy offers free access for the first four weeks so you can glimpse the level of professionalism you can expect from its classes or just gauge if its something you would really like to spend your money on. After the trial is up, you can just go ahead and continue learning by paying the monthly fee. They’ll make sure to charge you for this. This is where you earn yourself an internationally recognized certification that will help your career growth.

Founder

James Egan founded Shaw Academy in 2012. He is said to have set out to revolutionize education and digitize the classroom. He has a Bachelor in Civil Law and a Masters in Commercial Law from University College Dublin.

He is now also the Senior Market Analyst for Ava Capital Markets, and Market Analyst for Citco Hedge Funds. James Egan remains to be part of Shaw Academy’s board of members as of this writing and has generated more than 50 million dollars in revenues. 

How Does Shaw Academy Work?

When I heard about this platform, I personally got interested in the fact that they offered diplomas in various industries. The website is also pretty attractive and legit.

Shaw Academy bills itself as a program that “offers education without limitations” available for you whether you are a full time professional, part-time worker, someone searching for a career change or starting your own venture, and that “it is never too late to learn.”

Shaw Academy promises to make it easy to get real qualifications. This claim is perhaps the most enticing of all. Especially that searching for career nowadays can be so cutthroat that having just a college degree is starting to be insufficient. With this, Shaw Academy claims that they are empowering hundreds of thousands of new students each month all over the world.

So what is inside Shaw Academy?

• Unlimited Courses
• Flexible online classes
• You pick the schedule
• Globally Recognised Courses
• International focus to curriculum
• Pause course
• Take a break any time
• Educator support
• Always get your answers
• Offline mode
• Download class recordings
• One plan – All content

As of this writing, Shaw Academy is offering more than 100 courses with enrolled students exceeding 520,000.

Courses

It is very attractive that Shaw Academy offers a wide variety of courses. If you are a lover of knowledge and dream of being a Jack of all trades then this would definitely look attractive to you too. Their courses include business, photography, finance, marketing, and even beauty.

Here are a few of them:

Course	Price
Online Photoshop Course	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Adobe Lightroom Course	$50	Duration: 1 month
Online Photography Course	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Online Video Course	$49.99	Duration: 1 month
Wedding Photography Course	$50	Duration: 1 month
Smartphone Photography Course	$50	Duration: 1 month
Online Cryptocurrency Courses	$49.99	Duration: 1 month
Online Trading Course	$49.99	Duration: 1 month
Personal Budgeting	$60	Duration: 3 months
Commodities Trading	$49.99	Duration: 1 month
Digital Marketing Course	$60	Duration: 3 months
Learn Viral Marketing	$60	Duration: 3 months
Blogging and Content Marketing	$49.99	Duration: 1 month
Social Media Marketing Course	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Online Graphic Design Course	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Fitness Certification	$60	Duration: 3 months
Online Nutrition Course	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Sports Nutrition Certification	$60	Duration: 3 months
Coding Classes For Kids	$60	Duration: 3 months
Online Web Design Course	$149.97	Duration: 3.5 months
Learn Excel Online	$60	Duration: 3 months
Learn Project Management Online	$60	Duration: 3 months
Mobile App Development Courses	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Online Web Development Course	$60	Duration: 3 months
Online Beauty Course	$60	Duration: 3 months
Online Guitar Lessons	$60	Duration: 3 months
Music Theory Online	$60	Duration: 3 months
Leadership & Management Course	$60	Duration: 3 months
Learn English Online	$60	Duration: 3 months
Personal Budgeting Course	$99.98	Duration: 2.2 months
Online Digital Marketing Course	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Viral Marketing	$49.99	Duration: 1 month
Online Personal Trainer Course	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Sports Nutrition Certification Online	$199.96	Duration: 4 months
Excel Online Courses	$149.97	Duration: 3.2 months
Project Management Course Online	$199.96	Duration: 4.2 months
Web Development Online Courses	$149.97	Duration: 3.5 months
Beauty Courses Online	$49.99	Duration: 1 month
English Course Online	$49.90	Duration: 1 month

This seems to me a great selection of courses. I would jump into this opportunity in a heartbeat. But why didn’t I?

I will be getting into it in just a bit.

Money-Back Guarantee

What if you DON’T LIKE what Shaw Academy has to offer? Can you get your money back?

It doesn’t seem like Shaw Academy has a refund policy. In fact, this seems to be the most obvious drawback of this program and the source of SO MANY negative and almost damning reviews about it.

Shaw Academy does have a free trial period. But I say, proceed with caution!

You’ll get why when you get further in my post.

To be fair though, when you go to high school or college to get your diploma or degree, it’s not like you can get a refund saying “I can’t use Algebra while typing a word document” or something. I guess that’s the same idea with Shaw Academy. It was your choice to come in search of education, not exactly their fault if you didn’t find what you are looking for right?

Shaw Academy Cost

So as I mentioned earlier, Shaw Academy offers free access for the first four weeks so you can experience the level of professionalism you can expect from their classes. You can then continue your training by paying the monthly fee and earn yourself a certification accepted internationally that will aid the development of your career.  So on face value, this can appeal to many job seekers.

The cost to attend Shaw Academy ranges from almost 50 dollars to 60 dollars with some courses as high as $199.96. 

The prices on the table above were the prices I was able to collect as of writing about this course. Prices may have changed after this post has been published.

Can You Make Money With Shaw Academy?

Any business requires a good amount of not only familiarity but knowledge in the field of business you are in.

The money-making part will be from the experience you acquire and can use to your benefit especially when competing for a position or building expertise in a particular field. If you are currently employed but are looking into a career in a different field, this can be great for you.

There are a lot of people out there with 8 to 5 jobs that are very unhappy. With Shaw Academy’s flexibility, you can enroll to a class of interest until you gain enough knowledge to go freelance or move to a new career path.

Is Shaw Academy A Scam?

So here we are at the most controversial part of this Shaw Academy review —is there a Shaw Academy scam?

Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not an affiliate of Shaw Academy myself and I do not endorse any of Shaw Academy’s courses in any way.

I have researched the website, testimonials, and information on the Internet to get to the bottom of what Shaw Academy genuinely does. This is because I have been burnt from programs just like this in the past and I want to prevent others from making the same mistakes. If you’d like to learn Ways to Avoid Online Scams then click the highlighted text.

This is a detailed review from Quora from someone who would have otherwise been a satisfied customer:

“Totally awful experience! Avoid it asap because its totally scam and theft.I started with free trial for 4 weeks and the course material n the teacher was really good, so I enjoyed the course. The only annoying experience is at the end of every lesson they advertised their premium packages and persuaded people to buy them. They also added that if we buy they will add 13 extra days to my membership so it will totally cover my course duration (it started later in the next month n the course duration was 3 months). Ok I have had overall good learning experience with the fundamental course so decided to upgrade to 3-month premium to pursue the advanced course. I bought 3 month membership on 17th July, so my premium package should be expired on 30th October, which will surely cover my course from 1st August to 30th October (3 months). The advanced course content is somehow lacking, they just tried to split the content during 3 months but its content wasn’t much and really helpful as I expected as they call them “advanced”. But my overall experience with the course was still somewhat good and i didn’t really think of any thing to complain. However the disgusting thing they had done recently is they charged me another 3 month membership (of course without telling you anything) on 17th October, when my membership was still valid (until 30th October). I emailed to ask why they charged my money while i was still having valid membership and asked them to refund my money. They answered me after 2 days that the extra days will be added only when u end ur membership. It means I have to terminate my membership first before I can get any extra days as they promised me (which they had never mentioned that before). Because I didnt end my membership so they charged me another 3 month, which is so ridiculous. The funny thing is they allow themselves to bend the trust in their favour n make to confused as much as they can to STEAL MONEY from YOU. I replied their email to ask for the proof of their “newly created policy” because I couldn’t find that in their policy and they never had explained about the rule of adding extra days to the premium membership nor made it clear to their customer. Another point to add is in their policy they says they will automatically renew ur membership month-by-month if you dont cancel it, but they charged me 3 months at a time !! Its totally contracting to what they say! What the hell it is, they are just GREEDY and STEALING your money. No expiration date displayed on ur member area nor reminder that ur membership will be due soon. They make everything to make sure that you will forget about ur due date so then on that date they will steal money from you. I mentioned their policy n asked them to refund my money, and they just disappeared, no replies anymore. It is so funny. The company would never grow their business if they keep treating their customer in this way. AWFUL THEFT.“

This particular review alone led to a long complaint thread:

For the record, we tried to sign up for Shaw Academy ourselves. As I mentioned in an earlier section we were almost at the end of the process but upon seeing the flood of reviews yielding the same complaint —well, were not about to play with fire here and risk getting burnt like these others, so that’s as far as we went.

Shaw Academy Reviews

To give you more insight about Shaw Academy, I did my best to look for detailed and most legit looking reviews online. Not the ones that seem like a paid Shaw Academy bot, or from a person who’d just like to boycott the course because they are endorsing a different one.

Most Helpful Shaw Academy Positive Review

To be fair, I looked for positive reviews about Shaw Academy to find out the redeeming factors of this program. But I did make sure that it doesn’t seem scripted and includes some concrete examples.

In one review I came across, the people they interviewed claimed that they paid for the course themselves. This means that if the reviews were indeed authentic and that they were able to experience the course first hand,

Source: Quora

“In my experience, Shaw Academy is fantastic. Their webinars (watch live or at a later date) are top quality & reach absolute novices and more experienced students in their field.I was also skeptical about their prices, and I did the free sign up part! But I highly recommend paying the small fee to upgrade to the package that allows you the notes download for the course, so you will have those to refer to during your work. (And test- Sorry those at Shaw Academy!). I suspect Shaw Academy probably receives financial incentives from the software they recommend during the courses, but this is PURELY AN UNINFORMED OPINION, and does not really matter because they are partnering with the best. Win all round.   The lectures are interesting, the correct length, the instructors (and a team of helpers I am sure) answer interactive questions timeously during the webinars. And they are not shy to call you and keep you motivated!   I have a BCom from University of Cape Town, (Ok, in 2005!) and am currently completing my Bachelor of Laws Degree via UNISA, however the short, inexpensive investment I put into the 3 Shaw Academy courses I did has done wonders for my employability, and I use their course content frequently.   Additionally, one a personal level, their social media basics course is really an essential to survive in any industry, or even personal representation, in 2017. And rather educate yourself then get ripped off by a Digital Media Agency. (That’s me! So I know!)“

However, there hasn’t been a discussion on this. This only received one reply: an inquiry, and unfortunately, the person who posted didn’t respond to this yet. I wonder why.

Most Helpful Shaw Academy Negative Review

This review on Reddit is perhaps the most detailed and legit I found on the internet. It gives us a clear picture of how things go south with Shaw Academy and their billing system.

Source: Reddit

“An honest review of my experience with Shaw Academy.  My honest experience with Shaw academy started optimistically, the courses seemed like they would be useful and interesting. However, after a couple of weeks of attempting to do the courses during my free trial, I was, unfortunately, unable to complete any of the classes due to my own time constraints. This led me to the conclusion that it would be best that I cancel my subscription and wait until I had more free time and would be able to make use of more paid content. This is where my experience went way, way downhill.  After attempting to cancel my subscription a week before my free trial was up (and believing that I had succeeded), I heard nothing until 5 weeks later when I noticed a charge on my credit card from Shaw Academy.  I’m willing to admit that I must’ve made a mistake trying to cancel my subscription/account, tho I’m also certain that the confusing nature of the subscription and the cancellation process played a large factor. I tried contacting Shaw academy multiple times for about a week and a half and received nothing but auto-replies until finally, customer service contacted me. After quite a lengthy back and forth over the following 2 weeks, the end result can be summarised as follows: I was informed that it was simply impossible to refund me the $39.99USD subscription charge, despite the fact that I had not used any of the services, and that it was abundantly clear that this was a mistake and not my intention. The solution continually put forward by the customer service representative was for me to reactivate my account and take part in the courses, free of charge (final value offered was for $620 worth of free courses), despite the fact that I had informed him over and over again that I did not want to take any courses, and couldn’t even if I wanted to, due to my time constraints. (I am aware that on a surface level, this seems like an extremely generous and valuable offer. But the fact that the customer service representative continually ignored my explanation of why that would not be possible for me, and repeatably tried to force this solution on me, was insulting, to say the least.) 3. It makes no logical sense why they can afford to offer me $620 worth of services and content, but cannot afford to offer me a $40 refund. No financial sense whatsoever. All in all, I would have liked to explore what Shaw Academy has to offer, as I’m sure that the contents of their courses are informative and valuable. However, due to the complete lack of customer awareness, refusal to provide a more reasonable (in my opinion) solution, and the extremely disappointing customer service responses (in my opinion), I would strongly recommend for anyone considering Shaw Academy to search for another online course to fulfill your wants and needs. I don’t feel that Shaw Academy is genuinely interested in education, but more so in just making money. I would not trust Shaw Academy to have my best interests in mind and would find it hard to believe that they would have any other customers’ best interests in mind either.“

Shaw Academy Ugly Truths Revealed!

Serious billing-related offenses. The number of billing-related complaints is actually quite alarming. Alarming enough to make us put our credit card away in the middle of sign-up.

Convoluted cancelation process. So one review actually explained how the cancellation process was done successfully. It actually involved getting to multiple pages that ask you the nth time if you are sure to cancel and ends with an ACTUAL CALL to a person who —surprise —talk to you again for a good period of your time to ASK YOU AGAIN if you want to cancel.

What I Like About Shaw Academy

Diverse. It offers quite a lot of courses and lessons in different fields. In our case since we are in the make money online niche, we can benefit from three categories. 

The availability of diplomas. I know it isn’t common to get certificates in learning platforms like these. But only a few of them are recognized overseas. Back then an online class certification doesn’t give employers any confidence, but after the pandemic, online learning platforms are given much more respect.

Shaw Academy Scam: Final Thoughts

In the end, after writing this Shaw Academy review I ended up pretty skeptical and would have almost declared Shaw Academy a scam.

It’s actually a good enough learning platform and honestly, most of the haters come from those who wanted to get free lessons and cancel after. Hey! I’m not judging, since they promised it to be free they got to be clear and genuine about it and not let people jump through hoops of gimmicky pages.

The main reason I am not recommending this is the obvious tsunami of complaints. The next one is having to pay for lessons separately instead of a monthly all access. Then, you would learn a lot of stuff in different courses. I’m also not sure if they are offering free lessons as if you go to skillshare or something. In our case, for example, the lessons helpful to us belong to different categories and this could mean separate charges.

I believe Shaw Academy can offer you legitimate training, but you should also beware of the number of negative reviews. Personally, it’s all the negative reviews that make me run the opposite direction. You might also want to ask yourself the reason for considering Shaw Academy. Is it to supplement your resume or build a better business and earn income? If it’s for your resume then this can be a great addition. But if your purpose is to make yourself better skilled for your business or earn extra income, then I have a great recommendation. You’ll know more at the end of this post.

A Better Way to “Learn and Earn”

Thanks for reading until the end of my Shaw Academy Review. I hope you were enlightened about what Shaw Academy is About. Because of that, I’d like to share with you my preferred way to earn a sustainable passive income.

Are you still hoping to find an opportunity that is worth your money and time? A way of making money online and in the comfort of your own home? 

This program I’m talking about points you where to start and to be guided in the right path (No, this isn’t some Jedi shebang). This also helps you figure everything out faster and understand what you really need and be able to get what you want.

As I mentioned earlier, I highly recommended Affiliate Marketing as my top business model before all else for anyone to make money online. How does it work? Here is a diagram below to show you how affiliate marketing works for you.

Here are a few of my reasons:

• You can promote anything you want and truly own the business
• You never need to sell to family and friends
• You don’t need thousands of dollars to start; and
• It’s FREE to get started.

Now, isn’t free stuff the best? You can start for free, then upgrade to premium for only $49 per month if you want to go full-time.

If you want to discover how I make my lifestyle online and how I can personally help you to also do it – then check out this special video from the link below which explains exactly how. You can also get your free 7-day bootcamp to get started.

Joana is a dedicated content writer. She learned how to search for keywords well and write straightforward perky content writing for EFYL. She loves learning a lot of new things as she writes about them.

Above all, she sees herself as a cool wife, mom, and furmom. She used to be an elementary and college teacher but chose to work from home to have more flexibility with her time and be more connected with her family and rescuing stray and abandoned pets.