For 10 years, Tuition Painters has been offering students a chance to manage and run their own painting businesses during the summer.

Students begin in January, setting up their businesses, marketing and hiring painters to paint houses over the summer, Tuition Painters Regional Director Ian Walsh said.

"It's a great opportunity," the Penn State graduate said.

Walsh ran his business in State College four years ago and did so well that he has continued to move up in the company.

"I did really well, so I was invited back the next summer," he said. "What you put in is what you get out."

Walsh said he walked away from the summer with $8,000 in his bank account.

"The company promises you'll get at least $2,500," he said.

However, not everyone is as successful as Walsh, and some have a different opinion of the company.

"Ian is one out of a million," Joanna Lee (junior-business management) said.

Lee ran her business with Tuition Painters the summer after her freshman year. It was an arduous task, she said.

"I thought it would be good, especially since I had no experience," she said.

Lee said she didn't make the promised $2,500.

"I ended up making a fourth of what I expected," she said.

Lee said she probably earned more than $2,500 but was spending it on the business.

"My cell phone bill was over $150 each month, and I was spending $70 on gas every three days," she said.

Lee said she walked away from the summer with the same amount of money she would have earned if she had worked as a lifeguard for the summer. But there were some benefits to the experience, she said.

"It looks great on your résumé, if you do the work," she said. "It probably got me my internship."

Lee was told she grossed third highest amount in her region, and yet she said she felt like she barely made anything.

"I worked 80 hours a week, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done," she said.

Angelica Smith (junior-information sciences and technology) had an experience similar to Lee's and warns students to know exactly what they are getting into.

"You almost need a second job," she said.

Smith said that toward the end of the summer, she was not only running her painting business but was also working as a painter.

"I grossed over $11,000 dollars and probably had less than a thousand in my bank account after the summer," she said.

Smith said she was told that she was the top African American to work for Tuition Painters that year.

"It sounds so good," she said.

Smith said she was underpaid and had a number of problems dealing with the accounting department of Tuition Painters.

"I went through a complaint service at the Better Business Bureau and eventually had to involve the IRS," she said.

Smith said her complaints did not amount to much, and she was never paid the amount that she felt she deserved.

"They lied about a lot of stuff and totally ignored me," she said.

Walsh admitted that the job is hard and that it is not for everyone. But, he said, it is not a scam.

"They can say what they want," Walsh said.

Still, with all the hurdles to jump, many students still want to work for the company.

"I think it is a great thing to get involved with," Eric Mazzant (junior-mathematics) said.

Mazzant is the Tuition Painters district supervisor for the State College area this summer. It is also his first summer working for the company.

"I saw the e-mails, and it fit with what I want to do," he said.