Nicole O.
Yelp
First off, that first review was probably written by one of our Deans. There are so many things wrong with this school and as a graduating senior. I encourage those whom are thinking about attending Huston-Tillotson University to RECONSIDER.
The education and overall experience that you will receive here will probably be equivalent if you were to attend ICDC College.
1. If you are offered an scholarship for sports at this school, chances are that it will be taken away by your Sophomore year. The scholarship was just a ploy to get you here and to help with school retention (which is terrible, btw).
Track and Baseball players. You have to commute to somewhere off campus (not walking distance whatsoever) to practice. However, you do workouts and stuff somewhere on campus or somewhere in the parking lot.
2. Financial Aid. We still use paper checks at this school. Most universities give you an card or direct deposit of some sort to receive your tuition reimbursement, not at HT. You will receive a paper check, and you probably won't receive that money until 12 weeks/middle of the school semester. So if you live off campus and are depending on that money to come in after the 12th class day to pay your rent....GOOD LUCK.
3. NO accountability. No communication between staff persons in each building (and sometimes in the same building). If you are having an issue as a transfer student with classes from your previous university and need them waived (or whatever the case may be), you will be given the 'Run-Around'.... it may take days or weeks to speak to the correct person to fix your problem.
4. FERPA violations. Grades have been leaked and sent out to the masses on a couple of cases due to instructor/staff persons failure to pay attention.
5. Lack of resources.
6. Campus Life is very restrictive. The type of events we have on campus generally involve Greeks strolling, board games, having a DJ somewhere in the mix in the Student Union and..... a couple of probates. The students do their best to keep campus life lively however there are many barriers faced when trying to do so.
7. Issues with funding to provide all organizations with adequate resources for event planning.
8. Constant rumors of mis-handing and mis-funding of money.
9. Staff with bad attitudes in the business office.
10. Watch your accounts carefully at the beginning of the semester. Sometimes they like to charge you for the schools health insurance, even after you've already provided proof that
11. Dorms. Hot in the Summer and Cold in the Winter, No Wifi.... that seems to be the complaint around campus. However, I encourage you to speak to those whom have lived in the dorms to see what their experiences were.
12. Try to learn how to advise yourself and catch advisor mistakes, or you will end up graduating far beyond when you are supposed to or end up taking classes that you do not need.
13. Staff and professors need to be trained on protocols, advising and documentation regularly.
14. Pay attention to your student account. May sure no miscellaneous charges on tacked onto your accounts regularly.
15. "Parking Lot" Just a pile of dirt with no cement foundation. The school has made a couple of attempts to force students to buy a parking sticker, but that was short lived, as there is no real parking lot for off campus students. You either park in the street or on the unpaved road that is called the "Student Parking Lot".
16. Alumni generally doesn't donate to the school.....and probably for good reasons.
(Im speaking on collectively, not individually - we recently had someone donated $3 million, and I believe thats for a new gym/wellness center on campus)
Pros:
Lots of grants available to students.
Great East Austin Location.
Close to downtown.
Students look out for each other and are very kind.
The new library is probably the nicest thing that we have on campus.
Dorms have recently been renovated.
There are some great professors that stand out and challenge students.
I encourage other students at HT to be honest with themselves and others as to what is going on on this campus, so that those whom are in power (in the Alumni Building/White House) can finally make the changes needed to improve our HBCU. I also encourage my fellow RAMS to write reviews as well.