Southern Adventist University — Attraction in Collegedale

We live in Oregon, and our son Eric, who recently turned 17, chose to attend SAU. This is the first time either of our children has lived so far away from home. We had a lot of questions. Every person that I communicated with via email was so helpful and addressed my questions in a thorough and friendly manner:

Lis Anderson, Enrollment Advisor, gave me guidance regarding SmartStart and job opportunities for Eric.

Fred McClanahan, Undergraduate Prospective Student Financial Aid Counselor, answered many of my questions and forwarded valuable information to me. He also took the time to talk with me over the phone and explain various options for financing my son’s education.

Cheri Durst, MS, Retention and First Year Advising Coordinator, forwarded contact information for several departments that could answer my questions.

Clarice Esquilla, Assistant Director of Risk Management, answered my questions about health insurance and played phone tag with me until we were successful in connecting.

Ginger Cheney, Student Finance Team L-Z, answered my questions about the costs of attending SAU. She was also very cooperative during our visit in answering all of our questions and making sure that our son’s finances were in order.

Beckie Retzer, RN, Graduate Teaching Assistant for the School of Nursing, answered my questions about SmartStart and getting Eric situated as an incoming freshman.

Deanna Moore, Campus Visit Coordinator, was very helpful in answering all of my questions via email and in getting our hotel reservations made for our campus visit.

Adam Brown, Director of Admissions and Recruitment, was very helpful in coordinating with the other departments to ensure that our visit would be productive. I was impressed by the way that Adam worked with all the other staff members to make sure that everything worked together smoothly. We could not have asked for a better visit. We accomplished so much, and everyone we came into contact with was friendly and encouraging. Adam was accessible and even gave us his personal cell phone number in case we needed anything else.

Sylvia Mayer, Director of Nursing Admissions and Progressions, really took the time to explain to us what it takes to get into the nursing program. She was very supportive and gave Eric some great tips and encouragement for success.

Conni Cash, Office Manager, gave us a thorough tour of the beautiful School of Nursing building.

Lisa Patterson, Office Manager of the men’s dormitory, was very knowledgeable and reassuring. She answered all of our questions and helped Eric get checked into the dormitory.

Dean Erhard gave us a great tour of the residence hall, and he also spent some time chatting with us about the career of nursing.

Mary King, RN, BSN, Support Nurse, really went out of her way to make us feel comfortable when Eric went to get his TB test. We really enjoyed talking with her, and we could sense the support and encouragement of every staff member that we came into contact with.

There were several other people involved, and I do not know their names. However, we are so impressed with the way that each person was so friendly and genuinely caring. Every person involved made our visit an enjoyable one. Although it was very difficult to leave our 17 year old youngest child on the other side of the United States, we can rest in knowing that he is in good hands. Thank you all for doing your work with the love of Christ. His love shines through each one of you. Keep up...

Some of the best years of my life! I was a student for 5 years. Their nursing program is excellent (hard but very good- they have an almost 100% pass rate on the NCLEX for many years in a row). I did not come to Southern looking for a life partner as many people probably hope to, but I do know many people who did find wonderful spouses while at Southern. I made some life-long quality mission minded friends and had so many wonderful opportunities while I was a student there. There are regular mission trips to join if interested- I went to Nicaragua on a medical mission trip. There is a diverse amount of musical and cultural activities that are promoted and presented throughout the year which is very fun. I loved participating in the inter mural sports (did volleyball and soccer) teams. I did not live in the dorms and so that may be a different experience for some, but to counter some of the negative comments left by some students, no matter where you are, YOU CAN FIND WHATEVER YOU LOOK FOR. Yes, SAU is not cheap, but no private schools are. I had zero financial help from my parents and paid every cent of my way myself...worked through school, lived off campus inexpensively, and got through on student loans. My advice to incoming students is, if you are not sure of a career path, maybe take some general edu classes at a community college and do research on different careers, meet with career counselors, and decide what you really want to do and when you are sure of it, go to Southern and graduate with a degree/career you know you can find employment in and be proud of your alma...

I attended this school for three years. After being there for a year I dropped all my classes refusing to go back. However my parents refused to take me out so I was forced to stay. During my time at Southern I was unhappy. When my parents indured financial difficulty again by the hands of the SDA at the general conference and couldn’t pay my school bill we fell behind some and Southern refused to help me in any way despite helping a friend of mine in the same situation. When I fell behind on my payments and because my bill wasn't current I later found out that it was reported to my credit bureau, therefore giving me bad credit before I even graduated. I will not be sending any of my children to this school. No one should be made to stay at a place where they don't feel as if they're being equally treated or denied help. Southern is more focused on receiving their money than they are about sharing the love of Christ with...