University of Central Oklahoma — Attraction in Edmond

The only reason I wouldn't give UCO 1 star is because the teachers are great. I've had nothing but a good experience with the teaching staff but like most, I am having a great amount of trouble with administration. They're VERY unorganized and rather than owning up to their own fault, they'll send you office to office fixing their mistakes.

First, card services got my ID number mixed up with another student with my same name despite us having different birth dates, a matter that a small attention to detail could've solved.

Second, admissions is a mess. I've found that in my experience here at UCO that if a staff member in administration leaves, their work will not be completed no matter how long they're gone. I had a document that needed to be processed in order to enroll punctually and after a week and a half, still nothing. I called nearly everyday asking about it, mailed, emailed, and faxed and it still took more time than it should have which resulted in me enrolling frantically the morning of classes starting. Then, after checking my bursar, I find out that I was charged a late enrollment fee for a problem caused by administration. They had not only the different and multiple copies I'd sent, but more than enough time to process my document and as a result, stuck me with the late enrollment fee. I was then told it was "probably" because they had people on vacation during that week and acted as though this was a proper excuse? Should students just shrug their shoulders that work is being left undone just because some staff members decide to leave for a vacation? If perhaps for a day or two I could understand but it took more than a week and a half to process ONE document. Completely unreasonable and ridiculous. I've sent in a form for a repeal on the late enrollment fee which, because that staff member too was on vacation, will probably take more than enough time to be completed. If someone leaves, find another to pick up their slack, which I presume should be easy as I've seen multiple staff members playing on their phones.

Next, and most frustrating of the three, is the financial aid office. Remember that card ID error I mentioned before? Because of the error, I was told to give financial aid another week to correctly process my financial aid and FAFSA. One week later, I'm back at financial aid and was met with nothing but more incompetency, not to mention rudeness. I was waiting on a financial advisor who was supposed to be in by 8AM who "texted" the receptionist saying she wasn't going to be in until 9:30AM. She let the receptionist know this 15 minutes after I'd already been waiting so I reluctantly agreed to meet with another advisor. Another 15 minutes of wait, I was then allowed to see another woman. She was very standoff-ish, unwelcoming, and sounded as though I was more of a hinderance to her than a student trying to find a way to pay for school. She let me know that the staff member conveniently in charge of processing FAFSA and late enrollment repeals was on "vacation" last week and the office would need another week to handle this. UCO, are you telling me that there is only one staff member capable of dealing with FAFSA? I can perhaps understand the late enrollment repeal taking some time to process but if a staff member is out, how can there be no one there to pick up their slack? If a staff member is absent, does their work just go unfinished and it's the student who is left with late fees to pay the price? Absolutely unacceptable and ridiculous. I was also told there is an immense amount of people who send in late enrollment repeals so why is it that they only have one staff member working on it if the work load is so much? And furthermore, why is it not worked on when said staff member is "away on vacation"??? I am completely abhorred that these people, who seem like they couldn't give half a hoot, are the ones handling the very livelihood that most students use to pay for their school.

Overall, the facilities and teaching staff are decent to great. The administration needs to be...

I certainly wish I would have read some of these recent reviews when I enrolled almost 2 years ago to finish my BA after receiving an AA from OCCC. The reviewers are absolutely right when it comes to this school NOT being for working adults. You will be labeled as a "non-traditional student" and will be treated as such. You will receive emails daily regarding amazing seminars, activities, conferences, speeches, and opportunities and resources, however, they are all scheduled Monday-Friday 8am-5pm, while you are at work, so, sorry! It just adds to the disconnect between the schools relationship with its working adults and you can't unsubscribe or you will miss out on the 1 out of 50 emails regarding school closings, etc...

You will travel the hour in 5:00 o clock traffic to make it to class on time only to walk up to your class with a note on the door that says, "Class cancelled today!" without a heads up via email. This has happened many times to me and I can't explain how painful it is to feel you have lost more time with your children, spouse, and family for nothing.

They have very, very, very few online classes. Perhaps more for lower level courses, unfortunately I had completed all of mine before attending UCO. Their evening courses are practically just as slim. I have been attending UCO since Spring 2015 and have completed 40 of my 61 remaining credits (having to work nights and weekends to make up my 40 hrs at work due to UCO's lack of flexible class schedules), however, after reviewing their schedules for my remaining 7 upper level courses it looks like it may take over 2 years to complete a measly 21 credit hours (that's less than 2 courses a semester for 4 semesters). This is due to their HUGE lack of evening/weekend courses. I would say 6 out of the 7 courses I have remaining are held in the mornings. I live 50 minutes away from UCO, work full-time and have 3 children. Now that I am so far with my degree, switching colleges is not an option. FYI, most of their "evening" courses start at 4:15pm.

I have determined that UCO's "cheaper" tuition is actually going to cost me a lot more in the long run. Gas, wear and tear, time spent away from home, family, etc.., and the shear amount of time (almost 4 years for 60 credit hours!)it is going to take to finish has shown this was a bad decision.

If you are right out of high school, this may be the school for you, if you are a parent, full-time employee, then go to OU/OSU. At least I can kind of see the finish line.....

7/8/16: FYI - I find it interesting that I wrote this review over a month ago and have not received a response from UCO, although they have responded to 3-4 other reviewers. Yet another example of the disconnect with this school and its students.

Also, what is the point of having a Financial Aid email address when not 1 person responds to it? I've sent 4 follow up emails in 6 weeks and no response. Get it together people.

7/25/16:

It is just a few weeks before the semester begins and I check my account. It is $150 more then it was the week prior (enrolled in 2 classes). I emailed UCO and they said, "Oh sorry, because of the budget cuts we had to increase tuition by 10%". Wow.. No letter, no email, just an increase. Even my junior college let us know when the tuition increased, how much, and when it came into effect.

So I have decided to enroll into OU. I go to order my transcript and they are charging $8.00 to have it mailed to you and $7.00 for a PDF. You guys have really lost your damn mind. This is by far the worst institution I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Good riddance. I'm really ashamed to say I went to...

I've attended UCO since 2010 as a part-time student taking 2-3 classes a semester. My ultimate conclusion is UCO is not a college for working students. The reason why working students take evening classes is because we have full time jobs and take care of families. We take evening classes to improve our lives, not for the fun of being tortured. UCO's selection of online classes are slim. We pay $180 more per online class and where is this money going exactly? It sure isn't going into keeping the class up and running. The online classroom is frequently offline or having tech issues. The administration is lazy and unhelpful. I'm not sure what the point is to advisement staff because they don't advise The accounting instructors are all mostly tenured and act like they walk on water. The accounting staff are condescending and do not care about their students. The instructors I enjoyed and learned the most from were non-accounting instructors. Instructors in other areas of UCO have been great. UCO may cost less, but I promise they get their money with their retake classes taught by inefficient instructors racket. I would not recommend this college if you're a working student. If you're straight out of high school, this is the college for you, but maybe not even then (UCO will not hold your hands HS kiddies). Good luck to you if you've decide to attend UCO. I've attended other colleges and UCO is okay.

9/22/16: The accounting instructors are out to trick students, not teach students. UCO is all about profit and not their students. Just this semester I purchased an online access code for an accounting class that the instructor told us to purchase and was included in her syllabus as a required material. I purchased it for $170, this is on top of paying more than $1500 to take the actual class and renting the book that I haven't used yet. Come to find out, we didn't need the "required" online access code. The teacher did not tell the students once she realized we didn't need the code. We needed a code the instructor provided. It was up to the students to tell each other. UCO and its staff does not meet...