Laurel Ridge Community College — Attraction in Stephens City

I am a prospective student at LFCC in Middletown. I plan to take all of my classes online, but I had to come to the campus in person to get financial aid straightened out. I have never been to an LFCC campus, however, I did attended NOVA Community College for three years. Upon entering the “Welcome” Center, I saw the Academic Advising desk and went straight there. I spoke with a younger woman and told her my dilemma: I needed to speak with financial aid and that there was a hold on my account. She instructed me to go online and follow the steps on their website of what to do next after applying. Well, this didn’t help me at all. I then went over to financial aid and a woman from the academic area came over to me and apologized for the other woman’s rude behavior and explained that i would have to go online and set up an appointment for an orientation to learn about the school and how to navigate their website. I informed her that I previously attended classes at NOVA and that I was very familiar with how their website worked, as it is exactly the same. She then took my name and student ID and looked into my credits and what I needed to do next, and told me that she would meet back up with me after I talk to financial aid. I signed onto the financial aid computer, thus checking in. I was not sure where to go next, so I went into the financial aid office, thinking that was where I needed to go, because there is a little waiting area with chairs when you walk in. I walked back and a woman greeted me and asked what I needed help with. I let her know what I needed and she looked into my account and told me that I needed to meet with my advisor to establish an eligible program of study before financial aid would be awarded. I asked her a few more questions regarding my aid and what years were good for what semesters and she answered them. I then went over to the academic advisement waiting area and took a seat to wait for the woman that was checking into my credits (I really wish I knew here name, as she was the most helpful person there). As I was waiting, the helpful woman went over to the financial aid desk to find me and spoke with the woman in financial aid that helped me. She asked where I had gone (or something of the nature, I couldn’t hear completely), and the woman in financial aid replied, “she signed in and just walked through the door, into the office, didn’t even ring the bell.” The helpful woman from academics then noticed me over in the waiting area and came over and gave me information and my username (because what I thought it was, was not right) and let me know what I needed to do next. Overall, with the exception the information that the helpful woman gave me, my trip there was pointless. I don’t get a lot of time off of work to do things like this, but I just so happened to be off early today.

With ALL of that being said, as a whole, I really did not appreciate my first experience with LFCC, the Middletown campus in particular. I thought that the first woman I spoke to in academics was very rude and did not help me in any way, whatsoever. I’m sure that other students receive the same treatment. As for the woman in Financial Aid, she was very unprofessional in talking about another student (and yes, I am currently enrolled at the college, but have not gotten to enroll in classes yet due to all of these hiccups) and very unwelcoming. With this experience, I felt very lost, unwelcome, and ostracized at this campus. No student should ever have to feel this way. This is coming from a student who has attended a community college before. Do I have to go to an expensive University to get the treatment that should be given? I can’t imagine how students that are fresh out of high school feel when coming here for the first time, with no prior experience with starting college. I went to NOVA and ECPI and have never felt like I was so ignored, like I did...

I was happy to save some money on my first two years of college, but to be honest I hated almost every second here. The actual employees of this school are so unorganized. my major was changed twice without my permission and multiple classes and professors would just change a couple days before the class would start without a notification. I did not care for many of the professors and really, if you check Rate My Professor you can see why... The advisors have absolutely no idea what they are doing. I refuse to go and talk to them after I asked for a class recommendation, I wanted to know a good math class that would transfer and she placed me in one of the only math classes that doesn't transfer, thank god the professor told the class this fact the first day so I could transfer into a different math. I know many people that get trapped here after being signed up for classes that don't apply to their major or don't transfer so they have to wait around another year. Also if you are going I highly recommend not taking any NOVA classes, they are more trouble than they are worth believe me. They also like to boast about the large amount of classes offered here but they rarely have most of those classes actually available. In my last semester I only needed 3 more classes and they only had one that I actually wanted unfortunately it was online and I really just wanted all my classes in a traditional classroom. Sadly only one of my classes is in an actual room. Overall I was constantly having to fix problems caused by the staff themselves and found that more stressful than the classes themselves. Even as I type I have emailed an employee twice in two weeks for the same issue and still not received a response. I just had to drive there on a workday and spend 4 hours talking to staff to try and solve a problem caused by NOVA and refused to assist me over the phone... If you can find a better place to save money your first two years go there instead. I guess you could say you get what...

LFCC is a great college overall. You're not always going to have the greatest experience at all the campuses, especially not with some of the Professors, but I can't give a poor rating for a place just because of one or two lousy professors. I will not give their names because their reviews speak for themselves at the end of every semester when we take them on Blackboard.

I transferred to LFCC from JTCC (John Tyler Community College), and the staff at LFCC helped me over 100% more than the staff at JTCC. My advisor at JTCC was there merely for the paycheck, that was it. My advisor at LFCC did all she could to help me and advised me very well.

My other professors that I always gave excellent ratings for were the ones you could tell were not just there for the paycheck but that they truly enjoyed the job and the subject they taught. Like I said, in my opinion, it was only two professors that were there purely for the paycheck and nothing else. But the 2.5 years I was at LFCC and finally earned my Associate's Degree in Science, it was truly a great opportunity. I enjoyed it much more than high school.

Do not let one or two professors map out the rest of your experience here. Do not allow an advisor to do the same either. Some just have better manners and knowledge than others. The 4 out of 5 stars was due to some professional experiences, not personal. Hope my...