Athens Technical College — Local services in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Having attended both UGA and Athens tech, I feel qualified to address my experiences with some of the issues mentioned in other reviews.

The staff at Athens Tech treat the students like adults. They are always helpful, but they will NOT coddle you if you have issues due to your own failure. For example, if you miss out on getting financial aid because you didn't get your forms done on time, they will not baby you. It is your responsibility to make sure that all of your forms are up to date. If you have questions, you can always consult the advisors and they will do everything in their power to help you.

Tuition is an amazingly reasonable here. At UGA my pell grant only covered half of my tuition, but here at Athens Tech it covers all of my tuition plus textbooks and anything else I may need. The average 12-credit hour semester for me cost about $1500. This includes tuition and all fees.

The grounds and facilities are kept clean and presentable, and they have even recently renovated.

The main issue that I see in most of the negative reviews is that it can be hard to get someone on the phone sometimes and general issues with staff. The staff have always been respectful, helpful, and kind to me if I treated them with respect. You should never go into an office and make demands or blame the receptionist for a problem caused by your own mistakes. Additionally, they do not have people in every department whose only job is to answer the phones. Staff prioritizes students who come in person for service, but if that is not possible for you you can always email them and they are pretty good about getting back to you on time.

I'm also going to rebut a few of the most negative reviews here. User "Table Book" left a 1-star review about Nancy in the financial aid office. I took a look at her other reviews and it appears that this person has a recurring issue with customer service, which is a victim mindset. Obviously if you do not pay for your classes on time, you will be removed from them. Athens Tech has a diverse team of faculty and it's not a place where you find discrimination. As I've said before, the staff will help you but ultimately the responsibility is on you for managing your education and future. Going to college is a CHOICE, not a right.

Other, older, reviews mention Justin (the admissions director I believe) and their difficulty reaching him. As I mentioned before, those who come in person will be prioritized because they took the initiative to come into the school. If you are unable to come to the school because of work or childcare responsibilities, PLEASE reach out to the school via email. They want to help you succeed.

Athens tech has vending machines as well as a bookstore that sells textbooks, school supplies (even tablets and printers), food, and clothing-- perfect for when you have a sudden wardrobe malfunction.

Athens tech has 3 campuses: Elberton, Walton, and Athens. You will be able to see where each of your classes is located when you register for them, and plan accordingly. Typically your major-specific classes will all be located on one campus. Gen-Ed is also focused on the Athens Campus. Parking is included in your tuition and the parking sticker is free, along with...

Athens Tech decided to use this new program called Snap. Snap is basically online tutorials that teach you the class material. This program is very poor. At first, it took teachers and students awhile to figure out how to even run it properly. After that, when doing certain "tasks" in the program the program counts many things incorrect even though you do them correctly. The instructor's defenses "You have to do the absolutely way Snap wants you to do it without shortcuts or different ways." However, the class book that goes along with this class teaches you the shortcuts and different ways, so you can see how this is confusing. I watched teachers themselves sit and try to do the "task" the students have to do and end up getting it wrong just as the students. I heard in one class, a person who works for snap came into class to address issues they were having. The person explained "Only use google chrome in order to avoid this issue." The class did so, the students got the same issue. The Snap person then tried doing it themselves and also got it wrong. Then the snap person said "it seems to be a different problem with Chrome and I have no idea why." This program is garbage. No one seems to know how to fix it, and hardly even get it working in the first place. I see students leaving classes in frustration because of Snap. The students spend more time trying to figure out how to "deal with" Snap and less time actually going over and learning the material for class. I once had an issue with a task and the instructor told me "Okay, I will manually give you a 100 because I see you are doing it correctly and it still marks it wrong." The problem is, the instructor tried and could not figure out how to do so and stated "I will try again later." The instructor never did and I got a bad grade due to Snaps problems. Snap is not just restricting my educational success but also many others. Snap cannot replace physical instructors in teaching material. So stop trying to do so ATC. Many students (along with myself) will drop out of school or class(es) literally due to Snap. I have been going here for four years and this is the most frustrating time I have encountered because of Snap. Get rid of Snap and make the instructors teach, that is what they...

Octavius Davis associate vice president for finance and administration is unprofessional. One minute he tells my daughter one thing and the next it's totally another. He can never assist you in the information you asked about. Why is people like him in his position? Hats off to Mrs. White who's always there to support my daughter, we need more people like her. Mr. Davis wait to the last minute to reach out to you about your balance and then think you can pay right then and now. My daughter has made payment arrangements to pay her balance and today he tells her she couldn't register for her classes because of a balance and again, he had told her that everything will be good by her making an effort to pay and she would still be able to take her classes, but again he's telling her a different story. Unprofessional and needs to be fired, because its definitely seems like he...