Atlanta Technical College — Local services in Atlanta

I attended this school in January 2020 to take the Commercial Truck Driving class. I chose this school out of convenience. I was able to keep my job and then make it to the evening class. The first 2 weeks consisted of classroom instruction (book work). I was extremely pleased with my teacher. I could tell that he was passionate about his job. Unfortunately, he was not the same person that I had as a driver instructor. After the 2 weeks in the classroom, we were assigned a driver instructor for the remaining 6 weeks. Before I describe my experience with my instructor, take note of a few things. The school does NOT own their own yard to practice maneuvers. The first week on " the yard" was in a small parking lot behind some Veteran Affairs buildings. We were not able to do anything but study pre-trip inspection (which could be done at home) and straight line backing. The second week on "the yard" we were at a different property that they rented near the airport. There was grass growing between the pavement. This property was larger than the other but unleveled and full of debris. Some of it was swept into piles, but it was still scattered throughout the yard. Even one of the students got a flat tire from a metal piece that was in the parking area. It was very unkept and not a safe place to park your non commercial vehicle. Since it was January, it got darker earlier. I thought that we would have lights on the yard so we could practice maneuvers but I set my expectations to high. I asked my instructor about the lighting situation and she said they were supposed to be here because her boss ordered them. I didn't take any further action. A week went by and I am realizing that our performance is suffering because we are not given enough time to practice since there is no lighting. Long story short, we went over 2 weeks practicing without lights. We were offerred opportunity to come to class earlier to practice while it would be lighter out but everyone was not able to because of the times they got off of work. Needless to say, class still ended earlier than it should have so not only were we being robbed out of time doing maneuvers, some were robbed of overall class time! Now for the worst part, my instructor. The title of being an "instructor" is giving too much credit where it isn't due. She was more of a chaperone to make sure we didn't damage equipment (the trucks). She didn't answer questions. She would just yell a rhetorical question as an answer like " Didn't I tell you about that?" She was unwilling to show how maneuvers were to be executed. She would just tell us to get in the truck and do it. I never drove a truck in my life. I wanted to attend school to learn how. We ended up learning the most from a student who drove trucks before and was way more patient and better at explaining than the teacher. This was completely unacceptable to me as a student but I continued to try my best anyway. Needless to say, I failed and many others that took the evening classes failed their CDL exams as well. The information that I was given to study for the first out of the 3 tests I had to take was faulty. I studied everything I needed to on the sheet and still failed because the sheet that they gave us was missing important information. This school has no curriculum so you dont even know what you are supposed to be learning. You will be paying out of pocket for books and physical/drug exams for nothing. The CDL exam costs $100 the first 2 times you take it. After failing the first time, I was emailed by the lead instructor to see if I wanted to retake the test. I opted out because I know I wasnt taught what I needed to pass it so I wasn't going to pay money to fail again. I was told because I opted out I would fail the performance portion of the class. I would not recommend this school/course to anybody! It is a waste of time, money and energy. The only thing I learned was to take heed of the reviews I read next time as I hope you will now. I would rate this school a 3 and this Commercial Truck Driving...

This school does not communicate ANYTHING of importance, especially the financial aid department. Are they missing your tax transcript (which, btw, they require EVERY FREAKIN" YEAR) or need a verification sheet? Well, prepare to never be told this important information and wait in line for up to 2+ hours just to sign a couple of lines because they only have 2 people handling student issues in financial aid! This semester, financial aid wasn't processed for the entire school until July, yet classes start August 19th. They are severely understaffed, mismanaged and don't give a crap about quality customer service. Want to make a call to the office instead? Good luck! No office will answer the phone, the voicemail is always full and they do not return calls if you were lucky enough to leave a voicemail. The only exception is the business office, because they are always happy to take your money. Also, check your account OFTEN. I had to leave for the Fall semester but they did not tell me that they charged those classes while I was in the middle of attending Spring Semester. When I finally received a letter in June, the amount was charged off and I was disqualified from a payment plan. At the same time, the school did not notify my loan service that I was attending for Spring and I almost went into default. I had my servicer contact the school on 3 occasions in February and March of this year to try to get verification, but they didn't even respond to the company. I had to go up there, only to be told that I should print out my verification from Bannerweb. I got home and, lo and behold, THE SERVICE DIDN'T WORK. I had to go back to the office, hand them the letter my loan service needed signed, and waited 5 days to get it back (by the way, they tried to turn me back to Bannerweb when I tried to pick up my form). The departments do not work together are quick to pass you on to someone else rather than help you address your issues. We finally have a reliable email system through Microsoft 365 (the old one was always down), but you will never get any important notices from it until the last possible minute. The worst part is that the administration will chide you to "take responsibility", yet they don't practice what they preach. If you go here, prepare to spend you free time trying to get them to do their job and fix their mistakes. EVERYONE IS SENT ON SOME KIND OF WILD GOOSE CHASE EVERY SEMESTER. Don't even entertain the idea that you'll be an exception. If you value your time and want to be treated with respect, go...

No. This School as of today has proven me that they only care about them selves and don’t have best interest in student. How do you mess up your job. Then you go in student file and steal my education money of summer 2018 my unsubsidized loan then basically correct the school mistake and error to cover them selves and take my money for 2018 to pay back a balance of last year. Different semester. My understanding and I looked into it. Summer semester don’t not have nothing to do with my fall semester of last year. So my money should be in my account for SUMMER SEMESTER. That’s the loan I applied for. I didn’t apply for this loan to pay off the school mistake and poor job and this is RIDICULOUS. I have been homeless living house to house can’t go to school because of this. and tell me it’s nothing y’all can do for me but put someone else on the phone to try to say it better so I can understand. No I understand and I understand that this is not the way a college or any business should handle situation like this. You throw my education to the back to fix your mistakes. Atlanta Technical College, ( start strong, stay strong, and finish strong) how can I do that when you making me weak and making me give up on my self cause yall taking my education money to use it to correct the school mistake of 2017. You take my money my education money and think it’s okay. ITS NOT OKAY THIS SHOULD BE AGAINST THE LAW. And I’m pretty sure it is. I took out a summer semester 2018 unsubsidized loan for SUMMER AND TO HELP ME WITH FALL SEMESTER mess witch is the school fault AGAIN. And yall TAKE MY MONEY TO PAY OFF A BALANCE OF LAST YEAR (fall semester) but I received my summer grants and hope loans. Y’all should have took that money then!!!!!! This is ALL ATLANTA TECHNICAL COLLEGE FAULT AND IM MAD ABOUT THIS. I will fight this for as long as I can! You guys messed up a student education who chose YOU and Atlanta Technical College are bullying me to just understand that I own that amount of money so they took half of my money!!!!! No I don’t understand I feel robbed used and tricked!!!!!! PLEASE IF ANYONE KNOW WHO THE RIGHT PERSON TO TALK TO PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I have lost everything AND NOW MY SCHOOL AND MONEY! I really hope they can fix this problem and burden they put on me. I feel so horrible in and regret picking this school rn. I pray they FIX THIS THE RIGHT WAY AND GIVE ME MY EDUCATION MONEY BACK THAT THEY STOLE FROM ME! SO I CAN START MY EDUCATION...