Durham Technical Community College — Local services in Durham

Only go here if you don't mind putting up with a ton of crap, or if you don't care about anything. Maybe it's a pretty good school but they have literally screwed me over on everything. They have refused to grant me all of the credits I earned in High School that the UNC and NC State systems would have granted me. My advisor seems like a nice guy but he doesn't know anything about the school and is a pretty terrible advisor, failing to tell me that there were several forms I needed to complete in order to receive my federal loans and in-state status for fall semester. They don't allow private student loans from banks and hardly offer enough loans to pay tuition and live off of. Phone calls are never answered, nor messages returned. There is no notification for classes being scheduled at the other campus (a 25 minute drive) 15 minutes after a class at the main campus. No one ever wants you to contact the dean, ever, no matter how many people you fight. They just want you to give up. I'm currently battling with admissions to receive in-state status. Despite working in NC for 7 months, driving a vehicle and paying NC insurance for a vehicle registered in NC for a year, having an NC driver's license and voters registration for a year, paying several NC bills in my name and having a lease for an apartment in NC in my name, DTCC is still refusing to approve in-state status because they don't think I'm financially independent and because my mother claimed me as a student on her 2015 tax return. And while I've been waiting to pay my tuition several days after the due date, which I was notified of about 2 weeks before the due date, suddenly, $200 of my federal grant has disappeared! I called and emailed the school to find out what happened, but I literally got messages saying that phone calls won't be answered, voice mails won't be returned, and emails won't be read because everyone is too busy with walk-in students. I'm giving 2 stars because I have had overall good experiences with most of my classes and professors. The campus is generally well-kept and it's as safe as it could be considering the location. Most of the staff are friendly, it's just impossible to find anyone who actually knows what they're talking about. I can't even tell you how many times I've been straight up told "I don't know" by paid professionals at this school. I understand that the school must have a very low budget, but I have been very let down. I'm now starting my 3rd semester here, and I really hope this school will be able to turn around and change my mind over the next...

This review is for the Beyond Basic ESL. If you can drive to Raleigh to take English classes in other Colleges you will save money and time, but if you don't have a choice and need to take the Beyond Basic ESL classes at Duham tech this is the info you need to know:

1. After talking to several international students and taking several classes myself, the only teachers that are worth taking are the ones listed as follows: Elizabeth Leggett and John Andrews Please check if these are the teachers that teach the classes you are signing up for. They are very good ESL teachers.
2. The coordinator does a terrible job in selecting the teachers for this program. The teachers (except the two names mentioned above) have no clue how how to teach English language for foreigners. You will learn the wrong way and you will get confused with their answers. They won't correct you properly. I have never heard so many complaints about the teachers in a college as I have heard about the ones teaching in this program. The classes are painful.
3. In case you decide to take this classes anyway, make sure to figure out if the classes are the right fit for your level in the first week. Go in person to talk to the coordinator to cancel the class and get your refund. Again, I insist if you feel that the teacher is not a good fit for you in the first week don't continue his/her class because things will get worse in the following weeks. Request your 75% money back right away. I made the huge mistake in waiting for 2 1/2 weeks to see if the terrible teacher would get better which he didn't, this mistake cost me $260, because the coordinator refused to give me the refund, even though she knew that several students were complaining about the same teacher. All of us begged her to give us the money back or change to other classes. Nothing was made. Extremely frustrating.

The great thing about this program is that the classmates are very nice and hard worker people. It is a shame that Durham Tech Community College doesn't care about recruiting knowledgeable ESL teachers to help the international students who come to U.S. to improve...

If you need to take a Pearson Exam. DON'T TAKE IT HERE.

I arrived on campus nearly 45 minutes before my scheduled exam. The Wynn Center was difficult to find. In stopping to ask individuals walking around on campus where it was located, they simply stated "over there", giving no specific directions. I drove towards the direction in which they encouraged that I go, and found that I pulled into the small semicircle where the campus police office was located and walked inside leaving my car with the caution lights on. I walked into the first office on the right and was addressed by a lady by the last name of "Griffin". She was very rude and gave me a hard time about parking outside of the building, which I informed her was only to find directions about where I needed to go, not to actually park. She then proceeded to give me a pass and told me to park across the street in the visitor lot.

After leaving the office, I traveled back across the street where I had to search for a parking spot in the visitor lot. I then had to walk across the street to the Wynn center which was behind the campus police office, definitely not in view or able to be recognized in just driving through campus. I arrived at the testing location just 10 minutes before the exam start time, very irritated and flustered. The testing environment was horrible, there were no sound reducing head phones or ear plugs, the seats tables were in rows where you could be easily distracted by the movements of others instead of enclosed cubicles, my seat was not far from a door which had a long window where you could see students walking back and forth, and to put the icing on the cake I didn't get the passing score I needed for the exam.

If you have to take a Pearson exam, I'd highly recommend that you go to the next nearest center in Durham off of Meridian parkway. This is where I have taken previous exams and I wonder why I ever reconsidered...