Chabot College — Local services in Hayward

My review is based on my experience at Chabot a long, long time ago. I attended there from 1983 until 1985 before transferring to UC Davis.

I was a pretty miserable high school student who graduated with a C- average. After that I spent 12 years working one blue collar job after another. After 6 brutal years in a factory that paid very well, but was turning my brain to mush and aging my body rapidly, I knew I had to go back to school. I was 30 years old, but figured, "better late than never."

I chose Chabot, and I have been so thankful for that decision ever since.

The instructors were great. Tough, but great. I studied A LOT, but sometimes I still needed help. I fully utilized their office hours and they were always so very helpful. In 1985 I got my AA degree and was shocked when they presented me with the Chabot College Faculty Award for excellence in scholarship.

A few years later I got my B.A. degree in Journalism with a minor in Computer Science. I ended up spending my career working in Computer Science rather than Journalism. I loved to write but never enjoyed interviewing people for stories.

Computer science was a great fit for me. Most of my computer science classes at Chabot were with Mr. Jolly, and if he ever happens to read this I'd like to thank him for keeping his classes interesting and informative. I loved every minute of it.

Also, I'd like to thank my math teacher at Chabot, whose name I, sadly, can't recall. He was a great teacher with a wry and dry sense of humor. He had a very clear and concise lecture style that helped me so much. He helped me through Geometry, Trig, the Calculus series, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. I had been a horrible math student in high school, so I was so thankful to have finally conquered math and proven to myself that I could do it. But honestly, I couldn't have done it without his help. Sheesh, it just kills me that I can't remember his name. But anyway, if he reads this and recognizes my name, I hope he knows just how appreciative I am for his excellent instruction.

After spending about 20 years in IT I retired at age 54. That was 17 years ago. It wouldn't have been possible without Chabot.

I know nothing about how Chabot may have changed in the years since I left there, but I hope it's still the welcoming place that I found it to be. The people of Chabot made a vast difference in my life, and I am...

The programs at Chabot College are extremely helpful (Eops, NextUp, Guardian Scholars) and I am grateful for all the counselors that helped me to get to the point of graduating; but the Admissions & Records Office constantly messes important paperwork up. (Lost transcript forms, writing the incorrect address on important forms ). The Financial Aid office at times messes up your disbursement (as I've had to pay for a semester out of pocket before; then had to go to the office to fight them for my money back.)

(In my honest opinion, some of the people in these offices have nasty energy attached to them and should watch the way they're talking to these students. We're confused...this is a whole new world for us.)

I've had to come to the school 4-5 times after I graduated to check on the transcript form I filed to see if it was done correctly (they lost the first form I filled out & paid for)

I will say Chabot has gotten more strict on their identification policy. (when I first started in 2022, they allowed you to show them your student ID). But...Students can no longer use their Student ID Card @ the Financial Aid Office & Admissions and Records Office.

One of my professors told us that Chabot has been recieving a lot of fake students enrolling to try to recieve financial aid.

Overall, Chabot is great.

Lots of classes to choose from, attentive & caring counselors, most of the professors are kind, helpful and want you to succeed in life.

[here's a tip]: make friends! Don't be shy, because we're all here for the same thing! learning/growth! The best thing we can do is help eachother. I'm leaving Chabot with friends I've made from being in programs and study groups!

Something else I'd like to put out there for students & parents, is to make sure you use your voice and keep record of all important documentation here.

Colleges need to be held accountable for messing up too, thats how people fix things... by making mistakes.

Anyway...Grateful for my time at Chabot, peace out & good luck to all future gladiators ✌️ ☮️...

Dear Chabot College Financial Aid: if I wanted to feel ignored, gaslit, and emotionally stomped on, I’d just go back to dating in my twenties. Let me walk you through this emotional obstacle course you call an “appeals process”: I survived domestic violence, became homeless, watched my grandmother die (the woman who raised me after my mom was murdered), and tried to go to school through all of it. Did I quit? No. Did I provide evidence? Yes. Did you ask for a death certificate like I was lying about planning a funeral alone? Also yes. And after all that, you denied my appeal in less than an hour. You must have reviewed my trauma at light speed. Do your rejection letters come pre-written? Fast forward to 2025: I try again. I’m healing. I’m rebuilding. My only child walks out of my life, and I’m somehow still showing up, trying to get a degree. And Chabot’s response? Absolute silence. No guidance. No compassion. No clue. If this school was any colder, it’d come with a polar vortex warning. If empathy were a prerequisite, no one in that office would pass. This review isn’t for me—it’s for every student who’s fought through hell just to sit in a classroom, only to be told their trauma isn’t “documented enough.” Shame on this system for treating lived experience like it’s paperwork. So no, I won’t be quiet. I won’t disappear. And I definitely won’t forget that a community college tried to...