Pierce College Fort Steilacoom — Local services in Lakewood

I am going to give Pierce College a fat booster. When I was on Active Duty, I did not like the people at the Stone Ed Center, who were representing Pierce College. They just lacked customer service. A few times, I had " luck" and one person was quite helpful, but this was two years later, after I got here. Three years later now: I am now a Veteran, and I love Pierce College. They helped me in every step of the way, and I am going to graduate in less than a year with my AA degree. The people are so welcoming, especially at the Vet Resource Center. There is such a cozy atmosphere. The facility is clean. Before that, I tried to go to Puget Sound Community College, a year before exactly. I tried to use me TA for my education and I went there in my uniform ( hint: TA money for the college ) and I was getting such a runaround from them, and at the end, the person at the school-the fat lady walked me up straight to the register and told me to wait in line to pay. I had no money for school, I had studied before, and never paid for Tuition, just for books. I only paid for tuition, if I failed the class due to my lack of knowledge, neglect or other reasons before. I know, what it is like to pay tuition.. I was so upset, I just left. That did not happen here. They guided me through everything that I needed to do, and readjusting to civilian life was very tough for the first five months, but finally I am slowly letting go and getting used to it. There are some really good teachers, and they care what you learn. I recommend though, try not to take a part-time class, if it is a lot of stuff condensed, it is not worth stressing yourself. If one does not get fuzzy with a class for the first three days, drop the class. Usually it ends up getting worse. It is a Community College with a diverse population. If one is on a budget, that is a good school to go to also. I compared a private school to a Community College, and I had found out, that some of the Community Colleges offer more courses than some of the expensive fancy private schools. I don't regret this College. And the people at Stone Ed cannot be compared to the people, who are at Fort Steilacoom, those two are two different worlds. Well, I also do know, that sometimes people are rude to Service Members, and that is wrong, they lack tact and most Service Members do not say anything, they are much wiser about their behavior. But if a civilian works for the military, and is rude, just put in an ICE report. They work very nicely. If you are looking for a Graphic Design Program, this is the next best thing since sliced bread. Excellent teachers. Keep in mind, it is an AA Degree, not a BA Degree for the Digital Design program. A few years forward- this was the best school ever and I got more skills than someone who went to Bowie State University! Plus I don't have a fat school bill like theirs and my skills helped me to...

I have only been a student at pierce college for ONE quarter. I have attended two other colleges before this one and only attend pierce to get a few classes that I need to go attend graduate school. I have now had many issues with this college and their staff. The three main issues I have encountered have had to do with the "welcome center and advising".

Before I took my one class in summer quarter, they said I didn't have the per-requisite to get into a certain math class. They didn't do any thing to check to see if my math course at my previous colleges worked. I did the leg work for them and talked to one amazing adviser named Mike. Mike emailed one of the deans and got him to sign off on my class within one day. Why didn't the first 2 people do something like that or at least listen to me? I got into my class like I should have in the first place.

The other major issue I have had is after taking the one class and working 30 hrs a week I received a 72.9% in my class. I thought I had just squeaked by with a 2.0 to get into my next course, I found out that I had received a 1.8 because they adjusted the grading scale or at least my instructor did. I needed a 76% to get a 2.0. In my opinion it should be the same no matter where you go. If the school or the instructors believe that in order to move on to the next course they should have a better understanding then they should say you need a 2.5 to move one not a 2.0 and then adjust the grading scale.

Now having to retake that course, I went in today to see an adviser to sign off on my add drop form and it took them 2.5 hours to find time for someone to come out and look over my paperwork and sign a different piece of paper. This took less than 5 min. This was after I had called the "welcome center" and a woman had told me to come in because it shouldn't take long to sign a piece of paper. Not 10 min later, I went to registration and dropped my class and added the repeat course and I had a refund of $10.00. I asked where to go to get the refund and I was told that I don't get my $10 because its the colleges policy that they don't refund $10 or under. MY $10 doesn't go to my account or go to anything that I could use. MY $10 is just pierce colleges money now according to the man at the registration office. I intend to talk to someone about at least my $10 but I wanted to let others know in advance what they have to look forward to if they go to pierce college. The previous community college and university that I attended were nothing compared to Pierce. I can't believe more people don't complain or try to change some of the things that pierce...

My experience as a former alumni was not satisfactory. While attending, I was assigned about 3-4 different academic advisors in within two years since many of them would resign from their positions. The issue with that was the lack of support and guidance I received as the new staff would be overwhelmed with students needing multiple documents and tasks to complete hence they were not properly taking care of students individual needs accordingly. One of many struggles and instances I encountered were finding an internship to complete for my degree which caused a great amount of stress in my life. Friends who were attending other colleges mentioned how their schools were on top of things and would often ask me, is your school not helping you this or that? Most of the time my answers were, no… Lastly, Towards the end before graduating, my last academic advisor who was also my professor managed to schedule me in for a couple of appointments to catch up on everything I needed and through teams video he would rush me off after only 5 minutes in and I would have to stop him and tell him I have more questions. I do plan on continuing my education however I have no interest of coming back to...