Bergen Community College — Local services in Paramus

NEVER EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING HERE. SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME AND MONEY. Me and countless other students have had undeniably frustrating experiences at this college and that’s putting it lightly. For example, they accused one student of having a bachelors degree when they were… A newly enrolled freshman and 18 years old? So they couldn’t get financial aid. Then, they accused that same student of having not passed six classes even though THEY DID (with a B average, mind you) and, as a result, cannot register for their future classes. Now, speaking on the experiences of myself, this school has never been helpful and they intentionally set you up for failure. They set it up so that you are stuck at this college for as long as possible. Their slogan “You belong at Bergen” is no joke, they really hold you hostage and BCC drains you of everything it possibly could. You belong to them. They implemented a rule last summer where you have to pay for classes before they even start. It used to be that you could pay after the semester ended if you wanted, but you just weren’t allowed to register for new ones until you paid them. Which… Fine. But they didn’t notify students of this new policy. I got no email, no phone call, no text message, no word of mouth. NOTHING. I had a summer class registered for, but since I didn’t pay BEFORE THE SUMMER SEMESTER STARTED, they kicked me out. Without any prior notification. That extended the amount of time I was supposed to be here for. Next issue, some professors do not care about disability accommodations even though I went to the Office of Specialized Services for said accommodations. Even though they’re supposed to give you extended time on tests for having dyslexia, some professors will completely ignore that accommodation. They’ll make you take the same amount of time on a test as your non-dyslexic peers. My most pressing issue is the lack of help you get with financial aid at this place. It’s a COMMUNITY COLLEGE for Christ’s sake. It shouldn’t be that difficult to understand that many people choose to go to community college to save money, but when I went to go in person to get further assistance with my financial aid application, an advisor turned me away and said “Just go online” and handed me a slip with a link to the website. My parents don’t have any legal documentation because they are immigrants. We have been homeless. I mentioned this to said advisor and she provided NO information whatsoever on how I’m supposed to provide documentation of my parent’s information when they don’t even have anything to show for it. The only good part of BCC are the professors. Professor Speranza is the GOAT, and so is Tharian. The worst one I’ve taken so far has had to be professor Latham. My god. She didn’t know what the hell she was teaching and would have her own students correct her work. Make sure you don’t end up with a horrible professor by checking RateMyProfessor. This school is a joke. If this isn’t enough to heed my warning, then for the love of...

This school has to be one of the worst and I repeat WORST I’ve ever attended. It started with an argument I had with one of their front desk people at one stop she was upset because I did not hear her call me back to the desk after I collected my number from the machine she proceeded to remove my number from the screen and insisted I tell her what I was there for which was absolutely unnecessary and never needed in the past I told her I needed help with financial aid and she then kept Proceeding to show me the online portable that I can obviously see myself from home. I told her I already know that and I still need to speak to with financial aid I have never had to advise anyone at the front desk of everything I am looking to discuss they always just asked what am I here for. it escalated so much that I had to yell into the glass office for someone to assist me, at that point another student had involved her self in the argument as well. I went into some type of student resource office to make a report, you needed the person first and last name of course she refused to give me her last name and I'm not even sure if that was her real first name, I went on to try to get in contact with the president or someone of authority in the school, the first person that spoke to me was some principle from the high school section there the only reason I called her in the first place is because they list it on there website as if she is apart of the college. she picked up the phone and acted like she was someone who could help me and after listening to the whole story said there was nothing she could do and explained who she was, the next person once again listen to the whole story took my info and had a counselor contact me and told her I needed advising. Eventually after this in counter every person I communicated with in this school became hard to deal with, I recently transferred out against my wishes because there was no way I could excel in that environment, I would not recommend this school to someone’s pet fish don’t...

Don't listen to anyone who has anything positive to say about this place. Number 1 in NJ for AS degrees is a load of bologne. You get what you pay for: dirt cheap education. The school is poorly organized and does not look in the students interests but rather their interests looking to run you through the system as fast as possible to get graduation rates up. The school hires professors from outside 4 year schools and can't establish themselves there because the school its self is poorly run. 1 in 4 students gets the AS degree. There are BS courses the school will force you to take due to "government experiments" such as supplement classes and Success 101 because comunity college students across the nation don't graduate and thus the government is trying to step in by giving grants for these experimental classes. 98% of students who attend are lazy, don't do any work, disrupt learning environment with their overall behavior and have ZERO ambition to learn anything and professors have to focus on discipline rather than teaching. Unless you get a professor with a rating of 4.0 (they have been teaching there for over 7 years and know what they are doing) and above expect problems left and right with professor's who teach nothing and look to try to teach students personal life lessons, complicate how it's going to be at the 4 years schools rather than presenting the material giving the test and progressing students forward. You can attend class, take notes, do readings and be a coordinate students and you still will fail because these crap professors don't give reasonable exams. My strong suggestion pay the extra money and commute to Ramapo or Montclair those are your best bets if your a commuter. In general that's community college expect to get ripped off for your money and credits if and when you transfer to a 4 year school. GO DIRECTLY TO A 4...