Hillsborough Community College – Dale Mabry Campus

After more than fifteen years navigating the labyrinth of higher education as a university professor, doctoral student, and post-doctoral fellow, I have cultivated a broad, global perspective on university and college systems. Rarely, however, have I witnessed malfeasance so flagrant as what I encountered while mentoring a student at Hillsborough Community College’s Dale Mabry Campus. It is nothing short of astonishing that any institution purporting to nurture intellectual growth would coerce students into taking quizzes and exams during a state-mandated hurricane evacuation—an unconscionable display of disregard for both safety and common decency. This dereliction of duty extends even further: instructors exhibited appalling hostility toward students and, disconcertingly, the administrative staff responded with a level of apathy that permeated the entire chain of command.

My attempts to seek recourse with the Campus President revealed an institutional culture that values bureaucratic indifference over academic excellence or student well-being, suggesting systemic failure rather than isolated missteps. Given that my taxes contribute to this institution, I am compelled to question whether our local resources would be more judiciously allocated to vocational education programs—at least there, one might hope for some vestige of practical competence and empathy.

I am, quite frankly, aghast at the leadership vacuum and the woeful state of affairs at the Dale Mabry Campus. A comprehensive overhaul of campus management seems long overdue if there is any aspiration to repair its reputation—or restore even a baseline of educational integrity. For prospective students weighing their options, I urge you to explore all other avenues before acquiescing to this institution. Should you find yourself without alternatives, proceed with vigilance: record every lecture, save all correspondence, and guard your interests scrupulously. One would expect that an institution bearing the moniker of “higher education” might uphold a standard of care more befitting its mission; alas, the Dale Mabry Campus appears determined to prove otherwise.

I simply just like this campus for 3 reasons. First, Parking lot is free. You don’t have to pay any fee like USF. Second, staffs are friendly. You might see many people complaints about employees, but to me personally, I feel they are doing very well (especially staffs in Library). Finally, the most important thing is 99% of Professors always try to help students when they have any problem. Therefore, I didn’t regret for choosing this school and this campus.

INVI GRAYES is the absolute worst Supervisor. If you need assistance in the Admissions, Records, and Registration Department do everything in your power to avoid her!! This institution caused my USF application to be cancelled because of missing required documentation that should have been sent from here! I have an email saying “Congrats Graduate” while at the same time my Hawk GPS is saying I’m 97% complete. What a contradiction! The last day of the semester was 12/10/2024 I didn’t receive acknowledgment that I actually graduated until 1/5/2025 @10:56pm which was a Sunday and two days before the payment deadline for the Spring. Based on my USF Application being cancelled I registered for 3 classes at HCC back in December so I’m not out of school for a whole semester. Those 3 classes “were” covered under financial aid until they finally acknowledged I graduated on 1/5/2025 which caused my financial aid to be taken back which led to my classes being dropped on 1/7/2025. I was unaware my financial aid status had changed because the last time I checked it was all set. Everyone I know encountered attempted to make this my fault, no one took an ounce of responsibility for any of it and an individual in Admissions named “Julia” blatantly lied to my faced about a transcript being ordered too soon. it was a lie because that transcript was ordered from FIU to USF so she would have no record of it and instead of saying she didn’t see it or didn’t know she lied. I would like to commend the Dean of Student Services he heard me out acknowledged where mistakes had been made on their part and did everything he could to get me enrolled back into one of the classes I was dropped from. Overall I’ve had a terrible experience here, Joseph Bentrovato is the only bright spot!! I would not recommend this institution there were more errors and inconveniences to share this was just from my latest debacle and my final straw with this place!