Southern Technical College Tampa

Southern technical college at Tampa has been a very relaxing/ knowledgeable experience. The staff are even more amazing. To point out one individual specifically, Amanda Yates, she is the financial aid personnel in charge & has assisted me in every step of the way with great professionalism, care, humbleness, knowledge, and overall, personality. Ms Yates is one of a kind, she shows passion in helping whoever and has a soul of sincere genuine care. Ask for Amanda Yates !

Gabe has given me a great opportunity and I appreciate how she allowed me to feel comfortable during my process in learning more about Southern Tech.

Let me start by saying that the staff here are very friendly. That being said, there’s a huge gap in communication between the initial admission representative, “advisors”, financial aid, professors, and director of education.

1. I’ll start with my transcripts – they were missing one from my application. I requested information on where to send it. They gave me the wrong email and followed up stating they hadn’t received it.

2. I was asked numerous times if they had received my enrollment papers, taken my school ID photo followed by my actual ID being handed to me twice, and then asked about my uniform size. (They have you fill out paperwork for this information and still manage to lose it?)

3. I went two weeks without a book I needed for my program. When I asked about it I was directed to the Director of Education who didn’t know what book I needed or where it was located. When they located the shelf with my book it was out of stock. Needless to
say, I had to borrow a book from my professor.

4. I didn’t receive my school “sequencing” (the plan for my education to complete my program) until my first week. My credits were transferred over based on the comparisons of the course’s descriptions which I thought was odd. The schedule also stated class was on Tuesday, but when we all showed up it was actually suppose to be Wednesday. Apparently our class wasn’t the only one affected by this “issue”.

5. I had to reach out to financial aid several times because I didn’t know what they would be charging me per semester only to be told they were waiting on the director of education for weeks.

6. Canvas was down the first week of school so any assignments for online classes were delayed because we couldn’t access them. Which it seems like when I went to class in person that this is something that happens regularly. On one occasion I reached out to a professor and he asked me if I followed the instructions on how to access the course. I stated yes and sent over a screenshot of the error just to be told I was doing it wrong, twice. Shortly followed by him stating his course would need to be rebooted due to technical difficulties.

7. You will be told that you have to meet with insert department here and won’t be told if that specific person is available that day. When you’re someone who travels 30-45 minutes from home to the campus this isn’t ideal.

All in all, I believe this college is outlandishly overpriced for the lack of services, outdated technology, poor operation styles, and disorganization they offer to their students. To say this experience was disappointing would be an understatement. I would recommend going elsewhere.