Orange County Community College - Middletown, New York

nicole smith

I don't even know where to start. For starters, if I could give this school NEGATIVE STARS, I would. The faculty at this facility is so incompetent, they might as well have monkeys in the office. The staff members are so incredibly rude towards students. News flash, if you don't want to work in the student services office, which is specifically designed to help students navigate, THEN QUIT. Their "online zoom advising office" will have you waiting 20+ minutes for an advisor, and don't you DARE call their direct number because you'll be greeted with the nastiest receptionist known to human history. (And just an FYI, if you're a person of ~ethnicity~ you will find your experience here very challenging.) Condescending office staff and rude receptionist. The professors are honestly not the problem, they will work with you and are not gunning for your fail. However, the office staff there are so off putting, it brings down the value of the school entirely. Let's not work in public areas, with jobs that require you to interact with people if you, yourself have a disdain for interaction. Negative 5 out of 5 stars for me.

Jose Zhinin

This College is A Scam, Students Be ware, I signed up for 2 classes this summer, but because my financial aid never got approved I withdrew from their classes before the they even started. Now 3 months later they send me to collection for the full amount, even after I withdrew. This college is a scam & you can’t even go & talk to someone in person, everything is online. & they’re online system are always down.

meme.dream._sauce

School hasn't accepted my student loans for about 2 months ever since I finished whatever I needed to finish for them to get student aid and they have now sent my debt to them to a collection agency for 4K, meanwhile on the website it says I owed them 3,356 exactly. They have also denied in what I can only assume is 2,144 in student aid I don't know because it doesn't say. It does say though that I however have sent in a DL Federal Unsubsidized loan, meaning they have gotten a loan from student aid and haven't given me any chance at all to accept how much of the loan I want to take out. All in all, don't attend this college as for they are just trying to debt trap you. It happened with an older sibling of mine and now it's happening for me.

Jesse Ledbetter (RVAValues)

They are currently alleging a bill for classes never registered for, never informed of, or taken. Upon appeal they refused to cancel the charge - when there is no evidence that a class was registered for in the first place. Incompetence or fraud!

Upgraded to 2 stars - after being threatened with legal action and contacting the Department of Education, the fees were reversed. This should not have taken 6 months for your institution to admit no wrong doing in threatening to send this to collections. Get your $#!T together.

Dannie Sinisi

SUNY Orange was an amazing experience. I was treated with respect and guided through every step to make sure that I graduated. The professors were extremely knowledgeable and experienced in their field. I especially love being a part of Trio and the clubs that I joined. This is a college that cares about its students.

Colton

The 2 stars are for the professors I have had over the years. I've gotten quite lucky and have had some amazing professors. My problem with this school is solely in the way they structure themselves administratively. I have had so many issues with the staff of this school. An extremely important deadline such as the book voucher one isn't even emailed to students. I wasn't even aware that there was a book voucher deadline and I have been going to this school for over 2 years. One staff member will tell me one thing, and when I go to another department they have an entirely different answer. The departments don't speak to each other either, so don't expect an admissions specialist to give you any knowledge or information about any EXTREMELY important deadlines regarding finances while you speak to them. They seriously need to implement a different structure to their student services because since I have been here they have been horrid.

STef Pfleger

So far my daughter has gotten limited help with registration and financial aid. Then we find out that the classes this advisor signed her up for are not needed for her degree and no one can seem to help. We get her bill and see there are child care fees and find out all students are required to pay this child care fee regardless. Tell me why my 18 year old with no kids has to pay a child care fee? Like these classes we are paying for are not expensive enough now we have to pay for the care of kids that are not ours! Ulster seems to have been the better choice here. So regretting having her goto Orange.

Amanda Santiago

I am a regional admissions director, overseeing 4 nursing homes in our communities. I have worked in a nursing facility this entire pandemic. I have assisted the hospitals from the tristate area all the way up to Wappingers falls. 2 of my sisters are nurses, so I’ve decided to follow suite especially all that I have overcome working during this entire pandemic. With that said, I planned to start my journey with SUNY orange, my sister and I planned to study our nursing degree together. However, I never made it. I received a message from the finance Dept of SUNY orange stating I need to pay $1800 or my classes would be dropped, I did not have the 1800 and I was really busy with the world, I told myself, disappointed, everything happens for a reason. My sister started her classes without me , January 25th, 2021. I’m alongside her thinking next year I’ll have the 1800. Come March, SUNY orange calls me to tell me I’m failing, I inquired and explained that I hadn’t attended one class due the message I received from finance about my classes being dropped. They wait until March ? No teacher could have called me to tell me I’m missing class!? I qualify for financial aid and tap, I’m a single mother of 3, the other parent being deceased. Finally, SUNY wants to charge me almost 4K for the semester I didn’t even attend because of their message regarding payment or dropped classes. I’m seeking a lawyer and reporting this to the state. Because why would someone who qualified for grants take advantage and not attend class. On top of that, the sister I was supposed to study with is on the deans list of this school! My family and I come from responsibility , integrity , passion and respect. I feel like they’re trying to take advantage of me and that’s cruel, I only didn’t attend because they said classes would be dropped if I don’t pay .