St. Petersburg College

I have considered switching schools and programs many times, but the cost of tuition elsewhere has held me back. It’s sad to say, but I have hardly learned anything new in the HSA program. Sure, if you’re not that great at writing or you know absolutely nothing about healthcare, there is plenty for you to learn in the HSA program. The issue is, it seems like this only accounts for less than 10% of my classmates. The other 90% have many years (sometimes decades) experience in the field (just read... Read More their discussion posts), and we aren’t really acquiring any technical skills that you would expect a 4 year degree would give you for a highly technical and regulated industry. I’m pretty sure there’s more to strategic planning than just doing a SWOT analysis. I’d love to get some actual practice with some data collection, charting, and preparing accreditation reports. I took a whole class that had epidemiology in the title, but the only thing about epidemiology we really learned was the definition. There is a ton of busy work, sometimes 2 discussion posts and 1 paper per week in each class. At this point, I’m just continuing to get my diploma so I can look better on paper. My actual training is coming from my supervisor, who is excellent and who I wish would teach for a program like HSA that desperately needs to keep up with the times.

First I would like to say I am an older person who decided to go back to school later in life and with that being said I probably had more questions about how everything worked. I would of preferred to go to a brick and mortar school but I could not find one near me that had my area of study. I researched online schools and decided on SPC and I have never regretted my decision. I found everyone at this school to be very responsive, which actually suprised me alittle. I almost attended another school... Read More but they would not return calls or emails so I decided against that school. I found my professors to be very informative and they answered my questions every single time even when I am sure they were probably thinking " not her again ". My advisor met with me multiple times to make sure I understood my classes, choices and career path. The financial aid person returned my calls to go over everything and when I dropped a class and had computer issues the office was very responsive as well. I can't say enough about this school and I would definitely recommend them to others.

Horrible student service for online students. Most of the time you can't just call with a questions because the operators s don't know it. You have to set up an appointment usually days ahead to get a simple answer to a simple question. My financial aid was taking forever to post and when I called I kept getting "Oh, it's just takes a while to complete" After a ridiculous amount of time I finally got an answer, "oh, it was completed almost a month ago but they just didn't bother to update your account.... Read More I can't do anything about it except send them a message reminding them to update and that can take 7 business days. No there's nothing that can be done to speed this up and there is no one in financial aid that you can talk to directly" I decided to go ahead and register for classes because I was getting dangerous close to the six other mark because of how long this was taking. Nope, I need the exact class numbers, I cannot look them up by name and no no one on the phone can help me. I simply must set up an appointment and wait to get the numbers to star my classes. Why can they not have a system for operators to look up class numbers? I came from Liberty university and I could easily get whatever information that I needed in one simple phone call. No setting up phone appointments and waiting days just to get one simple question answered. This college has a horrible system that can make getting critical information difficult and make it very difficult for online students. If this is how they operate then they should not have online programs at all.

The online program for both the AS and BAS degree is structured but still provides a lot of flexibility. The Professors all work in the field in addition to teaching so they have relevant information that teaches you more than just "book knowledge". In my opinion this is vital when applying for a job after graduation. The Dean is very involved in the program and is available for questions. There are also really cool study abroad opportunities to help animals in other countries, like Sea Turtles in... Read More Costa Rica.

While I attended this college, I enjoyed my professors and classes, but I had issues with administration. The professors were amazing and always willing to help. The administration was difficult to deal with. There were long waits to meet with advisers and financial aid staff. Once in with an administrator, they had an attitude. Also, when I chose my degree path, I was on track to finish it until they switched the required courses & didn't inform the students. Once I found out, they made excuses... Read More & told me to change my degree. I was an online only student & they changed a required course to a coures that was at the school & at a campus far from where I lived.

I began my studies at Saint Petersburg College in 2007 while I was still a junior in high school. I received my Associates Degree and my Bachelors in Business Administration-Finance. SPC's program fully equipped me with the necessary knowledge and tools to further and better my career as an accountant. Their program is very diversified and touches on all aspects of business. The staff (including professors and guidance counselors) were extremely attentive and supportive to my individual needs as... Read More a student. Their mentoring and guidance led me to Graduate with Honors and obtain a membership at Golden Key International Honor Society. Scholasticly and professionally I could not have asked for more in a school, every dollar spent on my studies have more than paid off financial and personally.