North Idaho College

Date: Aug 11 2013
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
Many of the instructors at NIC are ill prepared for the subject they teach. Most of the work assigned is busy work and does little to further an education, some are incredibly unhelpful while others go above and beyond. I have run into a few teachers who do not take kindly to be pointed out that they are incorrect about something. The course schedules frequently change and can cause conflicts with many other courses by about 5 minutes, however you can not register for certain classes because of this. In addition many required courses are given during certain semester, plan ahead for this because there is no warning of this.

What I disliked the most about the college courses and registering is even though there are many courses listed in the not all of them are even taught there and hence cant be selected from course registration. German, French, Chinese are listed but no one teaches them, only Spanish and ASL. Speaking of foreign languages and differences, this is not the college to go to if you are non-white or have a disability. You will find them to be extremely biased, racist and will not follow laws on equal rights. The center for disabilities has no power to enforce anything and often find themselves being trumped by those in higher places of the campus. I have only had one instructor actually work with me and the accommodations requested. Even the ASL instructor had an issue with having a disabled person in her class and made it very clear to me before class started, she ended up manipulating grades and failing me from the course. You will get no help when this happens, even with undeniable proof and several admins backing you up.

The curriculum requirements are constantly changing, and if you buy books from the college you are wasting your money. Book buybacks rarely happen because at least once a year if not twice, the required books are changed and make what you paid for unsalable there in addition to extremely high prices. One point of reference here is that even though they force you to purchase these books and materials, siting NIC specific texts (really its the same general book just chapters taken out) many of the college professors and instructors do not use them. Example: purchased three brand new books (just published) for English class. One book was used exclusively for assignment, the other two was to read one chapter out of them and then discuss the concept in class. That was a worthless $80 blown. Example 2: $210 Psychology book.. never opened or used. Instructor was explicit in stating all material needed will be covered in the notes and all test and quizzes will be from lecture and notes.

Campus security loves to harass people and put parking tickets on cars, even if you have a pass or a disability placard. Theft is a huge problem on the campus. Same with parking, they sell way more parking permits than what they can accommodate, often you will find yourself late to class because of lack of parking. Even instructors have been 10-15 minutes late because they were unable to find parking.

Big issue is its all about the money when it comes to this place. For the past several years there has been an issue with class sizes because they accept anyone and everyone, this has led to an obscenely expanded student body in which there are not enough classes to accommodate the size. There are people who have been there three years trying to get into a single class that is a required class just to graduate.

Is it pretty? yes, the campus is very pleasing to the eye, yes it has many extra curriculars. Is it worth it as an educational advancement? No. not worth the money or the time. Only go to college here if you have no other option.