Piedmont College

Date: Sep 26 2013
Major: Education (This Major's Salary over time)
I am currently finishing up my Undergrad (Education Major) at Piedmont College. I live in Athens and attend the Athens campus. This school has been a great experience for me, my professors and the faculty have been exceptionally helpful and over-the-top fantastic. I have loved every single class I've taken, (well, almost every class). The campus is safe, in a beautiful location with plenty of surrounding local businesses and restaurants.

My dissatisfaction about Piedmont College is the process of financial aid and tuition. I am a college student that requires financial aid in order to attend college. I qualify for several grants as well. However, students do not receive their financial aid money until 2 months AFTER the semester starts. Checks are not releases for 6-8 weeks after the first day of the semester, which means some of my classes are OVER before I ever get my aid. The whole entire purpose of taking out financial aid is to help with expenses while in school. Every single semester I struggle with paying my bills and buying my books because Piedmont College chooses to handle the financial aid checks this way. No other University that I know of (not UGA or Athens Tech) take this long to receive. It's absolutely ridiculous and if I could choose to have done my program at another school, I would for this reason alone. Because Piedmont does not want to deal with students dropping/adding courses after the semester starts and handle the transactions for the payments for those courses, they CHOOSE to not send out financial aid checks until after drop/add (6-8 weeks) after the semester starts. So, if you are in need of financial aid while you are in school, don't expect to have it here in a timely manner or perhaps you should choose another University. The amount of stress that this caused for me- paying bills and having money for expenses, was almost unbearable. I cannot pay my $75 graduation fee due to the fact that it is 2 months into the semester and I have no money. I'm living on peanuts. This experience dealing with the financial aid department by far outweighs all the positive things I have to say about the faculty and staff. If I could choose to do it over, I'd choose UGA. The tuition is much more reasonable and you have your financial aid a week before the semester starts. For the amount of money that you pay for tuition here, I'd expect to not have any stress about receiving your financial aid award. The classes and professors are top notch and I am thankful for that.

One last recommendation for Piedmont: the school and classroom walls (at the Athens campus) are bare, boring and dull. Add something creative to the walls, pay for better technology. Every class I've been in, the internet NEVER works and there is always an issue with lessons and presentations that require the projector and computers. You have the money, fix your technology already.