Portland Community College – Sylvania Campus

I think it’s a requirement all people working in the BOOKSTORE have to have a stick shoved so far up there ass while there on the clock that it kills them to be nice.

I really enjoyed the instructors here. They are great. The school its self i don’t have a problem with. But here is why i gave this school one star. First of all, their online registration sucks! There are glitches all the time. I enrolled for summer term this year and got all my classes and financial aid squared away. But then i had some financial issues come up so i decided to just work full time and go back in the fall. So i went through online and dropped them then hit submit. Well apparently the computer didnt drop them and i was enrolled without knowing it the whole term. I ended up with Fs on my record for those classes i obviously didnt take. They then want 400 dollars out of pocket when im only making min wage. People behind registration and financial aid counter were very rude and said i can’t enroll back into school until i pay that 400 dollars. I didn’t deserve Fs. I do well in school and got all As before this happened. Its beyond frustrating! The dean lied to me when i went to her and said i owed nothing and could enroll because she took care of it. Well i enroll for fall and they denied me again when i went to the library to buy supplies! After i bought my books already and already went to the first 2 classes. I had to return my books and supplies and everything. Thank god i kept the receipt! I have been through hell and back. If you want to call and get help good luck! You can’t get to anybody. And when you go in for help they say they cant help you. Im soooo upset. Just be careful when you drop and add classes and make sure theyre dropped because they are out to make a buck. Why couldnt they just take it out of my financial aid???

I hate that I have to attend Portland Community College. I have attended other community colleges from outside of Portland, which has allowed me see the many things that are completely unorganized about PCC.
1,) Although the campus is clean and kept in great conditions, the labeling of the buildings is awful. I have to help some poor lost student almost everyday if I can help them find their way to class.
2.) About half of the teachers I have been able to taken at PCC are terrible. I have had incidents were a teacher will say I haven’t turned in several assignments even though I already have the graded work handed back to me. I am constantly having to double check my graded work because I have had correct answers marked wrong which brings my grade down. On one of my mid-​terms my chemistry teacher miscounted my points, dropping it down to 72%-When I had actually earned a 94% on my test. His response was «oh, it’s not that big of a difference.» really?!
3.) They are so unorganized! I feel like every time I am having a issue with something and I go to let someone know or to get help with something that they never have an answer. It can take up to 3 days to get a phone call back during the week day.
4.) When you have an issue with something regarding PCC and you bring it to their attention respectfully, they still take it as an insult and will make comments, for example «Why did you decide to go here anyways?»
I guess what I am trying to say, is they suck. They are over priced and care very little about the students. Hopefully, PCC can get their act together and maybe put in the effort as if they care for the students instead of the dollar amount we are putting into their paychecks.
I gave it two stars because not all of my teachers were incapable of doing their job and the campuses are clean.

Compared to the many other Community colleges I have been to in other states, the Sylvania campus of PCC is pretty nice. Its nestled around beautiful trees, the campus is spacious and modern. There is ample parking with only minor overflow, nowhere near what I have seen at other campuses. Class sizes are decent approx 25– 30 students and the teachers are engaging and thoughtful. All round I would say this campus is pretty ideal.

This isn’t a review of classes, which run the gamut, this is about the campus, every time I arrive I feel like I am walking into a russian cold war bunker, it is a cold concrete campus, which seems to suck the heat right out of me and stays wet. That being one of my gripes, the other is the cafeteria, which seems like more of a mental health outreach program than a place to buy food. Most of the food is premade, and most of it can be found on a list of foods that will give you diabetes. The «grill» is terrifying, which by terrifying I mean there’s a guy rubbing a scraggly long beard over the food warmers, then with the same gloves grabbing the patty for your burger, I’ve walked away from food being prepared twice when I’ve seen this kind of thing. oh, and don’t think about getting breakfast food past 10:30, for some reason a grill isn’t able to make a sausage egg sandwhich past 10:30. I really miss Cascade campus in which they had a steady supply of breakfast sandwiches that you could just pick up and go, instead of everything being made at molasses pace to order. Also, parking is so limited, that if you attempt to leave campus to find food, you will be late for class because getting a mid-​day parking spot is impossible or you will walk for 10 mins. Also, other than subway, not much food nearby. I really wish they would open the cafeteria to business that cares about profit, the cafeteria feels like an afterthought, a temporary fix that somehow became permanent. Oh also, the lower levels of many buildings are verizon dead zones… I have to walk up to parking between classes to get messages…

If you don’t like smoke don’t go to this campus because in order to get to classes or pick up and drop off areas you will have to drive by the smell of everyone’s cigarettes. That is the most disgusting thing in the world especially when you are partially allergic to it. If they really cared about their campus they would move it to a place you don’t have to drive past but is still convenient to the students and drivers who are picking up and dropping off people.

Beautiful campus, been coming here off and on for 5 years now. This campus is much nicer than other PCC locations. Nice library too, but there is limited parking during peak class times, and don’t park without a permit or you’ll get ticketed.
There are limited options for class times for those who work 9 – 5 jobs but the online classes are a lot of work, much more so than attending in person. If you have a choice, try to go in person.
I’ve enjoyed their classes of: gerontology, MSD Spanish language, web development, and public speaking/​speech class here.

I like this Campus because it has the pool where you can take swimming classes, cafeteria where you can have lunch, hang out with friends, etc. The library is also very nice as it has media rooms for study groups.

Shitty campus. Far, inconvenient, fugly.
Was hoping to go to Cascade, the more urban, with better food nearby, campus. But my program, Engineering Tech, is only offered at Sylvania, which is, quite literally, in the sticks.
It really is a drag. If you don’t live nearby, the commute is a nightmare, particularly if you are attending up to 18 credit hours per term as I was. The nearby neighborhoods (Far SW, Multnomah Village) and cities (Lake Oswego, Tigard, etc) are abysmally boring, if fairly safe. You would be hard pressed to recognize Sylvania as part of ANYTHING Portland, EXCEPT for its shitty denizens.
The classes: Most are pretty good.
The students: Most are just like the rest of Portland residents, unfriendly, pretentious and awful.
The facilities: Definitely getting better. They are remodeling the campus VERY SLOWLY.
The staff: Some really kindhearted people work there. Others, not so much.
The food: Meh to shitty, except for their organic, grass fed, Oregon-​grown beef patty burgers, BLTs and a FEW other items!
Perhaps I’ll feel better about my PCC experience when, and if, I get a good tech job soon.

I do not attend PCC, but I find myself there at least 3 times a week playing mom’s taxi service. They offer a LOT of classes, but they are very expensive. $ 92 per credit, + books, + labs + fees, and other add-​ons. Then there’s the parking. It’s $ 5 a day. That’s just insane. For the prices they charge, parking should be included.
I checked into taking one class, but it’s $ 92 per credit hour (3 credits,) plus books, and $ 250 in «miscellaneous fees,» and the credits are not even transferable toward a university degree.
No Thanks.

Don’t eat at the school cafeteria!!! I ordered the chicken strips, they came out raw on the inside. Went back to see if they could remake it and they over cooked it the second time and gave me two small pieces. Other then that everything else is ok, it is a school cafeteria…

I spent my spring 2014 term here for an anatomy and physiology class. This campus is very large and terribly labeled. The signs they have don’t match up to the building you actually need. It was very difficult to figure out on my first day.
The building themselves look a lot like prison. Concrete buildings with no windows. Pretty sad.
The health care building is actually the same as the gym and pool so forget trying to study in there as it gets so loud from the classes running the stairs you can’t even hear yourself think.
The chairs and couches they offer seriously need to be washed or something. They smell terrible and have so many stains.

The campus looks nice and the labs are in good shape, but it costs more per unit than a community college has any right to and its a quarter system to boot. I am from California and even though they get a lot of things wrong, $ 28 per semester hour is a good deal.

My experience with this school has been an absolute nightmare. I write this as I am filling out my formal Grievance Form.
The website
has constant outages, one of which prevented me and many other students from dropping classes in a timely fashion in Winter 2011. The school never informed students of this outage, and I foolishly assumed I was having computer trouble, so I failed two online courses as a result (instead of receiving a W for a withdrawal). Months later, I learned from someone in the Counseling Office that what had occurred at that time was a wide-​scale outage, which prevented me from dropping, and practically caused a riot at the school. I was then given the contact info for a man named Martin, who I played phone tag with literally for months. Despite me leaving every bit of information on his voicemail that he needed to help me or refer me to another person who could help, he continued to just call me back and leave a robotic message that he was returning my call. When I lost my call center job, I finally was able to answer one of his phone calls, and was appalled to find out he was not the person to help me. Why did it take months for him to tell me that and why could he have not left contact info on my voicemail for the person who COULD help? I then began speaking with Kristin in Records, who informed me that the Committee who could alter my student record from F’s to W’s declined to do so because at this point, a year had now passed since the grades were received. Because of this issue, my financial aid was denied due to cumulative GPA, even though I achieved a 4.0 GPA and President’s List for the last semester I attended in Fall 2012. Because of THAT, my classes that I registered for over a month prior, were all deleted.
I went to speak to the Counselor for Interior Design, Arlene McCashew, who is completely useless and clearly burnt-​out in her position. When she should be my biggest helper, she instead pawned me off onto the general Counseling Office, even though I was informed, once I chose my major in Interior Design, Arlene was the person I was supposed to seek for academic counseling. It was very clear that she just didn’t want to deal with a complicated issue. She should really be replaced by someone who cares about their students’ success.
I ran around to all of the classes for which I had been registered, attempting to get approval to join in from the waitlist, and I only got into two out of my original four classes, cutting my attempted credits in less than half. I turned in my Add/​Drop form for those two classes on April 5^th, and neurotically checked
all weekend, waiting for the update in the system, so that I could make my payment arrangement. It never did update and now, just three days later, I have an email saying I was deleted AGAIN for non-​payment.
Two people in the Counseling Office, two people in Financial Aid, one person in Registration, and the Assistant to the Dean all said they had never seen such a screwed up account as mine. When this school drops the ball they drop it hard, and have zero accountability for their shortcomings. It’s just outrageous. Go anywhere but here.
UPDATE: The staff member who took my Add/​Drop form apparently just didn’t enter it into the system at all. Yet another ball has dropped. ALSO, for some strange reason, my review isn’t showing on Unilocal anymore. Funny now it magically vanished. I am reposting and will continue to do so until the review stays. People should have this info.

REVIEW #4000!
«Nothing Comes That You Can’t Handle, So On You Go» — James Taylor
My Son and I recently attended a memorial service for the Father of one of his Classmates. I had never met the Dad, but I was told that he was the head of a lovely family and a beloved counselor at Portland Community College (PCC). My Son really wanted to come pay his respects, and I was proud to take him and attend myself.
The «Celebration of Life» was held at the Performing Arts Center at the PCC’s Sylvania Campus. It’s a comfortable modern venue within an equally attractive campus. We arrived a little early and watched a slide show honoring this person over and over. I got a little teary, as I watched pictures of how this man lived with his disability, and used it to help people and otherwise make a difference. My Son knows how I feel in situations like this, as he kept checking on me and asking if I was all right. I shouldn’t of reacted this way, but there was something special about this Man’s good works and family life that touched me. There was also the insight as I looked at my own Son, that his Friend had just lost his Dad.
Member’s of this Person’s various Communities (PCC, Mobility Unlimited, Veterans, School, and Family) were in attendance for what I considered to be an hour of heartfelt tribute. My Son lingered afterwards and personally greeted his Friend and even sat with one of his Teachers was also struggling with his feelings. I was a Proud Papa watching my Son confront loss this way, how much he was growing up, and thinking how I could do better to make our remaining years together more worthy.
God Was in This Place & I, i Did Not Know…

I love taking non-​credit classes at the PCC. I am taking an Argentina tango lessons here. It’s 50% cheaper than what you would pay outside of the PCC. The instructor is professional, one of the best tango teachers in Portland. Since not a lot of people signed up for the class, I feel like I have a private lesson.
I recommend doing any non-​credit classes at PCC. It’s not very expensive and it’s fun just to go and test out your skills. I have taken quite a few classes there. You always learn something new and discover what you are good at in the process.

This was my main campus for a while because I had technology classes and online classes. Parking here is an Olympic sport. On the first week of classes during term, people that I know personally, missed class because there was no parking and the shuttle buses were full. I know they want to encourage you to take public transportation, but for people like me who live 50 miles out, it is not an option.
The technology building is pretty nice for what it is and easy to access at the front of campus, so if you are carrying a five hundred pound load of books and your laptop, it is smooth sailing if you are not parked in the back 40.
The advisors here are the most helpful of any campus. They have an advising office right in the tech building and are always willing to help you.
I don’t like driving way out here, but it isn’t a bad campus overall.

Let me be clear, I am reviewing the college here … not the cafeteria. Ahem.
Sylvania is just flat-​out amazing. Amazing. Anyone who pooh-​poohs this place is either doing the apples-​and-​oranges thing («Really, Stanford has a much better computer lab, hmph») or is rating … the cafeteria, not the educational institution. Seriously, this place is like the Ivy League of community college. The library — all those computers, the private study rooms, the soundproofed group study rooms? The child care center is — well, you can peek through the glass walls any time and watch like 5 adults watching over 12 kids. That is better than Nike does. Seriously. Language classes, first-​rate. SIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES! Art gallery, amazing shows. It’s beautiful and green and clean. Sorry smokers but I personally am über-​psyched that it’s nonsmoking. Transportation — uh, FREE shuttle to your classes? Free? In my experience the teachers are pretty much uniformly outstanding, really committed and into teaching, not bored or Look-​I-​have-​something-​better-​to-​do-​than-​talk-​to-​you. And the staff (librarians, registration, advising), well, look, I have a clear question in mind when I ask for help and I have never had a bad experience. I also have to say the PE department rocks, I have taken yoga, pilates and weightlifting … and there’s a pool and a track.
Yeah, it would be better if idiots didn’t talk and text in class. Maybe someday?!

PCC keeps me busy. Yeah, classes, advocacy, entertainment, socializing and with all that even the occasional cigarette.
The Sylvania campus itself isn’t as diverse as say the Cascade campus but Multicultural Center and the Women’s Resource Center provided are stellar. Yeah I’m a student advocate so of course I’m partial, but I decided to apply at this Campus because of the quality of the faculty and staff were going to provide me with map to the place I’m headed, even when that place isn’t quite clear. Community College is such an useful way to provide students who may not have had the wherewithal to attend a private or even a public university.
I’ve been able to create a community which in itself contributes to the success of a student. I’ll be sad when I do transfer because frankly I’m really looked after here and I know that won’t happen when I do transfer to University.
That being said, it’s best to bring your own lunch cause the food is expensive and you can really make yourself a better sandwich at home.

Pros — Nice campus, great library, (mostly) nice people, flexible schedules, plenty of distance learning/​online courses (loved these!), and the instructors I had were (almost) all excellent, interesting and genuine people that respected students if they showed up, worked hard, and earned that respect.
Cons — Advising staff (all PCC) are hideous – nothing but a nightmare from start to finish. Other staff (not including instructors) can be hit-​and-​miss about not only their jobs but the overall attitude is lazy, IMHO. I do not miss that part of my PCC years one little bit.
It’s a stepping stone to bigger things… not the best, but by far not the worst.