Southern Connecticut State University

Southern is one of those schools that can give you a wonderful experience or a miserable one– for the most part, you get what you put into it. In my experience, Southern is very very generous with aid, especially if you are a good student who tries hard. I graduated 2 years ago with absolutely $ 0 in debt– Southern gave me enough scholarships to pay my entire tuition, books, etc. Were it not for this aid, there is simply no way in the world that I would have been able to attend college until much later in life. Period. So I will always be very grateful to SCSU for giving me this tremendous opportunity.
Your experiences here will vary by department. I felt utterly alone and directionless in the Biology department, which was spread pretty thin and the advisor I had clearly had no interest or experience advising students. My experiences in the Psychology department were completely different– despite similarly being spread way too thin, professors were ALWAYS more than willing to give guidance and advice and that made a huge difference in my college experience.
I can’t comment on the dorms at all because I commuted. The prices of food are comparable to what I’ve seen at other colleges (both in and out of CT), although that’s not to say that they aren’t a bit overpriced. Club life and student life are fairly active so again, if you choose to, even as a commuter it’s not different to be engaged in the college culture.
I spoke to the Registrar and Financial Aid offices a few times by e-​mail and they were always prompt and polite– I can’t speak for any of the other offices, as I never needed to interact with them.
I got a great education at Southern, and the professors I met there helped my tremendously in moving forward with my career.

SCSU is great for its affordability and the faculty is really great. I’ve never had a professor who I really disliked. That being said, the bureaucracy is really disorganized and it is almost impossible to find a straightforward answer or simple solution to a problem. Once when I had a quick question about my class requirements I was sent to FIVE different offices before being sent to the first one I went to. it can get a little ridiculous. All in all though, Southern is a decent college, especially for Education and Nursing majors.

I’m currently attending SCSU for my second master’s degree. This is a hopelessly terrible school!
Most of the professors I’ve had so far are only there because of tenure. They are horrific at what they do and have in no way kept up with technology (which is sad for an information and library sciences program). There’s no question in my mind why they lost accreditation from the ALA (and they should NOT get it back!).
The IT department is useless (and rude and lazy) as is the registrar’s office.
Half of my «welcome» information never came to me (email, student ID number, etc) so I had to go to campus and get bounced between the registrar’s office and IT because neither wanted to take responsibility.
When I had some issues with Blackboard, they immediately responded that they couldn’t give me my password over email (that had absolutely nothing to do with my issue). Then they told me they couldn’t help me with my Blackboard issue because they couldn’t duplicate it (it duplicated itself on four different computers [PC and Mac] I use for work, all with different browsers. The only mainstream browser I didn’t try was Opera).
Then it took five months to get a copy of my transcripts (which was required by my job). Thankfully my job expected the extremely lazy turn-​around time because the second I told them I was at SCSU there was a chorus of groans (apparently they are notoriously slow when it comes to transcripts).

I called the admissions department to ask a few questions and they were very disrespectful and rude to me. I got forwarded to the registrar department and once again was treated horribly. I wouldn’t get a degree from this University if it was my only option.

I went here some years back and returned just to see what this place was about. Nice job, nice job. This definitely looks like a campus in the city. Everything is very urbanized, all classrooms and stores are behind brick buildings. I’m glad they made this campus look nice though.

It’s hard to give SCSU an overall review as it has its ups and downs. I am graduating in two weeks and would like to give anyone thinking of coming to SCSU some advice.
Dorms — ¹⁄₅
I absolutely, positively hate the dorms at SCSU. Granted I only experienced freshman dorms but that made me immediately want to get the hell out of there. Unlike most of the spoiled brats there, I was one of the few that worked during the week between classes. Forget it if I had to work Friday morning, «Thirsty Thursdays» made it impossible for me to get any sleep, and that was because of the people out in the halls and outside, not my roommate. Which brings me to the rooms I stayed at Farnham hall and saw others as well. In desperate need of an update and the fact that I could so easily hear what was going on outside from the 4^th floor just shows you that they wanted to make us miserable in the dorms. Thanksgiving weekend? You had to be out of there by a certain time, they were so strict on getting you out quickly.
Office of Student Life — ¹⁄₅
I need to post this somewhere so here is a good start, Fuck you student life. The only person in that office I do not blame is Charlene who does her best with what little help she has. While my club did get to do things it was never without a fight. So many times their office pissed me off and sent snotty emails to our advisors about stupid shit and sometimes was their own fault. They play favorites with certain clubs and they could give two shits less about your small club that is actually trying to get involved and have a presence on campus.
Food ¹⁄₅
Another fuck you to the corporate assholes at Chartwells. Their awful food is way overpriced 7.95 for a crappy salad? Is not prices that sit well with students. They thrive on ripping us off (2.09 for minute maid juice??). At one point they were charging us for hot water in the bagel wagon even if you brought your own cup. Somehow I don’t think they were paying the university water bill though.
Registrar’s Office ²⁄₅
While I heard about all the staffing issues it did take a year to get my double major set straight. I also had to harass them to get my message that I was indeed graduating, and when they did my audit for graduating they did it wrong. Took me awhile to get all that fixed too. However I have had some people at that office be extremely helpful.
Student Activities — ²⁄₅
Every so often something cool comes up but this campus was a ghost town on weekends. Everyone left the dorms and there would be nothing to do even if you wanted to stay. The only events that people ever attended seem to be ones with free food (surprise?) and says a lot about the student body that in general doesn’t care about getting anything out of their college experience.
Student Body ²⁄₅
I felt like I was surrounded by idiots the entire time. I got into better schools but because of price and me wanting to be close to home I went here. I do not regret it but I am surprised some of these people were even accepted. However the student body is very diverse.
Parking ³⁄₅
This is one area that has greatly improved during my time at SCSU. They added a nice little commuter lot next to Engleman which was a lifesaver and are currently building a new parking garage. During the beginning of the semester it can be nearly impossible to find parking but after a week there is plenty of room. Once the garage is built parking should be no problem.
Professors ⁴⁄₅
This is the one area that SCSU really is doing great in. I must say I always used
when picking classes but I’ve had some phenomenal professors. Thanks to them I’ve studied abroad and feel like I have truly received an education. Very few professors do not deserve their jobs and there are a few lazy ones in the bunch. Everyone in the anthropology department is amazing and many of the history professors are awesome. I cannot say the same for the Computer Science department though. The woman who teaches Japanese here is phenomenal as well even though she is only an adjunct. She puts up with the nerds with Asian fetishes but is so helpful yet strict at the same time. If you’re looking to learn Japanese I strongly suggest taking it with Yoshikawa sensei =).
Quality & Value ⁴⁄₅
While student programs suffer at SCSU the quality of the education I received was more than worth the money. In the end it was worth it to not go into a vast amount of debt and go to school even though I did not get as many networking opportunities or activity outside of classes.
Location ⁵⁄₅
Being in New Haven and close to Yale makes SCSU a great place to be and there is lots to do all around. The campus itself is well maintained and pretty during the Fall/​Spring.
I reviewed the areas that needed it at SCSU and do not regret attending here at all. If this school improved its student life department it would likely make a difference in student involvement and turn SCSU into a very well rounded school.

SCSU is conveniently located in New Haven and Hamden. SCSU is very affordable and offers plenty to do.
They offer a wide range of quality programs and experiential learning. SCSU has a top notch business school with a brand new progressive Dean and soon will have a new building.
The School of Business has graduated thousands of students over the years; many of which are working in the greater New Haven community and have started their own businesses.
The School of Business is on the move and is well positioned for the business needs of the 21^st century.