Prairie View A&M University

I have been a part-​time student at PVAMU for a few semesters now. I have enjoyed the different professors that I have had. I have done well in my classes so far. My issue is with the registration process and also the lack of communication. It was initially helpful to see an advisor when I was registering for classes. However, I think that it is ridiculous and a waste of time to have to see an advisor EVERY semester. I am forced to get off work early and drive all the way to the main campus for a 5 minute meeting to get a pin number. Also, when trying to see if I could go to the Northwest campus to register, because it’s closer, I never got a call back or an email response. It’s been over a week and I have never received a response. I am hopeful that things will get better for future semesters.

Unprofessional. If you call, you’ll either get the run around, or no answer at all. Whoever they have to answer the 936−261−1000 number usually always sounds lazy & uninterested with their job. When I call for a specific person, they are NEVER available, no matter who it is. Whenever I call & have to leave a message for a specific person with someone else, somehow the person the call was intended for never gets my message, and if they do, I never get a returned phone call or email to resolve my initial reason for contacting them. PVAMU needs to stop being so cheap & hire people who are qualified to handle important business in a timely manner. I’ve been affiliated with PVAMU since 2011, & since then, I rarely ever had anything positive to say about the way they handle business. It’s a shame that I pay PVAMU so much money & it goes to the athletic & recreational departments, & the pockets of these lazy workers, as opposed to it helping to better my education. You would think making the deans list & traveling from the Midwest just to attend this university would make me a good candidate for a scholarship. Hell, I don’t even get financial aid. Smh. But of course, the money I pay (out of pocket) for my financial aid goes to the students who play sports & the students who struggle to maintain a 2.0 GPA. Prairie View needs to get it together. Now I understand why TAMU does the minimal in supporting PVAMU, because PVAMU does the minimal in everything that actually matters.

After 14 years of teaching high schoolers the fine art of reading and writing, I decided that a career tweak might be in order, else I might not make it to retirement (a) with sanity intact, or (b) without joining Amy Winehouse in rehab. I do enjoy working with teenagers in the high school setting, so began thinking about becoming a school counselor. This desire sent me on a research project: find a university that offers the classes mandated by the Texas Education Agency. I found out that most schools require a candidate to take at least 45 hours in a counseling program and graduate with a master’s degree, worthy of become a psychologist. Well, 45 hours! Geez! The TEA requires the graduate level classes, 2 yrs of classroom teaching experience and a master’s degree. Period. I already have a master’s in education, and certainly have no need nor desire to spend another 3 years in graduate school. Ugh!
Enter Prairie View A & M. The lead counselor at my school recommended I talk to them, and boy, am I glad she did. Their School of Education has an Educational Leadership and Counseling program, which offers the classes mandated by the state (30 little ol’ hours), after which one can take the state’s counseling certification test. But wait, I live in Austin, and PVAMU is pert near to Houston! No problem. All of the classes are offered online.
This is where the «meh» comes in. Although I’ve got 12 hours under my belt and have learned quite a bit in the process, I have to say that their distance learning program needs serious attention. Perhaps they’re new to the online method of instruction, I don’t know, but the professors are hard to reach, feedback in the form of grades and comments is slow, and as a teacher I know how important feedback is, fah cryin’ out loud. When I started my program, I basically had to figure out WTF was going on. I got no email saying «welcome, susan, here’s how you access your courses,» or any such thing. I was two weeks late getting started my first semester!
Yet, I’ll soldier on, because PVAMU is still the only college, online or face-​to-​face, that offers the TEA-​approved, less-​hours program. Now, if they would only waive tuition and fees…