I cannot believe Peralta can still stand function with their poor management. I was only enrolled in College of Alameda but never took any classes nor received credit and since I am trying to transfer, they require me to send an enrollment verification form, which is a basically a letter of nonenrollment to the colleges I am applying for. This is not a joke, I've been working with the office for months trying to get a single form sent to these colleges and each one I would have to call to see if they sent the letter. Of course they didn't, and for each college I had to go back and forth between College of Alameda and the school I was applying for by phone to send a single piece of paper saying I have never received credit from this awful institution... months. Do not enroll here, it's better to live degree-less than to receive it from here. read more

Yea, lotsa disappointment here. Was given the run around many times by these people. Most if not all employees here don't seem to know what they're doing & there tends to seemingly be mass confusion between departments. Sad but true. I only deal with them because I have to. Seriously. read more

The Peralta District office oversees administration for four community colleges: Berkeley City College, Laney College, College of Alameda, and Merritt College. The district gets one star for allowing students to take classes at multiple locations. This greatly increases your chances of getting the classes you need/want for transfer at a time when you can actually take them. Their distance learning options are pretty great as well. However, since the quality of each school varies greatly, you may go to one school and have a positive experience (as I have) and take classes at another campus and have a very negative experience (as I have). I will review the schools I have attended separately and will focus on working with the Peralta District Office in this review. Long story short, I have had a lot of problems with the District office. When you call the main line, if you do not choose an option quickly enough, the system hangs up on you. If you are being transferred to another department, the system hangs up on you. Sometimes, while you're on hold, the system hangs up on you. It has been over two and a half months since they "accidentally" added an extra charge to my account and I am still waiting for them to fix the error. It was fixed after I bugged my school's Cashier for a month, but someone did not get the memo and readded the charge again a month later, so back into the black hole of the Peralta automated system I go... read more

As the first Yelp Elite for this review, I will be putting on my "serious" hat. Took classes for my associates and CC degree in Paralegal Studies right after undergrad at UC Irvine. Currently on an uphill climb just to get an official transcript and a matriculation verification from Peralta for law school applications. I have this to say- it seems that some, if not most faculty at Peralta have lost their "inner fire" to provide for student needs; educational or related. There is no communication with faculty or staff. If anything, any type of student-related communication seems to be more of a hassle than a core principle held in high regard. Professors are late and faculty are always drifting in and out of their offices never to be bothered with. It seems they just come in for a paycheck. Peralta has "checked out" with regard to what they're there for. Clean up your act, your institution has more of an impact on this region than any research or state university around. read more

A total mess of an institution. No communication, outdated information. I have worked with university administrators before, but the Peralta web of colleges is by far the worst, least organized, and least competent collection of idiots I've ever had the misfortune of trying to work with. Utter and complete failures. To call this place an institution of higher learning would be a complete disservice to everyone. read more

Zero stars!! I swear it must be a job requirement in admissions and counseling to be useless. No one can lift a finger to be bothered to do their own jobs. Everyone I dealt with was slow, inefficient and unhelpful. read more

MOST USELESS ADMISSIONS AND RECORDS STAFF IN EXISTENCE. The absolute worst place if you are looking for helpful staff. You can call at anytime of day and expect to be hung up on, not answered, transferred between multiple people without warning and all together ignored. The people operating the admission and records building are completely incompetent at what they do and cannot be bothered to do their job. If you can I would recommend going ANY, literally any other institution other than Peralta because you will never get your transcript or other transfer information received. Furthermore, they will find a way to mess up and then ignore you. Their laziness put me a semester (and 10 grand intuition) behind for failing to send a transcript to my full time and I regret ever trusting them with 1 class of my education. Admissions and Records are a known issue that the school refuses to address and until then I hope that nobody enrolls in this establishment until they get the message that they need to SHOW UP AND DO THEIR JOBS. If I could give negative stars I would, THIS PLACE IS THAT BAD. read more

Nietchze once observed that insanity is relatively rare among individuals yet relatively common among institutions. Among various institutions of higher learning I've taught within, I'd rate the administrative competency of this district as dead last. Let's be very clear that this is not an indictment of any individuals there whom are, as a whole, very supportive of each other if only because they have to be in order to cope in an otherwise mindless bureaucratic organizational environment. You should first know that I've overseen two graduate management programs prior to teaching in the district. Peralta Community College District extends the popular cliché; "Those who can't do, teach, and those who can 't teach, administrate; and those who can't administrate do so for the Peralta Community College District. I have no beef with the individual faculty and staff, who are, by-and-large, very supportive of each other, mostly because they know they are all in it together. The faculty, staff and at least some in administration know this is not late-breaking news. We'll cut to the chase, past the installation of a too rigid floor at the College of Alameda in their new dance facility that was much too rigid and thus likely to injure students practicing on it, yet highlighted by the outgoing president as one of her accomplishments there. It is emblematic of the dysfunction. No one bothered to consult with the head of the dance program about the floor his students would best work for the program. If it were only an anomalous episode, a petty snafu if you will, but nooooo. Please read on. After attending the faculty and staff orientation which was useful in getting me at least acquainted with the faculty and administrators who'd attended the event, I then went through much delay and frustration in getting access into the Peralta faculty email system (it took me a month). As with any sprawling organization, its intranet is a critical means to keep up with news and information. When finally connected, I encountered an announcement soliciting proposals for the upcoming faculty and staff development day scheduled for the next month. I filled out the proposal form to do a half-day workshop on the foundations of Covey 7-Habits. A workshop on personal and organizational effectiveness seemed like something that would be useful. I had gotten the notice late and turned in my proposal a day after the official dead-line. I was thus not surprised to have gotten no acknowledgement of receipt and busied myself with other projects. I happened to be at a coffee shop on Webster Street in Alameda about half a mile from campus on the morning of the workshop mainly because a tanker truck had exploded on I-580 that morning clogging traffic out of town. I got a call at 9:00 from a colleague asking where I was because students had arrived for the workshop I was surreptitiously scheduled to teach. So there I was totally flat-footed and unprepared. I rushed to the classroom with my laptop that happened to have the Covey presentation material loaded . I didn't say anything about the short notice, but concentrated on delivering a considerable amount of foundational material with a combination of short lecture, and extended discussion with the class, culminating in a guided visualization exercise that profoundly the third Covey habit, "Begin with the End in Mind". Despite zero notice, an amazingly fortunate series of events allowed me to complete the workshop (with applause at the end by the participants I might end). That said, I would have been cast as the bad guy for not knowing that at Peralta, anyone who submits a proposal is apparently automatically accepted and thus no formal notice need be given. Now came the matter of collecting the small honorarium for services rendered to the institution. The sum I'd requested totaled $300 ($270 for the workshop and $30 for materials). This is about a tenth of the fee ordinarily charged for a full Covey workshop for a similar number of participants. Now this was not something snuck into the proposal. It was written into a line explicitly provided for in the proposal form itself. Well, what that turned out to mean was that I would not be eligible because I was a "faculty member" and thus doing this for faculty development "credit" something that I frankly didn't care much about as I didn't see myself having a career at the College of Alameda or in the district generally. This news of ineligibility came out of the blue and certainly didn't square with the proposal form that had an explicit section for honoraria. When asked about why the proposal form had a section specifically for honoraria, Alexis Alexander responded that they really needed to get rid of that section. Former House Speaker Tip O'Neil once observed, "People don't do their best work when they're being pissed on/" The district's faculty and staff are hard-working professionals trapped. read more

I wish you could give a negative star for this College District. I have moved a few times and finally finished some credits so I could transfer to San Francisco State in Fall 2011 where I was accepted and it has been nothing but trouble with this district. At this point State wants my final transcripts so I can enroll and none of my grades are in 3 and 1/2 weeks after classes ended. I cannot get any responses from instructors. I have called and emailed all department heads and the presidents of each college ( I have to take classes at 3 of the 4 colleges because they don't have enough at one). It is an absolute nightmare. One instructor is in Spain and won't be pack for a month. Thanks Peralta for ruining my chances at getting a higher education! read more

Unbelievably horrible experience just signing up for one class for the first time with Peralta. After this experience I emailed several people and did receive received some good responses and help. They were helpful and very nice people, but still only 1 star because it should not have to reach that level. read more

I have been extremely disappointed over the last few years. The Admissions and Records Department suffers from a sadistic psychosis caused by poorly-run bureaucracies, and makes student's paperwork processes as difficult as possible-- giving them the run-around for weeks when in fact they could fix a situation in less than a minute by bringing something up on their computer. I've even been yelled at several times in the Berkeley City College Admissions and Records office for suggesting that they accept my official transcripts from another college that were in a sealed envelope from the school. Isn't that what that office is for, specifically? This last week my mom died, and we called everyone we could think of at the Peralta District office, so that I could have the period of 21 days of respite given by all other colleges to those who have gone through serious loss. It is now over a week later, and we've gotten no response. I am a straight 'A' student and a good communicator. If they can't help me, how are they supposed to help anybody on the fringe who actually needs a community college desperately? Peralta needs to get its act together or suffer loss of accreditation. read more

I am writing this review in hopes that someone from the district sees this and takes action. Because calling the 50 million numbers they have listed are useless, as no one answers or the phone hangs up. My experience with the PCCD has been nothing less than disappointing and a complete waste of my time. This district has taken great pride in hiring incompetent, rude, smart mouthed individuals that cringes at the thought of actually helping anyone. I called the district to inquire about fees that I have been trying to pay for a few months but have not been successful due to an error on their system. I called the district's admission & records office, and received a very insecure male who wanted to make it clear that he was in control of the conversation. So much so, he made it a point to tell me not to talk while he was talking and wasted so much time trying to establish that he was in control...Really? (I just want to pay my balance Mr. Asshole). So I sat there, listening to him so eloquently "troubleshoot" my problem - the entire time asking asinine questions, but when I tried to intervene to answer, he resorted to his d*@k measuring contest, reiterating that I was not to speak while he spoke and that he was going to end the call...Which I did before I could get upset any further. This experience reminds me of the ridiculousness that has been the standard for customer service at the Peralta district and the reason why I celebrated so much when I transferred out of this school to the University. This culture of disrespect and poor customer service needs to end. Why an organization prides themselves on how much of a hard time they can give to individuals is mind-blowing. I hope they change this culture, because it is nasty and vile and a horrible way to be seen by the community. read more

My initial, and probably only, contact with this college ended with frustration. I am planning a trip to France next year and was looking for a low-cost place to brush up on my French. Unfortunately, the only way to find out if the class I wanted is being offered this semester is to first submit an application for admittance. Most colleges let you peruse their course offerings before you apply - otherwise, how would you know that the school has what you want to learn? After reading the other reviews, I'm inclined to say that this is probably not the place for me. read more

I've been a student and it is easy to enroll... Not all campus are updated but the teachers have longevity. There are some really good teachers. I love the realness about the Bay Area and the culture is a learning experience as well. We are all trying to make it, someway, somehow. I've never had a bad experience here and I have attended all campus locations Laney, Merritt, and Alameda. Yes, I got two AA degrees here. Go and get yours and keep it pushing. FYI after reading some reviews, I have conducted my business in person and on the phone and I can say I haven't had too many issues but it does get a bit hard to get things done around enrollment time. So plan and make time for these events. I've met some really nice people that are willing to help. read more

Soon to be Berkeley Community college. Great place to stay educatied, classes are cheap and some are quite interesting

Peralta District Office is a black hole of slack! Getting anyone to answer the phone, return your call or email is impossible...no matter the topic, question or request. I love the campuses and the instructors but the district office is clueless. read more

They did not send a tax form needed to get an educational credit. I emailed at their special email address set up to request this form. Their web site says they will process the request within 3 days. That was 9 days ago and we still don't get the form. Calling the office, I was greeted by the voice mail. I left one. Who knows how long it take them to return if they do at all. read more