This is the most unorganized group of people I have ever had the displeasure of giving my money to. If you need financial aid forget this school. Even the admissions dept literally said "They turn over all the time and don't know anything." Every term I have taken there has been an utter and complete disaster. And because of their lack of organization I was dropped from classes after the drop/add date and as a consequence received three F's. Now my GPA is boned and they aren't willing to help me remedy the situation. And these are classes I re-enrolled in and passed (after they got their shit together). DO NOT take classes here. DO NOT trust anyone you speak to on the phone. DO NOT think they have the students interests in mind. As long as you pay tuition, they don't give a rats ass about what happens to the student after that. read more

First off, I always give organizations, etc the benefit of the doubt, but in this case I really wish I had not. This school is a joke. The very simple subject of English, math, and sciences are WAYYYYY too difficult and require too much work online. I don't understand how they get away with saying their classes are conveniently online when you still have to drive to campus or pay another campus to be proctored for exams. Also, the staff are pretty rude. From registering to buying books, no one was happy to help. The fact that you have to average a 60% on two exams or you fail is pretty ineffective as well. I took microbiology online and was going to be reported to the dean for plagiarism due to the system freezing and me clicking submit on an exam multiple times. So because I submitted an exam 3-4 times within a few seconds with the same answers, I was going to have my academics hit with plagiarism. What a joke! I have taken tons of classes online whether it be at Central Arizona College, ASU, or UofA and those all were much more simple, the layout was great, and the test taking was 100% online using Respondus Lockdown Browser. This allowed them to lock our personal computers to exams or have our webcams proctor us and record us as we take test. Save your time and money and pay to go to a different college. If you're in Tucson, go to PCC. If you're in the Phoenix area, try a different Maricopa college. This one is horrible. read more

I have always attended Maricopa Community Colleges and thought this would be great because of the flexibility with start dates but would NOT recommend attending here. They only care about how many people they can sign up for classes and not the student or students needs. I wanted to withdraw from a course and was told unless I provided proof of an illness or death in the family I was not able to do so. I wasn't even asking for a refund, just simply to withdraw and spoke to multiple people about my options and dates and was originally told I could but at the last minute was denied. I was told I had to finish out the course regardless of why I needed to withdraw (was not failing) and if I did not complete the coursework I would have an F on my transcripts instead of a W ( Staff originally said I would have a W). The program director is not even worth speaking to, completely rude and unprofessional. She knew what her staff had expressed to me and still refused to take accountability for the schools mistake. Don't waste your time here and save your money and go to another Maricopa Community College. read more

In 2007, I received my first Bachelor's degree from an accredited AZ university (ground campus and few online classes). While working, I wanted to pursue a second Bachelor's degree in another field. I thought going online to Rio to get pre-req classes out of the way would be a good way to save time while employed. Nope, nope, nope...Mind you, I am not an unintelligent individual. I have completed 400-500 level classes at other schools (finishing several classes with over 100%) I took a couple 100-200 level classes with Rio and my biggest complaint is the disconnect between the study guides and the exams. I would spend hours prepping for the exams, then I would go to the testing center for the exam, open it up on the computer, and feel like it was written based off of something totally different than the study material-- the only consistency between the exam prep material and the exams are the essay portions-- sadly this part of the exam is only worth 100 points (I received 95-100 each time). But that does not compensate for the lower grades on the rest of the exam. I confronted the administration about the disconnect several times, and I always got the same response "We get lots of complaints like that and we are looking into it." If you can do online elsewhere, do so! read more

I went to GCC and worked in their student services for my associates degree. During that time I was always impressed with their practices and took a lot of quality online classes with organized course guidelines and accountable teachers. Because Rio was also a Maricopa Community College I thought they would adhere to the same standards and recommended them to my husband. I was sorely mistaken. Apathetic teachers that won't answer you, poor support, terrible math tutoring hours and help, 25 minutes for a simple answer in a pre-algebra class and not open past 7pm. In a school that is online only math tutoring is a must! After switching to GCC, now they say we owe them $176 because of a financial aid overpayment over 6 months ago. Are they trying to sabotage students!? Luckily we are in the position to pay it, but for many college students this kind of experience would be the end of their education. I am not impressed! I would highly recommend going to at least a few in person classes, they're much easier if you have the time. If you don't have that option take your online degree with Mesa Community College or Glendale Community College, they have everything you need online for the most part, and it's really easy to supplement anything missing at another maricopa college. Rio is a bummer, they need to figure things out. read more

I have been taking classes at rio for a few years. I am very happy with my experiences there. It is completely online so students must be dedicated to their own learning experience and must have the time management skills to get all readings and assignments turned in on time. Students must also have good communication skills as all communication with instructors is done via email. I really love Rio Learn's software. It's easy to use and concise. I would say that 90% of my instructors have been invested and incredibly helpful. And 10% seemed very distant, picky about how assignments are done, and don't respond quickly to emails. When I first started at Rio, I was taking basic Gen-ED classes after giving up on campus learning due to just being distracted by other students and hating physically going to class. I am the kind of person where an oral lecture goes in one ear and out the other. With Rio's self-learning, Ican go straight to the information needed for an assingment and complete it according to instruction while feeling like I'm learning alot. At first, I didn't do well in classes at Rio becasue I had never taken an online class before and it was an adjustment. After a few classes, you get the hang of it, as most classes are structured the same way. Thank goodness for Rio becasue I am now finished with all my pre-reqs to get my BSN and have had offers from 3 programs in the area already! read more

Shocked at the low ratings here. What exactly are you expecting? If you are at any of Arizona's 4 year colleges and would like to save your self a TON of money on general ed credits that don't matter AT ALL to your major. This is a GREAT place to do it. Would you rather spend $300 or $1300 on up? The choice is yours. Also - their web platform is amazing. If you have ever had the horror of dealing with BBLEARN (stone ages tech) at NAU, you'll be delighted with the Riolearn interface. My husband is doing as many credits as possible to transfer out to NAU through Rio Salado. It was actually recommended by the guidance counselor he spoke with at NAU. He's on his third class and we both give it 5 stars. read more

The good: -cheap at $84 a credit hour -multiple testing centers around the valley that have extensive hours -online course management system works well The bad: -run like a business so poor advice is given to uneducated students and young students, to their detriment -Deals with Pearson are presented to look like they save the student money, but it's not - this makes the used book market for Rio Salado textbooks practically non-existent (hello, craigslist!) -online science courses are specifically designed so that students fail (not me, but a quick search only will confirm this) -some professors care, but most don't- expect 5-7 days waiting for an emailed question, in an accelerated course. Hope you didn't need to know the answer. -online course materials are minimal, and no lectures are provided. The embarrassing: -course material is reused without any review - expect broken links galore! -course material links aren't even original material to Rio Salado or Maricopa CCs -the few videos they have are done by someone who can barely string a sentence together *stutter this, correction that, 'um' 'uh', etc -course material is rife with grammatical errors (but if you happen to have complex sentence structure that is beyond the comprehension of your marginally educated teacher, you will incorrectly miss points) --- for example, please don't suggest to me to use a 'pneumatic device' to memorize something. It's just bad. I was told Rio has something like 60,000 students. I promise you the vast majority of these are NOT graduating or completing something worthwhile (certificates don't get you jobs - do NOT believe Rio). PEOPLE, please please do your research and get past the online class convenience if you truly wish to learn. The other Maricopa CCs are NOT like this! read more

I'm just finishing up taking Physics 111 here and honestly this class was a joke. There is wayyyyyyy too much content that is thrown at you and since you have assignments due every monday and new lessons every week it's nearly impossible to keep up and actually understand the material. I have taken classes at other community colleges and this is by far the worst experience i've ever had with a school. My instructor was very nice and actually cared about my understanding, and responded to my emails in a timely manner but the amount of work and lessons that this class had is ridiculous. By the time i was submitting my work that i didn't understand for one lesson, i had to turn around and start the next lesson and assignments. There is not enough time to actually learn the material. DO NOT enroll here, save yourself time and frustration and go somewhere else. read more

Their transcript sending system is surprisingly nice compared to everything else. Doesn't change my score for the college; just keep in mind it took less time to organize a transcript transfer than it does to open an assignment. read more

This applies for the Rio Salado on Northern: So after 3 times of trying to sign up my daughter, and being told 3 different occasions something new needs to be done, we are now in our 2nd week of achieving her GED. Not so fast. My wife gets a call today from Caroline telling her that she needs to talk to my daughter to see how classes are going. My wife asks if there is anything wrong, she says no, end of conversation. Then Caroline immediately after calls my daughter and informs her that because she is 4 months away from turning 16 she must stop classes after going through pretesting and already starting classes. WHY DIDNT YOU TELL MY WIFE THIS 5 MINS BEFORE?! Why would you take it upon yourself to break down a 15 year old girl instead of informing the person you were just on the line with!? Why lie to my wife when she specifically asked you a question about your purpose? We ran around for 4 weeks, taking time off of work, adjusting schedules, and were completely dedicated to achieving this goal just to find out it was all for nothing and have to do it all over again in 4 months. Needless to say we are requesting a refund of payment, and will find elsewhere to better ourselves because this BS was unnecessary and unprofessional to say the least. read more

For an online college it's easy to take the classes. I've had good and bad experiences here. Mainly with the advisors at the Tempe location. However testing has always been a good experience. read more

Well, today was my first day of classes. The website was not working properly which prompted me to make a few calls. I'd just like to say, the staff over the phone are just terrible and horrible people and It is obvious they hate the job. If you are in need of assistance be prepared to be treated like an idiot. They need to change there mind set and realize that people are paying to go there. Never accept the unacceptable. I will be finishing what i started but surly will find another option afterwards. read more

Pros: Advisors: orgianlly went to mesa community college and I found the advisors to not be very helpful. However, at Rio salado the advisors all have bee nso helpful in ensuring I ahve all the classes I need. Instructors: online instructors for the most part were helpful and aslong as you gave them notice they would allow you to extend due dates. Classes: EASY!!! enough said CONS: Learning: I felt like the classes were really easy but I didnt really learn anything. However, its what you put into it. read more

Biology department: 1 star Mathematics: 5 stars This was how I got my average of 3 stars. My math (statistics) instructor is AMAZING! I get questions answered and I can tell the person behind the computer has a personality. I love the format and the flexibility. The biology department gives me the impression that they could care less about students learning. You are only permitted to submit assignments once. RioLearn error? Too bad. Instead of the department understanding that the system has issues, the student gets the zero. Oh, and the questions on tests require word for word knowledge of everything, including having 30 seconds to calculate to volume of something. Coming from the perspective of a teacher, these tests and policies encourage students to google answers and not learn the material. read more

The first couple semesters at this school went great. I had great teachers and they communicated well. This current semester has been a pain. I am taking HIS111 with Stephanie Klopper and it is horrible. Watch out she will give you zeros for not citing enough then when you take your time to make sure everything is cited correctly, she will still give you a zero for citing too much and call it plagiarism. I have a perfect GPA & have NEVER been accused to plagiarism. She will be incredibly rude and unprofessional also. I am also extremely disappointed with the head chair of humanity's. I called and left a voicemail about my issue and she emailed me back VIA the teacher! Did not even ask what my issue was or how she could help. It is absolute hell trying to get ahold of anyone with some common sense!! read more

If you can take online classes somewhere else do it! Over half of the teachers I've had grade so stupidly and harsh compared to other schools. Estrella Community College for example the online teachers there look for comprehension in your work, the teachers are personable and care about you as a student and future graduate. I hate to think how difficult it could be for people who English is not their first language to pass a Science class at Rio Salado because even in those classes grammar to critiqued with a level of harshness that I believe is unnecessary for the course. I'm 30 years old, trying to finish school. I have a family and an example to set, going to school at Rio Salado has been a huge waste of time. read more

It took some time to get used to their online system, but overall it was not bad. I liked that I could take a semester long class in only an 8 week session. My only negative comment would be that the professor can sometimes take a few days to reply to your emails. So if you have an accelerated program and have 2 assignments due per week, you need to be asking questions ahead of time, and not the day the assignment is due, or you probably won't get a response in time. I'm laughing at the reviews saying the math and science classes are too difficult. My lab was a piece of cake compared to the equivalent lab I took in person at a university. If anything, it's unfair that you can take online classes when you're applying for a highly competitive major. Bottom line, I would always recommend on campus classes over online classes. But if you just need to knock out a quick credit to meet a deadline, Rio is a good choice. read more

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO WARN ANYONE THINKING OF ENROLLING HER TO PLEASE THINK TWICE. Their financial aid department was beyond incompetent. I enrolled and signed up for classes in December and started school January 7th,2013 and was told it would take them 4-6 WEEKS just to even send me my financial aid award letter well February 13th rolls around and I had still not received anything so I called the financial aid department and they told me to wait another week and to see what happens. Well a week passes I check again and once again I had received nothing. So I call them again and tell them I still haven't received anything, then they inform me I need to send paperwork from my previous school saying i no longer attend their college despite the fact that i had formally withdrew from that school and completed exit counseling for my previous school almost 2 months before and that then I would receive my financial aid letter. I complied with their request and filled out the paperwork faxed it to my old school, had them fill it out and sign off and then fax it to Rio Salado. They received it and it took 10 business days to process! Once they processed it I again called Rio Salado's financial aid department and asked them when I would be receiving my financial aid award letter they informed me my financial aid processing would have to start over again and it would be another 4-6 weeks before it was processed and until I would receive a financial aid award letter. So I had to drop my classes and re enroll into classes because the earliest I can now start classes is April 15th, 2013. So I moved the classes to the soonest date I could in April, and was told after I received my award letter that it would be Mid May before I would actually received any funds from them. It isn't like I am receiving free money from pell grants I am receiving students loans that I have to pay back. I am just astonished that I am essentially being punished for trying to better myself and get an education. If I hadn't already paid out of pocket for my first to classes I would transfer to another school now but unfortunately I am stuck here until the end of the semester. I would never recommend this school to anyone and I am completely beside myself read more

I've read the previous reviews and just wanted to add my .2 I was a victim of the recession and got laid off from my job last year, so I decided to go back to school and complete my BS degree. I needed to take a couple of lower level classes, and decided community college would be a money saver, and the online classes convenient (I didn't want to be the "old guy" sitting in a classroom). I signed up for an online chemistry course at Rio, and it was the worst educational experience I've had. The online lab was completely useless. As a previous reviewer noted, it is hard to make out the drawings and diagrams on the lab, even with an LCD monitor set at max resolution. The instructor didn't provide much help with answers and in fact seemed bothered when questions were asked. I experienced connection issues which almost caused my online quizes to time out. In frustration, I had to drop the course completely. The phone rep who helped me to cancel must have been new on the job, as she had trouble figuring out how to drop me from the course. I retook the course at a different college (Mesa CC) and not only was it a better experience, the syllabus was more conducive to an online class. Rio prides themselves on being primarily an online-friendly college, yet as noted from the experiences here, they are anything but. read more

Just horrible.... ALL the way around. Go to Central Arizona College... or anywhere else. This school doesn't care or even know anything about any of their students. It's all money... and you can never get ahold of any real advice.... site is really confusing and hard to navigate with two interfaces, one for maricopa community college and one for Rio Salado. Most "instructors" are glorified high school teachers who think they're grading for Harvard and are not very nice at all... actually they're quite rude and degrading. I read some of these when I was looking for a community college and figured I would still give it a try... well... I wasted a lot of my time. Stay away from this school. read more

Terrible experience. I could never get a hold of my professor via phone as school has a policy that professors do not have a phone number. Professor could only call me via a "blocked" number. I attended for one course only and would never go back. I also had a difficult time getting a hold of cashier's office to pay fee for transcript. College students beware. read more

You will never see your exams. The questions are secret! The process for educational instruction follows every "do not do" in the process of education. I reiterate this rating. Stay away. If you are a TIR student I know the price is attractive. But, if you are trying to get a real education, one that will actually help you be a better teacher, stay away at all costs. The professors are a joke, the assignments and tests are full of errors -- Rio will never admit to a mistake - and you will hit brick walls if you complain. Jennifer Gladis in the TIR admissions office is without a doubt the only bright star you will encounter. Add to the massive nightmare are "professors" who, refusing to accept the reality of the gross errors contained in the lessons will give you failing grades over things like "failing to site using correct APA citation style) to heck with content, ignore the directions because they are meaningless. Again, I caution everyone, if you are a TIR don't go here. read more

For a college this is the hardest one to apply for nobody to answer questions correctly. It's like they either have too many cooks in the kitchen or not enough. Because so much miscommunication. I've been trying to get my daughter in rolled since June. I haven't even applied to universities for her but we are getting acceptance all over the place. I would steer clear it's a waste of time. read more

I have been a student at Rio Salado since August 2013. Over the last 8 years, Rio Salado is my 4th college that I have attended. I am here to tell everyone that ANY college you attend will have some issues. I have attended a public 4-year university, a private 4-year liberal arts college, a community college, and now Rio Salado. In my time at Rio, I've learned a lot, gotten really good grades, and have been assisted by various employees of Rio Salado along the way. As in any online/virtual learning environment, you only get what you put into it. If you are going to half-ass your classes, then you should probably expect very little assistance from the faculty as well as a grade that reflects your lack of effort. I've given 110% to each class that I've taken at Rio and it's definitely been reflected in the interactions I have with my teachers and other personnel of the college. The financial aid office is a nightmare! However, the financial aid offices at the other 3 schools I've attended were nothing more than atrocious. read more

I emailed my instructor via the course contact messaging system a few days ago and I have heard nothing. My question is why doesn't the instructor have videos that go over the course material? I am in MAT221 and I think the instructor should do some work and have Rio Salado videos going over the work. What am I paying for? To look on YouTube and the internet? If I wanted a degree from YouTube, I would have printed it myself! I can do that without the class. I am taking the course to be instructed and just because it is online does mean a free pass for the instructor to be lazy. Rio Salado says it is an online school, what it is teaching online? I want actual instruction from a Rio instructor. I do not think I should be searching all over the place to get half-ass instructions to what is going on in the class. I am a little disappointed with my experience at Rio with this class. This course is a joke if the instructor thinks students should just figure it out. If I knew the material, I would not be taking the class. I feel I am going to have to drop this course because the instructions for the class are such poor quality. I am not sure how posting 10 quizzes and two tests (mid-term and final) with no further instructions but to read the chapter is really teaching students. read more

My review is based on my experiences with the financial aid department, not the quality of the classes (though those REALLY vary depending on the subject/instructor). Financial aid at this school is a nightmare. Out of 4 semesters, I have only experienced a timely and correct disbursement of loan funds for one. The front-line reps at the financial aid center do not know what they are doing. Many of them don't even appear to understand how financial aid works. If you call 5 times about a late disbursement or paperwork error, you are likely to receive 5 different answers as to why it has happened. And in the end, the solution is likely not to be found in any of those 5 answers. The reps do not listen to you. You could explain your problem as clear as day and they will simply put you on hold for 10 minutes and then present a solution that clearly indicates they have no idea what your actual question was. Even when they admit they don't know an answer, they will send an email with a canned response that proposes they solved your problem with a solution that does not apply to your situation. This process is INFURIATING. I recently started Spring classes. Normally, this would mean I would receive my 2nd loan disbursement by the 3rd week of classes. Instead, due to a paperwork error, the school split my Spring disbursement into 2 separate disbursements. My loan funds have never been disbursed this way, and according to Rio's own website this is not how the process is handled. I called in about this, and the first rep I talked to simply ignored everything I said and simply stated that no one ever receives a disbursement until the 4th week of class. This is, of course, ridiculous and not how the process works. When I pointed this out, his response was, 'Why are you worried? You'll get it.' When I explained why I was worried, he simply said, 'Don't worry about it'. After the call, I received the typical email that says my solution was to wait. I called back in. This time, I received a rare knowledgeable rep that understood why I was concerned and said there definitely seemed to be an error. When she looked into it (a.k.a., did her job) she said there was a paperwork error and they would have to resubmit which would delay my loans for a week. While this was not good news, it was at least an answer that made sense. She also assured me I would receive ALL of my funds and that they would not be in two separate payments. Unfortunately, when I did finally receive my disbursement, it had been split into two payments and I was told I wouldn't receive the 2nd portion of my funds until my classes were almost over. So I called in yet again. This time I was again told this was a mistake and that I would receive the 2nd half of my funds within 5-7 business days. Guess how that turned out? When I called yet again after the funds were not disbursed within 5-7 business days, I was told (after a nearly 35 minute hold time) that it was because of my Summer block. This is the craziest answer yet, given the Summer block hasn't happened yet and I am not taking classes in the Summer block this year nor did I take any last year. I explained that this made no sense and didn't seem to be based in any kind of reality I existed in, and she said she'd contact a 'specialist' that would call or email me in 5-7 business days. I told her since I had already been around the bend and back again, I needed something faster. She said she'd ask them to prioritize it but no guarantees. So I called yet again. This time, I was told that semester disbursements are always split in two. When I explained that this wasn't true, as I'd had 4 semesters worth of disbursements that were not paid this way, he said I shouldn't have been paid that way and that now I was being paid correctly. This is, again, ridiculous and in contradiction to Rio's own website (as well as my Studentloans.gov paperwork). He then said he would have a 'specialist' call me. I told him the previous agent was supposed to have already put this in motion, but when he looked into it he said it appeared she hadn't submitted the request. Lovely. He then claimed I'd be contacted in 1-3 business days. The best part of all is that the last agent's email response gives a completely different reason than the one he provided in the call! He now says this has happened because there were 4 weeks between the end of my Fall classes and the beginning of my Spring classes and that my loans were 're-assessed as Spring loans'. THEY WERE ALWAYS SPRING LOANS. And I've always had more than 4 weeks between semesters. This is what you can expect when calling financial aid at Rio. They really need to get their act together and either stop outsourcing their financial aid reps who are clearly just hired canon fodder or re-work their escalation policy so that students aren't simply given non-answers and sent on their merry way. I want to note I never swore or even raised my voice during these calls. read more

I started my AAS through Rio Salado College in 2004 and learned all of my Technical skills while I was at Perryvillle prison through their Construction Program. It was awesome to learn a trade hands on as we started building houses for Habitat for Humanity (9) homes my crew built. Then Rio Salado purchased their current Administrate building in Tempe, AZ. Rio helped the Prison crew to learn OJT (on the job training) while taking all the technical courses I.e., Carpentry level 1&2, Electrical level 1&2, Plumbing, Framing and Drywall. Most of what I learned in the Prison program taught me a career and not just a job. Since getting out in 2007 I have worked for Rio Salado College in their Maintenance and Operations department for close to 10 years moving up from a beginning Utility Worker Position to Management and I could not have done this without the help and support of MCCD and Rio Salado College. The Maricopa Community Colleges are an excellent place for any age to go back to College and learn a new Career or Cerifications without all the huge school loans/debt. I highly recommend going to Community College, take advantage of every avenue available to you to advance your careers and even your life goals. read more

I got my associates through Rio. I really enjoyed being able to do all of my work online. The courses could have been a bit more informative and/or engaging, but part of this might be due to my own lack of deep participation. The good thing was that it was affordable and all of my credits transferred seamlessly to ASU, which was pretty awesome. I hear they have a new sustainable foods program now. The students grow stuff in a garden and then sell it in a restaurant they run. That sounds pretty cool to me. read more

I have had nothing short of a great experience with Rio Salado. The online platform is easy to navigate. The work load depends on the class but is less than my other online classes at NAU. Admissions & Cashiers office are extremely helpful and respond very quickly to issues. Customer service is very important to me and it is difficult to get in a college setting. The staff at Rio clearly makes customer service a priority. I will be returning for masters classes in a couple of years. :) read more

I would agree with what everyone else has said but to add more, I would say that this school is low on the list of community colleges you should think of attending. Heck, even South Mountain is better than this! The whole system is set up for failure before you can even start your classes. Like another reviewer said, it is very Mac unfriendly, heck it's any computer unfriendly. The teaching tools that they have are horrible (I took Geology this semester and the online lab looked like crap, I couldn't tell diorite from granite, lol, and yes you will get marked down for wrong answers because you couldn't make out what it was! grrr!), the videos are lame and very small so that you cannot tell what is really happening onscreen. It's like these teachers just cut and paste their lesson plan, and the only actual work they put in is to grade papers. There are some great teachers I have come across but this is very few and rare. If anything confuses you, you had better hope you figure it out on your own because you can only contact the teacher through email and not by phone (I don't know about you, but I like to talk to a teacher in person or by phone when I have a problem, much more concise). I caught so many errors in one class that they put me in charge of going over lessons and proofreading them! I would get things wrong on tests that were not wrong and only after making a stink about it, would I get my grade changed. Nearly everyone who works there for customer service has an attitude or is extremely depressed. When you call in they usually rush you off of the phone as quickly as possible. I told them look, I'm quitting because you can't get it together and they said, "Well we can see you are an extremely good student and we would hate to see you leave." So, like a dummy I stayed the semester. Overall, I'm going back to Gateway. When things don't work out, it's best to start from whence you came. read more

I wish I could give this "college" a negative review. I am student at Arizona State University and had to dual enroll in this fine establishment in order to do a credit overload. I did not think it was humanly possible to have so many issues with an educational institution. I deeply regret not doing my homework and reading the reviews beforehand. For starters, I had enrolled in three courses for the summer of 2014. I had to fight with them for WEEKS to get them to consider me an in state resident. Apparently a picture of your driver's license is not sufficient and they require that it be scanned. I was waiting for my bill to reflect instate tuition prior to making a payment. During this process I was dropped from my classes for being just over 24 hours late on my payment. I then had to take the time to enroll in all of my classes again. If you're planning on taking a science course, good luck! They REQUIRE you MUST use a PC and Internet Explorer. I think 2005 was the last time I saw any college student use anything other than a MAC. Internet Explorer, Really? World's WORST internet browser. I have gotten through my entire college career with a MAC and now all of a sudden I'm being told that I cannot use it? Thankfully, I have a work laptop that's a PC. Best part? My office has Internet Explorer completely BLOCKED because it's a security risk. What does that tell you? This anatomy and physiology course I have been taking is a NIGHTMARE. The syllabus acknowledgement did not register for whatever reason so I was unable to take my first quiz. I had emailed the instructor immediately who then contacted the bio department to let them know I was experiencing an issue. The quiz was due on Wed. and it wasn't until Saturday that I was finally able to take the quiz. I tried taking this on a PC, Mac and tried every internet browser I could possibly think of. Mind you, the instructor and I were emailing the entire time. I was then informed (after I took the quiz) that I would receive a zero because I told them I had used a Mac (it was the only thing that worked at that time). I am currently taking the 8 week anatomy and physiology course. This course has 14 weeks of material, thus two lessons are due each week. They have an EXTREMELY strict 'self-accelerating' policy for this course. I was moving and wanted to complete my week two at the beginning of the week. I had assumed doing all of the work for week two would not be a problem. I was very wrong. I got an email from my instructor informing me that I was going to receive a zero on a 75 point assignment for "self-accelerating." Apparently you CANNOT do part B of week 2 during part A. Be warned, if you do work early you WILL receive a zero, but they will accept late work with a slight penalty. What college accepts late work, but gives their student a zero for doing something early? I freaked and emailed the head of the department. Thankfully, they gave me a one-time exception. Oh, and the lab quizzes, you have 13 minutes to answer 25 questions. Be prepared to make this course your life for the next 8 to 14 weeks. This is the saddest excuse for a college. It's a glorified high school with policies worse than high school. Take my advice and look into other colleges prior to applying here. I don't think you will regret your decision. read more

I have taken several classes at Rio and I believe your experience is what you make of it. I have found the instructors to be professional and very interactive. After a long day of work it is nice to be able to go home, wind down, and put on comfy clothes to study at my pace. Also, I am not having to wait for the students that are "not getting it" "always behind" . I do enjoy on - campus classes too, but Rio really gives me a better quality of life as far as free time, no commute, and one-on-one attention from the instructors. read more

Paying good money to basically teach myself. The teachers don't care about your future.

This is a terrible college. Ive taken MANY classes here. As everyone says professors lack communication and you have to try to guess what the professor wants. This will be the LAST class i ever try to take from them. I took a HUM class here and was cited for supposed plagarism yet they couldnt tell me what i plagarised? Maybe because i didnt. I talked to the head chair of the HUM classes and asked why i couldnt get simple questions answered from my teacher and she replied with "ive been documented for threating her by contacting the head chair and not my teacher". What the fuck? The only reason i contacted the head chair of the HUM was to see what the reason was for me not getting my questions answered over the course of 12 weeks?! How is that threatening? The chair was even distant on answering my questions of how i plagarised. Nobody wanted to answer me on that. The reviews dont lie on here. There are plenty of other colleges to take online classes from that arent as distant and unprofessional as this one. Oh and so those you of you be on the look out for the teacher im talking about if you have to take a class- Allison Gee Id highly advise you to look for another teacher i wish i would have listened to the students who told me to not take her. Oh and while im at it let me call out the Head Chair of the HUM department as well for being so unprofessional and unhelpfull just pushing me away because the teachers in her department are "never wrong" . -Janine adkins read more

This is how all schools should be. I use a Mac and have had very few problems with Rio Salado. The school cost $71 a credit hour and I get to take classes when they fit into my schedule. If you don't have discipline, then this is not the school for you. Teachers responded quickly, and seem to give me a lot of one-on-one attention. read more

I enrolled to take Bio 202 and Bio 205 online. The instructors are horrible (check the rating on RateMyProfessor.com). I am probably going to drop and take the classes elsewhere, where there are better quality instructors. read more

I truly wish I could give less than one star. Every bad review you are reading is true. ESPECIALLY about the incompetence of the administrators. They are rude, condescending, and act as if you are wrong or lying. I don't know what it is about this school.. As soon as I am done with my class I will not be going back. I am usually a completely agreeable person, but I would not recommend this institution for anybody. I have taken loads of online classes, and have actually never even written a bad review before. In fact, I am going out of my way to report Robert Stratman to the dean's office, who will likely do nothing. It's unfortunate that they got my money when it could have endowed one of the many wonderful Maricopa Community Colleges that I have enjoyed attending in the past. Truly an unfortunate experience. DO NOT GO HERE. read more

I attended Rio from 2007 to 2010 and completed an Associate of Arts with them. I feel compelled to submit a review because I was surprised at the number of poor reviews listed. Many of the complaints about administrative staff and associated issues are (unfortunately) very common in just about every college/university. I've worked professionally in higher ed since 2007 and currently work for a reputable university in the area of Boston, MA, where our administrative issues are (in my experience) worse than or about as bad as any experience I had with Rio's administration. With any school, the student, unfortunately, has to keep immaculate records and stay on the administrative folks in order to take care of their needs and has to make a concerted effort to self-educate about deadlines, etc. I wish that were different. I believe that as of approximately 2014, Rio is working on an improved student advising program, which might help to alleviate this problem. I can't speak for the current state of things at Rio since I graduated four years ago, but I can say that by putting in a lot of time and effort, I was granted a transformative educational experience. I obtained a solid foundation for my education and have plans to continue in school up through a master's or PhD. My experiences with Rio made up for a deficient high school education, which was important to me. Also, I am currently pursuing my bachelor's with a university in Boston, and they accepted almost all of my Rio credits toward their program, and they aren't even one of Rio's partner schools. The credits that weren't accepted were because I over-fulfilled a requirement and didn't have anywhere else to claim the credits in their program, not because the courses did not meet their academic standards. Another positive comment is that we had a beautiful graduation ceremony at the Orpheum Theater. Our speakers were, like me, granted life changing experiences by Rio. One thing they do that I appreciate is they offer print-based courses to those in prison. TIPS: Keep a copy of every document you submit and a log of phone calls and names of those you have spoken with as well as what they promised you and by when. Follow up. Stay away from the accelerated courses! It's too much work in too short a time frame. Carefully review their system requirements before signing up for classes. Take advantage of their vast online library!! I still use it as an alum several years later! You can get your entire Rio degree AND books paid for by the Pell grant if you qualify. My AA resulted in $0 debt. If you have financial aid, take advantage of the book waiver program where your books are billed to your financial aid account so you have them day 1 of class without paying. The idea behind those Rio-only books is that they were made to save you money because they are far cheaper than most textbooks. Buy and sell from classmates on the student social portal. read more

Seriously! Their block schedules and misinform employees make your life a living hell. I am trying to take classes to transfer over to ASU and they make it near impossible to make it easy enough to move along with the classes. All the employees need to learn how to talk with each other, so they do not have the students bouncing back and forth in a endless loop. It makes it even more frustrating that I pay out of pocket for my classes and they are going to try to drop you from a class if when you're paying out of pocket, like who does that? If it wasn't for my work schedule I would go somewhere else read more