Beacon College

We really thought Beacon was going to be a wonderful place for our child to go. The tours, the drop off, the communication was all wonderful. As we were leaving the parents conference, the school administration told us that we did not need to be helicopter parents. We could trust them to let us know if there was a problem. We felt a huge sense of relief! A month in, we heard about some drama, and classes seemed a little challenging, but we didn’t hear anything from the school and told ourselves not to worry. All the forms for parental disclosure had been signed, so we should’ve received any relevant information. Shortly before midterms, without receiving really any communication whatsoever, we started probing a little bit. We were told the information was on the parent portal, which was buried in several menus, but there were no notifications to be enabled. I started asking more questions. No response. To be honest, I’d had reservations about the effort my child was going to put in since the beginning. Motivation has been a struggle since the whole Covid lockdown. But we had talked to administration about these things while interviewing and were ASSURED it would be handled by the weekly meetings with the academic counselor. Finally, one day, I texted during an academic conference to say I wanted to speak with the counselor. I called and was quickly told that “it’s not how they do things.” Maybe I should’ve jumped in the car, but I told myself not to be a helicopter parent and that they would call me if there was a problem. They never called. Finally, it was too late. By Thanksgiving, there was no possibility of passing classes. No communication whatsoever from the school. So the first semester came to close, lots of money down the drain, and there was NO MORE academic communication. There was no word from the administration, nor from the many paid advisors and counselors. However, the billing department, staffed by friendly people, communicated frequently and was always responsive. Top notch!

The college had it pros and cons like any other college and or university in reality. The teachers were great, friendly, helpful and over all good people to get support from. If your a person with learning disabilities and needs extra extra support, this is definitely a good college for you. The Negatives- I went there for 1 year (August 2018- May 4th 2019) The RAP hall, which is where all Freshman are placed except for the lucky few places in the villages. The RAP hall, from the first night was. just. chaos. Some the new students had some real mental issues and made everything such a big deal. The police were call multiple time throughout the year. Idiots vaping at 3 am would set off the fire alarm, I mean I could go on.

Beacon College has favorite students that they treat much better than everyone else. If you’re not a favorite, then you can get in trouble for every little thing even if it’s not your fault. The students who are favorites get away with anything and get recognized and receive awards. It’s not only students this applies too, it’s faculty too some faculty gets recognized way more than other faculty members for their accomplishments. The Human Services and Psychology Department Chair never gets recognized for his accomplishments and the things that he has done on Beacon’s social media! He works so hard to make learning fun and no stressful for all of his students. It’s just really sad that Beacon does this! It’s so blatantly obvious who the favorite students, faculty, and staff members are and it’s a slap in the face to everyone else who isn’t favored by Beacon. Especially when it comes to trips to Disney the same people get chosen every single time and I’m so sick and tired of it! Everyone should have a chance to go on these kinds of trips not just the select few who are favored by Hanah Diebold.

Beacon College has way too much bullying and drama at the school and they do nothing about it! It made my mental health so bad! The best professors at Beacon College are Dr. Perrone and Dr. Casillas. I felt like they understood me and cared about me both as a student and as a person. I think that Beacon should celebrate Dr. Perrone’s accomplishments because it seems like they don’t ever do that but celebrate other professor’s accomplishments instead of his. He works so hard and deserves to be noticed and celebrated for his accomplishments! I hated how Dr. Primack and Ms. Welt babies me while I was taking their classes! Some of the worst professors are Dr. Primack, Dr. Nesbitt, Ms. Hunter, and Ms. Welt for those reasons and that they’re so rude and not very caring and understanding

Beacon College is a place for kids who learn differently to go and get a higher education that they have been wanting their whole life but people have been saying no college is not in the cards for you or your not going to graduate from college. If you learn differently beacon is for you

I am a Beacon College parent. I just left my son there and we are in the car driving home. I don’t know why I can’t stop crying. Maybe it’s because after 18 years of loving harder than I’ve ever loved, hundreds of sleepless nights, fighting for him at meeting after countless meeting to get him what he needed to grow, many hours of driving to and seeing specialists, and an enormous number of fights about homework to only name a few, he made it!! Since he was about 6, I was asked what I saw for his future. I couldn’t see his future, no matter how hard I tried. Then the director of Gateway School, Jill Berry, told me one day: He will go to college. “Really?” I said. We had just received the results of his new psychological assessment. The psychologist at that meeting said, “I knew he was special, but I didn’t realize how special”. The difference between his ability to learn visually and his ability to learn auditorily was staggering. Basically, anything you show him visually he can understand almost immediately and retain. He makes 1000 piece puzzles without looking at the box 98% of the time, masters video games in a day, solves algebraic math problems in his head, etc. He’s also incredibly creative. Unfortunately, most schools need you to have “good listening ears”. He needed something different. And we found Gateway School and Jill gave me hope…and a mission! He was going to college! Exactly the same thing I saw in the futures of my other children! We made it, Jill! Beacon is his new home. He has found his people. He will learn and grow at this very special place where they also see his strengths, where it doesn’t matter if it takes him a few seconds longer to get his thoughts out…they’ll wait, everyone…the professors, the students…they’ll all wait. And they’ll applaud for his good ideas when he’s done. He’ll become more comfortable and it will become easier to share. He’ll won’t just grow at Beacon, he’s going to thrive. Thank you, Jill and Beacon College! You gave my son a future

This is a small, thriving college in central Florida that is changing lives everyday. My son currently attends and it has turned his academic career & his life around! He had attended a local college here in PA, but it did not work out. He took 2 years off to work. But agreed to give Beacon a try after I found the school I felt would help bring out his full potential. Of course, he gripes about the teachers, the other students, the dorms, blah blah blah. Just like a normal college kid! But his grades are all A's & B's. His attitude has done a 180. His mother and I felt this might be a good school for him after the school enrolled him in their 9-month onboarding program. He worked with a professional whose expertise is in building educational programs for kids like my son. He challenged my son, required homework from him, required that he talk, and supported our son throughout the program. We have since visited him on campus and plan to visit him again in January (good excuse to get out of PA in January!) The school is having a positive impact on the Leesburg community. It has built new facilities and continues to improve its campus. They are growing. But most important to us, they make a difference!

About to graduate in May and very thankful for everything Beacon has allowed me to do. From the amazing faculty to Learning Specialists, Beacon's academic experience as well as career readiness has given me the confidence to do anything. Special thank you's to the Art Department and Psychology Department for teaching me all about collaboration and research.

The classes and teachers are great but when it comes to maitenace they are a flat 0. The maintenance is lazy, only does half ass job when fixing problems, they allow students to spend entire semesters living with black mold in the appartments until it becomes obvious the mold is there. There are bugs infesting an appartment currently because the maintenance falied to replace a fallen screen which was a small 5 minute task which is now a huge problem. The state of specifically the beacon commons apartments is literally the worst I have ever lived in. The bathtub is a sick rust color because the tub is that old it is rusting, nothing has been done about that in a year. Someone needs to be fired this entire commons complex needs to be demolished and rebuilt rather than try to house students in nearly toxic environments. These apartments are very close to section8 housing. Its sad that students have to pay over $50,000 a semester (not including housing and food cost) to live in a housing complex which makes the students feel like they are just a step up from homeless. Parents really have no idea how gross these appartments are and if they did beacon probably be facing several law suits. This needs to change, because i sure as hell would never send a child to a school where A/c units break and burn often, the maintenance takes months to tackle even the tiniest of tasks, and as students we are not supposed to fix anything ourselves.

Best four years of my life! Opened many doors after graduation for me. Made alot of friends wonderful supportive professors and staff highly recommended! Class of 2004!