EDITOR’S NOTE: Op-Eds detail the views of their writers and are not representative of the stance of the paper. Publication of Op-Eds is not tantamount to an endorsement of their content.
For many Queens College students, the Academic Advising Center and the CUNYfirst portals can often feel like obstacles to their education. But instead of giving up, QC students are logging onto Reddit, r/QueensCollege, a QC subreddit, is designated to help students navigate life at the College.
The r/QueensCollege subreddit is a Reddit page operated and used by QC students. Starting as a simple message board, it has turned into a vital community for students to gain information about QC. Recent threads focus on graduation requirements, email troubleshooting, flooded parking lots, and cooking on campus. With 6.6k visitors and 106 contributions within the week of November 18th, 2025, you are bound to get your answer.
According to C.M. a fourth-year English major and longtime member of the forum, the QC subreddit is a “mutual aid community.” It is a place where students help each other get through the confusion of college life in real time. “Students turn to Reddit because it offers what official channels often lack: immediacy, transparency, and empathy,” C.M. stated.
While the official help desk responds to e-tickets with generic, pre-set responses, the QC subreddit acts like an informed guide – often answering the “dumb questions” students don’t want to ask. When students get stuck with login errors or payment glitches, they don’t just get a ticket number; they get step-by-step instructions from peers who have dealt with the same issues. The QC subreddit created a Student Technology Resource List to help students at the start of the semester. It includes links for technical fixes like how to set up MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) and activating a student email; links to Brightspace’ Office 360 installation instructions on how to set up mobile printing and links to Discord to help students make friends, and connections.
One of the biggest complaints on the QC subreddit is about the academic advisement. C.M. describes walking to the Registrar’s office as “a pilgrimage where I will certainly not receive any answer back.” Instead, students use forums to map out their own degrees, double-checking requirements on DegreeWorks and seeking help from alumni and other students on the QC subreddit forums.
C.M. states, “Peers will not sugarcoat your situation nor will they give you answers that require a follow-up appointment.” Students will tell you exactly which prerequisites to take that will help you graduate on time.
Registering for classes is where the subreddit truly shines. Everyone works together to find the classes best suited for them. Students combine reviews from various websites while using the QC subreddit to figure out which classes to sign up for. This insight helps a student make important decisions, like choosing which professors and courses to take for their degree; it also removes the stress that comes with deciding what classes to take for the upcoming semester.
While the QC campus is full of greenery and has a large campus vibe, it can be hard to find a community as many students are commuters. The QC subreddit fills that gap, acting as an online student lounge – a place where you can ask questions without fear of judgement. The QC subreddit has moderators who enforce strict rules – no data mining, meaning no survey or forms to protect students’ privacy, banning requests for old exams or assignments, no forms of hate speech, and discussing only CUNY-related topics. These rules help keep the QC subreddit a free and inclusive community in which you can ask questions and get answers within a few hours.
If the subreddit disappeared tomorrow, C.M. believes it wouldn’t take long for a new one to appear. She says that students are resilient and just want “grace and patience”, and until the administration provides that, they will keep logging on to help each other out.
