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Universities don't care about students
Buddy Lee
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm starting to see that every establishment that has ever been built only cares about money. I wouldn't be surprised if non-profit organizations seem to only care about money after what I've seen with hospitals, churches, and most recently, universities.
I enrolled in a chemistry class this summer, and seeing that it would be too much for me, I dropped the class with no-record status. Everything seemed fine and dandy, and I assumed that I would receive at least some of my money back for the class. I was enrolled in the class for about a week and a half, so that would entitle me to some money, right?
Apparently I'm way off-base in thinking that the university would refund me any money. I called the business office of my university this morning, and I was told that I missed the 100% refund by four days. I asked if I was entitled to any money at all, and I was told that it's either all or nothing.
This leads me to believe that universities do not care about education. I've been lead to believe that all that the university cares about is receiving a paycheck. Are all universities like this? Why does everything always boil down to money? Hospitals, churches, now universities? What's next, charging money for reading the forums?
I enrolled in a chemistry class this summer, and seeing that it would be too much for me, I dropped the class with no-record status. Everything seemed fine and dandy, and I assumed that I would receive at least some of my money back for the class. I was enrolled in the class for about a week and a half, so that would entitle me to some money, right?
Apparently I'm way off-base in thinking that the university would refund me any money. I called the business office of my university this morning, and I was told that I missed the 100% refund by four days. I asked if I was entitled to any money at all, and I was told that it's either all or nothing.
This leads me to believe that universities do not care about education. I've been lead to believe that all that the university cares about is receiving a paycheck. Are all universities like this? Why does everything always boil down to money? Hospitals, churches, now universities? What's next, charging money for reading the forums?
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It's ok, you'll move swiftly via that thought to student communism, wear a Che T-shirt and sit around talking about Marx a lot, then quickly disown it all next year. I wouldn't worry about it.
Yes, any institution which relies on money to operate is going to be concerned with money. That doesn't mean every professor or member of that institution is a greenback grubbing whore. Where big establishments are concerned, the parts are often more than their sum.
(that will be £5 please)
I guess they gotta pay for the garage, but he wasn't given any notice at all that he might be getting canned, and now he has to find a retail job that might hire him for another month or so.
Apparently I like the word "shitty."
Key is the lackys know nothing or will actively mislead you. Take everything to Dept heads or consult the rules yourself.
The students were complaining that the guy in charge of SAIT made $500,000 a year. They were saying that we're paying all this tuition so he can make all that money. I told them to think about that.
20K students enrolled. Cut his pay cheque in half. $250,000 a year is saved. Each student gets back $13 a year, or $4 a semester. Just how much does that save you?
Sure, it seems wasteful and sure post secondary is expensive and sure it's a business that runs on money. But like any business, if you don't approve, don't give them your business. There's lots of good work for someone with a high school diploma.
Actually, since $4 a semester for all the students is still $4 a semester, they had a point. What you should have asked is what you are getting for that extra $250,000 for this guy. In the case of university provosts and such, you are probably getting quite a bit, as they try to headhunt impressive resumes / political contacts / leaders in some field somewhere. Largely the reason they do this is a) prestige, b) to directly attract funding / contacts through that person, but a combination of a) and b) is c) to attract good department staff. Since research staff in the departments constitute the largest amount of funding that universities recieve, paying that extra £250,000 for the guy at the top may be netting the university not only a large amount of research funding, but individual financial contributions & of course prestige, which then attracts more and richer students, thus lowering the financial burden for all students a lot more than $4 per semester.
As nexus said,
Edit: This isn't a sweeping condemnation of every university employee, just the average university administration. I'm at a pretty sweet school right now, I'm treated well, and shit that needs to get done gets done, but that's mainly because pretty much everything is handled internally by my department. Lord help me when I need to deal with university administration, though, and I shudder to think back on when I was an undergrad at a state school and had to deal with administration on a regular basis.
Sure, it bothers me that the president of my university is fucking loaded while I pay a lot of money in tuition, but I knew about the tuition prices when I enrolled in the class. I'm just getting ripped off, though. I expected to get at least half of my money back. The fact that I don't get refunded at all after a few days of being enrolled in a class is just ridiculous. I'm not getting educated at all... I could understand if they kept 9% of what I paid, hell, I could live with them having half of the money. I just want to receive something back... I was enrolled in the class for a week and a half.
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Actually, I was always amazingly lucky, in that the secretaries at my departments were always both amazingly competent and amazingly helpful. I did my part too (getting paperwork filled in, signed, and hand-delivered to them well before the deadlines), but they always were happy to help, propose solutions and administrative tricks I didn't know of, even take special care of my paperwork. This includes them taking my paperwork to the dean to get him to sign it right now and process it right away. I
The rest of the university bureaucracy though, not so much love for them. And I've heard some horror stories. My brother had two exams scheduled at the same time, and his secretary (in another department) just put his paperwork at the bottom of the pile. The day before the deadline she had not even come close to getting to it, and when pressured by us she just dismissed it as "meh, he can always take the exam again next time the course is offered".
However, if the class was full, you were taking up a slot that could have been filled by someone else who would have completed the course. By the time you dropped, it would have been too late for someone else to start the class. Thus, you paid for the space you "took up" in the class even though you dropped it.
That's really the crux of it right there. Most uni's can't afford to accommodate every student who would drop a class in the first week or two, and by then it's too late for anyone who isn't waitlisted for the class.
The larger universities have budgets of over a billion dollars. Tell me that's just for public academia and I'll tell you to soak your head.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
So why would I be refunded for withdrawing from the semester completely?
I thought I understood the policy, but I misread it. The wording of the policy seems so dodgy that it's easy to get confused. The way I understood it would have given me a percentage of the tuition back based on how much of the class I had already taken. However, that only applies if I withdraw from all classes in that semester. If it's anything less than every class, I get nothing.
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Extrapolating from a particular to a universal is a silly thing to do.
The College I attended was awesome. Maybe you just went to a shitty one.
I dont know why you expected your money when you didn't look at what the cutoff date was. Are you insane?
pretty much same here.
Everyone should go to Michigan State. They basically threw money at me. They didn't hold my hand the entire way, but at least up to today, I have had essentially zero problems with the stuff you people are talking about.
Yeah.
Most people really don't give a shit about you or anyone else who does not immediately benefit them. In a government job where they aren't elected or individually responsible, you'll be lucky if they aren't -malicious- in their stupidity.
The good work ethic does not exist at present, if it ever existed. Most people do not care if they help anyone, they only care that they make their paycheck. They also tend to consider additional work a personal attack, so if you throw anything not purely routine at them, be aware that they make consider you an enemy.
That said, if you DO find someone who is helpful? Make sure they know you appreciate the hell out of'em.
If you want dodgy for-profit maneuverings to help you realise that the adult world isn't all flowers and kittens, my university is closing its entire humanities department, moving most of the taught subjects into areas like health, but entirely ditching ethics, sociology, and history. They could have easily scored the research grants necessary to keep the school afloat but decided they'd make more money by renting that subcampus to businesses.
You occupied a seat in that class. The university, because you missed the cut off date, is unlikely to find someone else to occupy that seat when they almost certainly could have. Why should they refund you when you have still cost them resources both in terms of opportunity cost and likely course resources that have to be pre-prepared.
so instead I'll just say 'yeah'. there is a reason some people complain a lot and some not at all. and it's not their school, it's their willingness to get things done that have to get done.
Let me explain this whole situation to you again:
-I thought the cutoff date for a 100% refund was the same as the cutoff date for a no-record drop. This is how it is during the normal school year. I just assumed that much, and I was wrong. That's fine, whatever... I can live with not getting a 100% refund.
-I was under the impression that I would get about 75% of my money back. The policy states that if the class is over 9% complete, you do not get a full refund. However, it states that you receive 75% of the cost back if the class is 9% - 35% complete, 50% back if the class is 35% - 60% complete, and nothing if it's over 60% complete.
This part of the policy applies only if you withdraw completely from the whole semester. It isn't flat-out written, and it's pretty confusing. Many of my peers are under the impression that this refunding system applies to dropping individual classes, too, and just from hearing them talk, I assumed that's how it was. When I did my own research, I didn't catch the part about it being a complete withdrawal of classes.
So, no, I didn't just decide not to look at a fucking calendar. But anyways, the point of the whole matter is not that I missed the date, it's that the whole refunding system just seems ridiculously focused on making money for the university.
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A university is, above all else, a business first; it is a school second.
I've heard this before, and I'll just say that it's one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard. Universities should be schools first. Always.
It's just like saying that a hospital is a business first, a healthcare facility second. Which sadly is probably true in most cases.
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Why should I consider myself lucky with a university is a business first and a school second?! I believe that any university is truly not for the students first is a bad university, hands down.
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