Reader Submission by Lisa Robison, 24, Post Bacculerate student for Secondary English Teacher’s Certification
I admit, when I first saw the prospective new schedule in last year’s papers I was in favor of it. As a person who has a full time job and is a full-time student, I was looking forward to the opportunity to take more night-time and Saturday classes, that also start later in the evening.
Unfortunately, it seems Kean has abandoned the original tentative schedule in favor for one that offers fewer night classes as opposed to more, and those that are offered are at more inconvenient time intervals. It is quite obvious by the university’s adoption of this new schedule that they have little regard to the lifestyle of their student body.
Regardless of whether or not Kean’s dorming population is growing, the university is still largely a commuter school. Many students either live at home or off campus for a variety of reasons, including lack of housing, but primarily for financial purposes. Many students at Kean work, either part-time or full-time, in addition to their academics. While some work for pocket money, many students work to support not only themselves, but other family members.
Those of us students who do work find it difficult enough to rush from our jobs, find parking, and be on time for a 5 p.m. class. I myself have had to make an arrangement with my employer to use my vacation time to leave work an hour early on the nights I have class. But now what am I to do when classes begin even earlier at 4:30 p.m.?
What class should I choose when two classes that I need to take to finish my program are offered at the same time on the same day, or at different time intervals on the same day that overlap? What I am supposed to do when the classes I need to take are not offered at night at all? Should I quit my job? Work part-time and lose my health insurance and medical benefits, as well as live on a drastically reduced income?
Or should I simply leave this university in favor for another that considers the lifestyles of their students and not the grandiose ideas of the administration? I already know one student who will not be returning to Kean next semester strictly because of the schedule change and the lack of classes offered at night. He, like myself, can’t afford to work part-time, especially considering that many of the daytime classes are now spread out over a three-day period as opposed to the former two-day period.
In all of my current classes the new schedule and its inconvenience is the main topic of conversation. I have not heard one approving word about it from my fellow students, the faculty, or other staff members. It begs the question as to why this was adopted in the first place. I know one of the reasons given was to make the university more energy efficient by having students occupy the space more evenly throughout the week.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that rather than change the entire schedule just to have students on campus on Fridays, a more logical solution would be to simply turn off the lights in the classrooms that are not being used. Or if Friday class enrollment was low, hold all of the Friday classes in one or two buildings so that the university does not have to foot the cost of maintaining heating and lighting bills for buildings that are not being utilized. Both of these solutions would not result in turning the academic lives of many students upside-down, as the new schedule does.
I have had to make two decisions about my education because of the new schedule that I was not very happy to make. The first was being forced to become a part-time student next semester because of the lack of classes available for me to take at night. The second was having to delay my student teaching by a semester because the classes I need to take before I begin student teaching are either not being offered at all at night, or have one section that I was either not able to get into or conflicts with another required class.
In addition to the major problems caused by this unnecessary schedule change, I have recently dealt with a lot of obstacles, ineptitude, and blatant rudeness while attempting to register for the few classes I am able to take next semester. Not only does it appear that no one really knows where a student needs to go to have certain restrictions removed, they also are completely ignorant as to why the restrictions are there in the first place.
While speaking to a staff member in the Registrar who I gave both my name and Student ID number to, they incorrectly told me that I was unable to register because it was not my scheduled time, in addition to making the ridiculous statement that I was not even in the program that I have been accepted into and taking classes in for the past year and a half!
This statement of course set me into a state of panic, yet rather than re-check my identifying information to assure she had the right person up on her screen, this staff member instead carelessly transferred me to Admissions.
After leaving a voicemail and speaking with someone I was told most certainly that I was enrolled in my program and it was clear in Kean’s database that I had been since the Spring of 2007. Therefore, not only did my initial problem not get resolved, but I also wasted a half-hour of my time and was put through unnecessary grief because of the lack of competence of the staff that students are supposed to go to resolve certain problems.
The rude and condescending phrase, “That’s not my problem,” was also recently said to me while I was speaking to a staff member at Kean about my situation with a particular class.
A student’s problem is most certainly a staff member’s problem, and even if that person is unable to help the student, those words are not an acceptable response to the student’s dilemma. If you were explaining your problem to an employee at the business and the employee replied, “That’s not my problem,” what would you do as the customer?
Kean University needs to remember that aside from being an academic institution it is also a business and the students are its customers. All businesses are designed to accommodate their customers’ needs and must do so in order to survive. We pay tuition to Kean University and expect a service in return.
What do you think happens to businesses that do not meet their customers’ needs? The answer is: the customer takes their business elsewhere, and I strongly believe that Kean may soon find many of its students bringing their tuition to another university. In all honesty that option would be one I would seriously consider if I did not have a mere four classes left to complete my program. However, I no longer have a desire to obtain my Masters at Kean University.
For that service, this customer is most certainly taking her business elsewhere.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment