Would you make the same decision…

Recently, I got an email from the school asking me to take part of a survey. What my school wanted to know was how extensive did my education go for me, as well as how many types of papers I did versus test versus lectures versus types of classes I took. This was interesting to say the least, but while I was filling out the various answers, there was one question that just resonated with me.

If knowing what you know now, would you still choose this institution again.

My answer, NO.

Why, I was failed by this institution. You see, I am not the target audience that they are going for. I am not directly out of high school, I will be 30 this summer. So why should I be upset. From my first day on campus it was a cluster. It was truly a sense of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing.  If I needed an answer to a question, I would go to one person, who would send me to someone else, who would send me to someone else, who would send me to someone else. Literally, there was one entire day I spent running around the campus looking for certain people who others said had an answer but in fact didn't.

Then you have the bickering. My department has always had this issue. The professors just don't get along and from a students perspective, they don't want too. I had two of my good friends who used to be student liaisons. What they would do was be available to students who were having issues and then be invited to a department meeting and share these concerns with the faculty. The problem was, the issues the students were having were the professors not getting along. My friends, when they sat in this meeting, watched for 2 hours, as professors made snide comments, argued and berated each other for the entire meeting. Then closed the meeting with, "what's going on with the students?". Seriously, our problem is you.

That isn't even my main concern with the university. Its out for money, the general well being of the student body isn't a concern, instead getting more and more money from each student is. This could be from raising school "fees" more and more every semester, or requiring more gen-ed classes, or even more fees in general.

Let's attempt to break down the program service fee for ETSU. The only document I can find on the ETSU website comes from the 2011-2012 school year.

"The fee is based on the number of credit hours for which a student enrolls and is capped at $531.50 for freshmen and sophomores and $506.50 for all others.  It includes parking, athletics, student activities, and other items.  Students enrolling in certain courses or programs of study will also pay fees to cover additional program related costs."

from What You Should Know About Tuition and Fees

But that itself doesn't break it down, I couldn't get my hands on the most up to date breakdown of Tuition and Fees for the school.  That's ok though.

I recently signed up for summer classes and there is a $750 university charge per class and an additional $500 charge for the summer term. I think that is outrageous. The site doesn't break down what this fee is it just adds it all together.  I want to know what I am paying for.