Insult and Injury
This semester, the University of Louisville has made several decisions that dramatically decrease the quality of experience for their students. From small irritants to serious changes, these policies all serve to make students feel unwelcome on campus.
First, the smallest irritant. The university spent a huge sum of money building a new natatorium. The building is nice and the pool is wonderful, record numbers of students are signing up for water classes, and the swim team is frequently making the press. The issue? The towels. The school provides towels for swimmers, but if you are taking a class. (i.e. If you are a student, not an alumni or athlete, then you get a dishtowel.) If you are an alumni or guest swimmer, you get a large, fluffy spa towel. Just another small way students are reminded that the university will never put us first.
Second is the student body's understandable outrage over the new "student health" fee. It works like this. If you are a UofL student, and you don't have health insurance, the university required you to pay an additional $100 a semester for student health services. It doesn't matter if you never use the student health center, if you live off campus, if you already have a preferred healthcare provider, or if are so poor that you are eligible for county assistance through the health department. UofL wants your money. And (and this is where the insult comes in), if you actually use the service you are being required to pay for, you will be charged office fees anyway!
The student health fee is particularly egregious because it disproportionately affects poorer students- those more likely to have chosen a state college for financial reasons and more likely to be struggling to find resources to finish. Added to the fees for the new career center, the hike in printing costs, the disgusting amount students pay for textbooks, and the repeated double decimal rise in tuition rates, this "health" fee is a harsh reminder that despite the university's claims to be a student focused not-for-profit organization, it's actually a money-grubbing institution that views students as cash-cows.
And last comes that perennial issue, parking. Now, I don't mind parking at the stadium, and I appreciate UofL's partnership with TARC, but parking fees are going up and parking places are on the decline. The City of Louisville, perhaps taking its cue from the university, is also working to make students feel unwelcome, reducing public street parking in areas surrounding the campus. UofL has turned 2 more parking lots into mud zones- apparently, according the signs, in order to build yet another athletic building.
It is also noteworthy the number of students who have paid for the higher cost parking permits who are still parking at the stadium because the university grossly oversold its upperclassman and resident parking passes. That's right. Even students who pay to live on campus are parking out by the football stadium. Too bad the school's TARC busses stop running before 10 pm.
Basically, the university is doing everything in its power to siphon more money out of students, to make them feel unwelcome on campus, and to create an environment where graduation is difficult, students are powerless, and poorer students get left behind. Two years ago, I would have recommended the University of Louisville to anyone. Today, I'd tell them to apply elsewhere.
Thank you, UofL, for making me feel like I'm getting mugged everyday I'm on campus.
First, the smallest irritant. The university spent a huge sum of money building a new natatorium. The building is nice and the pool is wonderful, record numbers of students are signing up for water classes, and the swim team is frequently making the press. The issue? The towels. The school provides towels for swimmers, but if you are taking a class. (i.e. If you are a student, not an alumni or athlete, then you get a dishtowel.) If you are an alumni or guest swimmer, you get a large, fluffy spa towel. Just another small way students are reminded that the university will never put us first.
Second is the student body's understandable outrage over the new "student health" fee. It works like this. If you are a UofL student, and you don't have health insurance, the university required you to pay an additional $100 a semester for student health services. It doesn't matter if you never use the student health center, if you live off campus, if you already have a preferred healthcare provider, or if are so poor that you are eligible for county assistance through the health department. UofL wants your money. And (and this is where the insult comes in), if you actually use the service you are being required to pay for, you will be charged office fees anyway!
The student health fee is particularly egregious because it disproportionately affects poorer students- those more likely to have chosen a state college for financial reasons and more likely to be struggling to find resources to finish. Added to the fees for the new career center, the hike in printing costs, the disgusting amount students pay for textbooks, and the repeated double decimal rise in tuition rates, this "health" fee is a harsh reminder that despite the university's claims to be a student focused not-for-profit organization, it's actually a money-grubbing institution that views students as cash-cows.
And last comes that perennial issue, parking. Now, I don't mind parking at the stadium, and I appreciate UofL's partnership with TARC, but parking fees are going up and parking places are on the decline. The City of Louisville, perhaps taking its cue from the university, is also working to make students feel unwelcome, reducing public street parking in areas surrounding the campus. UofL has turned 2 more parking lots into mud zones- apparently, according the signs, in order to build yet another athletic building.
It is also noteworthy the number of students who have paid for the higher cost parking permits who are still parking at the stadium because the university grossly oversold its upperclassman and resident parking passes. That's right. Even students who pay to live on campus are parking out by the football stadium. Too bad the school's TARC busses stop running before 10 pm.
Basically, the university is doing everything in its power to siphon more money out of students, to make them feel unwelcome on campus, and to create an environment where graduation is difficult, students are powerless, and poorer students get left behind. Two years ago, I would have recommended the University of Louisville to anyone. Today, I'd tell them to apply elsewhere.
Thank you, UofL, for making me feel like I'm getting mugged everyday I'm on campus.
posted by Terri | 12:52 PM
1 Comments:
I'm not rying to split hairs, and what I'm about to say certainly doesn't lessen the truth and weight of your post. But I did just want to remind you that there's a new research building that was just completed last spring/summer, and Lutz hall was built 10 years ago. The library was also added onto. (granted, the new and expensive retrieval system now makes it harder, rather than easier, to find books.) In that time, of course, they also built a new sports complex, a tennis complex, a new baseball field, and a natatorium... so your point regarding the athletic facilities is still a valid one.
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