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Blog Entry: #105

How College Kids Can Beat The System
By Getting Beyond Full Value For Their Education
by Joe DePalma

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** A College Kid vs. The College System
Ask yourself: If college were a poker game, would you play?
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College System: The charge is $75,000 for a four-year game of poker, but you can pay it off over the next thirty years just to play with someone as great as me.

College Kid: O.K..

College System: If I don't show up to play on any given day, you still pay me.

College Kid: All right.

College System: If you have any questions concerning the game, you will have to wait on a line, and if you are lucky, you may get someone knowledgeable to answer your inquiry.

College Kid: Sounds good.

College System: I will also make you spend a lot of time doing things that have nothing to do with poker, but do not worry; the cost for those things you do not want to do are already included.

College Kid: Oh, O.K., that seems reasonable.

College System: Here, take this book on the better aspects of poker.

College Kid: O.K. Thanks!

College System: That will be $37.95. Cash or credit?

Every college employs a number of individuals to perform a variety of tasks. These employees range from the grounds crew who cut the grass to the school's president who oversees every activity on the campus. Although these activities range in priority, it is every school's fundamental responsibility to make sure that 100% of the tasks have one major thing in common: to aid and support the paying students in their quest for a productive and hassle-free educational experience.

College students need to take the initiative and remind school employees that their foremost and primary responsibility is to simply be polite and helpful to the students who pay their salaries. After all, without students, every employee at every school would be out of a job. Somewhere along the line, most campus employees have forgotten that fundamental yet very important fact.

Today's college students must fight harder than ever for the services they pay in advance to receive. Every year the amount of students that attend college increases while the size of the individual schools basically stays the same. The result of this phenomenon is that each student gets less attention, instruction, and rudimentary courtesy as they require.

In this new age of booming enrollments, the struggle for attention has gotten so intense that students need a new weapon in the fight for justice in the battle for tuition justification! That weapon is…

* The College Kid 3-Chamber Mail Blast *

Chamber #1. The Cry Loud Email:

This is when you write an email to either the superior of the campus individual you are having problems with or the head of the department that you are having a dispute with. In this email, you briefly explain (in one paragraph) what and who your problem is with and that you will be following this email with a written letter explaining the entire situation in detail. Finally, you must copy (cc) the person who you are having this problem with on the email.

Chamber #2. The “Here's The Deal” Written Letter:

This letter can be hand written or typed, but it must be mailed or personally delivered in a sealed envelope to the recipient (a delivery that requires a signature is the ultimate way to go). This explains the entire story in no more than two pages. Be sure to include your name, social security number, year, academic status (if positive), extracurricular activates, person and department with whom you have an issue, and, finally, the issue itself.

Include this phrase (or something like it) at the end of your letter after you completely and eloquently (without curse words or threats) explained your problem: “I really do not want anyone's job to be in jeopardy over this matter. I only want (fill in your request for their direct action here).”

Lastly, include all of your contact information and an open invitation to have a personal meeting to rectify the situation.

* How to Sign the Letter *

Best Wishes,
Your Name
Your Major (ex: School of Business , School of Fine Arts )

P.S. I thank you for your time and attention regarding this matter in advance.

Chamber #3. The “How Do You Like Me Now?” Follow-up Email:

This is an email you send to six people at the same time so they can see who else received the email. These people are:

1) The same individual who received the physical letter.

2 & 3) Two of his or her superiors.

4) One of his or her colleagues.

5) The original person with whom you have the problem.

6) The school president's office.

This email will contain a summary of your complaint (with the dates of the letters you have already sent), one paragraph that alludes to the complaint as it appears in the long physical letter, and, finally, a formal request for action.

Continue to be non-confrontational in your writing. You do not have to be a great writer; you just have to express yourself calmly and clearly. If your problem is very large, you can hint at alerting the local media. However, beware! Calling in the media is the last bullet in your leverage gun. Save it until it is absolutely, positively necessary.

It is a shame that a student has to resort to letter writing in order to receive tuition justification. For the money it costs to attend college, students should be treated like newlyweds on their honeymoon by the campus faculty and staff when they have a question or inquiry. However, in reality, it repeatedly seems like the last thing a campus employee wants to see is another student asking a question that they have already answered a thousand times before. But guess what—that is their job. It is not a student's fault that the employee chose to work at a university dealing with young adults and all the questions they have.

All too often students are brushed aside or asked to come back later when they seek service for their tuition dollars. The recurring question is, “Would students pay for this kind of service in any other aspect of their lives?” Think about it. If you had to get your car fixed, would you go to a repair shop that would take your money, then put your car on a waiting list to be repaired whenever they got around to it? This is what happens at college. Students pay for school services but do not demand full compensation for the money they pay. Imagine going into Wal-Mart and paying a fixed amount of money for products you may purchase once you go inside. Then, after browsing around, you see something you want, but the store employees tell you to come back later even though you paid for it before you went in! Running an educational business that way is just crazy! But that is exactly how colleges make their money.

College is big business. There is not a college in the world that does anything for a student before he/she pays their tuition. Moreover, it is almost impossible to find a school that doesn't pounce on an opportunity to fine a student for just about anything. Colleges do not pull any punches when it comes to figuring out new ways of swindling money from their students. That is why every student must demand a complete return for every dollar they pay to their school in tuition.

In the poker game of college, make sure you control the cards. Your school makes the rules to the game, but if you play your cards correctly within their rules, you can beat them by getting more than full value for your tuition. Every school office, lab, activity, counselor, organization, club or anything else on campus was put there just for you! Go ahead and use it up, learn from the experience, then move on to the next one. You are paying for it either way!

* Beat The College System - ACTION STEPS *

List your three biggest gripes about how you are being treated by the college system.

1)__________________________________

2)___________________________________

3)___________________________________

Now, take the grip that is bothering you the most, and, using the three-chamber mail blast from above, outline how you will take action to turn the situation in your favor. Without taking action to help yourself, all you are doing is complaining and causing yourself to be continually unhappy.

Chamber1)_______________________________________

Chamber2)_______________________________________

Chamber3)______________________________________

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