Being an ambitious person, I’ve just started juggling full-time work with night classes at university. It’s not easy, but I’m grateful to even have the chance to do it; the university faculty schedules classes specifically at night so that people like me can study without sacrificing our ability to earn a crust.
Unfortunately, it seems consideration for students like me doesn’t extend to university administrative services. Despite my efforts, something as simple as getting my student ID card has been very problematic, and of course not having the card affects my ability to study effectively.
Before orientation week, the university sent out an email stating that initial student card collection times were between 11am and 4pm during weekdays only. Because of my job, these set times were very inconvenient, and I was unable to ever make it during these hours.
After orientation week, this initial collection period ended, and there was a lack of information available about the card collection process moving forward. Had the times remained the same or changed? Did the collection location remain the same or had that changed?
I felt these were all straight-forward questions, but I could source no consistent answer. When I reached out to student administration, the faculty, and orientation week coordinators, I got different answers. There was little to no communication on the subject. The most common answer seemed to be that the original location and strict times for card collection had been extended beyond the timeframe stated in the email, which left me stuck in the exact same situation as before.
I considered the option of having my card mail delivered. This would chew up more time than I’d hoped for, obviously, and my semester had started by this point. To have the university mail out a student card, I needed to get certified copies of different types of identification, and then apply for mail delivery online. Then there’s a wait for the application to be approved. Then there’s a wait for the card to be mailed.
The most irritating aspect of mail delivery, however, is that I live a mere ten minute drive away from the university. Waiting a couple of weeks for something to travel a distance that takes only a few minutes just seemed ridiculous. One of the things that factored into my choice of university was the proximity of the campus to home. Mail delivery would completely negate that advantage for this purpose.
Several weeks into the semester, both the location and times for student card collection finally changed; the times stretched out a little to be from 9am to 5pm, which was an improvement, but still left me at an impasse. At my wit’s end with the university’s inability to cater to student needs, I had to ask my boss for permission to start work late one morning so that I could finally go collect my student card. I don’t imagine the administration staff would’ve found me too delightful when I turned up.
I’m incredibly frustrated that two parts of the university are so out of touch with one another. How is it that the faculty is accommodating of the work commitments of its students, while student administration remains oblivious to those needs? Why are there obvious faults in communication between these branches when students rely on access to correct and consistent information to get themselves set up?
