|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
Jessica Dunn for the Thresher I just finished reading Joan Shreffler's guest column in last week's Thresher ("Rice experience neglects transfer students," Sept. 29), and I loved it. I am not a transfer student myself, but the Registrar's Office experiences she described were similar to my own. I began the year with a correct schedule (with "You are registered" printed on it in bold letters) from the office. When I went to the office later to add and drop some classes, I was informed that I was not registered at all because of a "billing hold." My parents owed an extra $625 because a scholarship payment had gone awry, and while they were working it out with the financial aid office, I couldn't officially register. Solving this problem took over a week and involved sitting around for an hour waiting to be helped and speaking to several people in the Registrar's Office, financial aid office and Cashier's Office. My parents talked to Director of Student Financial Services Carl Buck at least twice over the phone. By the time the ordeal was halfway over, I was truly pissed off. Then I started thinking that maybe I felt that way more because of stress than anything else. The semester had just started, and I have to admit I kind of enjoyed the self-righteous venting even though I knew we'd eventually solve the problem. I realize now, though, that what matters is for each student to be registered in all the right classes by the end of the semester for grades and credits to be properly recorded. Who cares if it's right from day one? You can attend whatever classes you want in the meantime. As long as you keep copies of registration forms and add/drop slips, the people in the Registrar's Office will recognize that the mistake was theirs and will not charge you for fixing your schedule. Besides, think about it - Rice may be a small university with fewer students' schedules to arrange, but then, there isn't an army working in the Registrar's Office and the financial aid office. There are so many pieces of paper to keep track of and so many students to help that it has to be a frustrating job at times. Some students change their entire schedules at the beginning of the semester. Also, I have always appreciated the fact that students get to sit down and watch someone enter their add/drop changes into the computer system. The alternative would be to just drop off the slip and wait for a week or two to find out if the changes were made correctly. Transfer and Advanced Placement credit, of course, is another issue altogether, and I completely understand why Shreffler was so frustrated. Here again, keeping a copy of scores to be transferred is easy to do and can prevent all kinds of hassles later. I came to Rice with 43 hours of AP credit, and, sure enough, there were some mistakes the first time they were entered. All I had to do to get it fixed was present a copy of my scores to the Registrar's Office. My next comment even surprises me: The financial aid office has actually impressed me on one or two occasions. (Feel free to rip me apart on this one if they've completely screwed you over, but my interactions with them have been pretty good.) I received a total of seven or eight scholarships, mostly very small ones, for my freshman year. Even I had trouble remembering the exact amount and duration of each one, but the financial aid office handled it just fine. What happened this year, though, was a truly pleasant surprise. I have a National Merit Scholarship from Rice, and thanks to the word "merit" in the name, my parents and I completely forgot that the amount of the scholarship is based at least partially on need. Because we did not receive other need-based aid last year, my parents decided not to fill out the FAFSA last spring. Earlier this September, Buck requested a meeting with me to discuss this scholarship, which had been reduced for the semester and had caused a billing hold on my account. Buck worked with my parents to resolve the issue, and I ended up receiving the full amount. I am now officially registered with a correct schedule. This was the kind of personal attention I hoped to receive when I came to Rice. Sure, everybody has had at least one irritating registration or financial aid experience, some worse than my own, but try to give them a little credit. Most of the time it's not a big deal. Jessica Dunn is a Sid Richardson College sophomore.
- back - |
|
|
Search the Thresher pages:
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
