This campus is blazing with activity. There are discussions pertaining to students in a vast number of offices and conference rooms. Policies and Procedures are changed weekly it seems, and it is all important stuff. Most students come and go to classes, and that is all they have time for. Lots of individual policy changes don’t pertain to a majority of students, but when you look at all of the changes together, there is rarely a student who is not affected. For instance, do you bring your children under the age of 14 to school with you on occasion? There is discussion in faculty governance trying to make it a policy that children under 14 can not be left unattended on campus.
It may seem like a good idea; after all who thinks children should run around the college unattended? I certainly don’t. But for those parents out there who don’t have a family member to stay at home, have you ever thought your 12-year-old could play on the computer while you went to class? Or even read in the library? The American Red Cross has a babysitting class for 11-year-olds. Are your children old enough to care for other kids, but not old enough to go to the restroom at RWC alone? Seems like maybe this issue needs some further discussion with student, staff, faculty, and administrative input before it becomes Policy.
How about withdrawal policies from classes? How many of you knew that now if you drop a class after the 15th day, it shows up on your transcript? Sounds like students lost ground there right? After all it used to be 21 days, didn’t it? Do we really know by day 15 if we will do well in a class?
But wait: Financial Aid policies changed at the same time. My understanding is that now after that 15-day mark, if you withdraw from a class, your financial aid won’t adjust anymore (so long as you are at least part-time). That is great news for students. The previous policy adjusted your financial aid until the very last day, and if you withdrew after bills were originally due, you often had to pay a late fee! So, what didn’t look so good for students might actually be a great compromise! Now, don’t go dropping classes and say I told you it was okay! Talk to both your academic advisor and your financial aid counselor. They are the experts, not me!
For those of you not dropping classes, but excelling in them, guess what? According to Dr. Russell Curley of the Transfer and Lifelong Learning Center on the uptown campus, we won the battle and Phi Theta Kappa scholarships are now open for Raymond Walters and Clermont College students to compete for with the rest of the transfer students! We won the battle by participating in discussions and voicing our concerns about not being treated fairly.
We have all read about Wireless, dust bunnies, toilets and parking in Kelly’s Op-Ed column, but even Kelly can’t begin to keep you all up on everything that is happening around here. So, even if you only have one extra hour a quarter, I am certain that there is a discussion going on somewhere where your input would be greatly valued. Come see us in Student Government, and we will help you find a great place to contribute, no matter how limited your time is!