COLUMN: College doesn't do refunds
Have you met your professors yet?
If you know all their names, you’re probably off to a better start than a lot of your classmates.
For those who missed the memo: Welcome weekend is over. And as glorious of a welcome as it was, it might be time to introduce yourself to teachers.
It’s week five of the semester, right about the time you should start to see why you paid the big bucks for a spot in the class. I bet it wasn’t because you are partial to plastic, cramped seating.
I remember coming to Central Michigan University as a timid freshman with little certainty and even less confidence toward college life. I lived in the back of lecture halls and had minor panic attacks every time teachers asked me questions during class.
I didn’t have direction then. All I knew was that I was getting the hell out of Pearce Hall the second the professor stopped speaking.
The same routine continued for about a semester, until a back-handed question from a good friend stopped me in my tracks.
“So, are you getting your money’s worth up there?”
I don’t think he meant much by the inquisition, but not being able to give an honest answer embarrassed me beyond belief.
Oh, and trust me, I tried adamantly to justify a ‘yes’ for the question. Living on my own makes it all worth it. I can barely remember the weekends, so I must be living the college dream, right?
It’s easy to think you’re taking a free ride when you’re piggybacking on financial aid. Just a quick glance at statements put it into perspective and confirmed that college, in fact, is not free.
So I changed the way I looked at it.
Think of college as your job. And think of professors as your boss, only instead of them paying you, you pay the university. Now, after you take a second to reflect on the fact that life is not fair, shuffle through your briefcase of a backpack and start taking schoolwork more seriously.
Then meet with your boss and discuss how you can be a better student.
Don’t ask them for answers to questions on the next test. Don’t ask them for an ‘A’ or extra credit. They rarely give raises to students who take the easy way out.
Think critically about the class. Ask them how it applies to the ‘real world.’ Ask them what sort of job opportunities exist in relation to the subject.
Take an interest in the course. Take an interest in your future.
Despite what Rate My Professor might report, we have a top-notch faculty eager to share their expertise with students who want it.
If not for relationships made with CMU faculty, I might be working a minimum wage job right now, paying off a botched stint as a college student.
So, tell me. Are you getting your money’s worth?
If not, I suggest you start collecting soon.
College doesn’t do refunds.
