Conspiracy Theory

by CHARLENE RATLIFF

There are several branches at work in this conspiracy. The first branch is to make sure that any paper work important to a student being enrolled at Radford will not be processed correctly. Most of the time this happens in the financial aid department.

A document will be mailed to the student that has to be signed by a parent. This is redundant because most of the time the parents do not live near by. The Document must be signed by the student and then sent home to the parents for their signature. Then the same document must be mailed back to the original sender. Usually there is a time restraint on how long the student has to process this paper work. With all the mailing of the same document back and forth there is a good chance of it getting lost or not making it back to the original sender by the due date. This ensures that there is a good chance that financial aid will not be received by the student and subsequently they will have to take a semester off.

Also any paper work that is turned in on time to the financial aid office usually turns up missing in action. Therefore the general practice is to accuse the student of not turning in the form to begin with. I had to turn in the same form three times when I was a freshman.

The second branch in this web of treachery is the advisor ring. I am almost convinced that advisors must receive a perk if they can manage to keep a student from graduating within four years. Within this semester alone I was told to take three classes that I found out later that I did not need or I already have credit for. Trying to get an appointment with an advisor is a headache too. Usually their advising hours are limited to the time when you have class or they just are not there. One time I made an appointment with my advisor and they neglected to tell me that they had moved offices. Needless to say, I couldn't find them in time for my appointment.

Another time I needed to add another class to my schedule. I finally tracked down my advisor and made an appointment telling them that I needed to find out what classes I had left to take. They gave me an appointment for that Friday, which was also the last day to add a class. Friday morning rolled around and after my first class I got an answering machine message saying that my advisor was canceling my appointment because they were going out of town and didn't want to be delayed.

Gee thanks.

I could go on and on but I still haven't gotten to my last branch of the conspiracy.

The last branch is that you actually have to apply to graduate. Does anyone but me find this totally idiotic? I mean if you have all your credits, why should you have to ask permission to receive your diploma which you spent a lot of money towards? What happens if they turn you down? do you have to spend another semester here and work on your "graduating skills?"

I also want to know what happens to those poor people who were too busy or simply just did not know that the deadline for applications had past? I mean, let's face it; information doesn't exactly get around like it should around here.

I still think it's a conspiracy to keep students here so they have to spend more money. It's not like they can really just give up on their degrees, what with the job market like it is today, you need a degree. Once you've started down that road there's no turning back! It's time we all fight the system and go out in the streets and cheer "NO MORE THAN FOUR YEARS."

Name:   

E-Mail: 
Year:   

Major:  

Comments:

Name: Charlene Ratliff
Major: English
Comments:
Geez Tonya that sucks! I don't know why they do that. Your right it doesn't make any sense. If it is electronic transfer and it is your money, you should have it pronto.

Name: Charlene Ratliff
Major: English
Comments:
Tate: Yes I am all too familiar with that one too. It makes it so hard to get a class you and everyone in your major needs if it is only offered once a year.

Name: Charlene Ratliff
Major: english
Comments:
Thank you Casandra. I just may have to make an appointment. Through the years I have ran into several problems with getting paper work processed. I'm glad that someone understands.

Name: Tonya
Major: Corp & Prof Comm
Comments:
c- i totally agree with you. the administration here is worse than the bureaucracy of the INS!! it is totally ridiculous that paperwork has to be shuffled around to about 500 different offices on campus before anything can get done.

and telling the fin aid office isn't going to help. it's often more than one office involved in the university's crazy rules. example: this summer i went to greece on a study abroad trip, but i had to rely on stafford loan excess money for my food, etc., while i was there. well, i set up my loan as electronic transfer to speed up the process -- BUT the money comes electronically to the financial aid office who then has to key it into the student accounts computer system who then (for some sick evil twisted reason) SITS ON YOUR MONEY FOR 48 HOURS!!!!!! i mean, everything is done electronically, right from the bank -- so why does student accounts have to keep your money for 48 hours?? fortunately, my sister had some extra dough so we could eat while we waited for finaid/student accounts to give us our money. Electronic transfers should be done immediately. not 48 hours later.

Name: Tate
Major: CS
Comments:
Don't forget the ever popular "We only offer that course in the spring or the fall, not both"

Name: Cassandra Jefferson-Davis
Major: Faculty/Staff
Comments:
Charlene, It would be a good idea if you share this information with the director of financial aid so that improvements can be made to make this process smoother. As you know almost 95% of the student population receive some form of financial aid...Make an appointment with Buddy Johnston...I am sure he will listen to your concerns.