UMBC: Its Own Worst Enemy, Part 3

UMBC does a number of things to shoot itself in the foot with students, the individuals every university relies on the most - not only for financial support through tuition and alumni donations, but through the ever-popular buzzphrase of "viral marketing," in other words, speaking highly of UMBC to friends and family.

One of the most frustrating things for me has been UMBC's differential enforcement of school "policies." Many policies are only invoked when a problem is perceived, others seem designed to stifle student life. Compounding this predicament is the seeming inability of the university to communicate its intentions to the enforcement arm, as I experienced Wednesday in the Hilltop parking lot, and many students have experienced with the posting "policy."

Show me a student who has had an issue with Student Billing, and I will show you a student who feels like leaving UMBC for good. While the billing process is understandably complex, it seems that a number of problems could be avoided if the people behind the computers in the Bursar's Office would do a cursory check of the items before hitting "send bill." Like many other situations at UMBC, communication between offices (in this case, financial aid, food services, etc.) and the enforcement arm (student billing) is abominable.

As somebody who is here on a scholarship, I have run into numerous problems as soon as I started making "nonstandard" choices, like living at Walker Avenue or off-campus, as I do currently. One of these problems are the so-called "refund" checks that get sent out when not all of the scholarship money is used. If you aren't taking advantage of student housing or meal plans, the value of your scholarship is reduced (another issue for another time). Unfortunately for students, this reduction occurs after "refunds" have already been sent out. The same situation occurs if you sign up for a meal plan.

What compounds this problem is that later, when the billing folks realize what's been doing on, you'll get slapped with a huge bill "DUE NOW," essentially demanding all the money you were "refunded" back. If you're not careful, they'll have forgotten to undo some of their previous steps, like increasing your scholarship once you sign up for a meal plan, and you'll end up paying the university extra!

How does this work in practice? Here's an example from my experience this fall.

• I sign up for classes, do not sign up for student housing, and have not yet selected a meal plan. "Refund" check is issued before the semester has even started.
• First day of classes, I sign up for a 10 meal plan.
  
• I am told that because I'm not signed up for housing or a meal plan, my scholarship has been reduced. Huge bill appears on my university account.
• Meal plan is billed, in addition to the previous bill.
• I end up with large bill, "DUE NOW," with numbers that are inaccurate. Of course, because it is due now, I am expected to pay this amount without question if I don't want late charges to be assessed.

Would it really be that hard for the various branches of the university to just talk to each other? Or perhaps to send out these ridiculous refund checks, say, in the second week of the semester, when most of these confounding decisions have already been made? If these things are assessed at certain times, could those dates be made public so students can ensure that they have selected everything they need before scholarships are reduced, refund checks are sent out, and large bills are demanded?

For heaven's sake, UMBC. It's situations like this that make students want to curse the place that will eventually be our alma mater. You're your own worst enemy.