What Am I Paying For?

College has become commonplace for almost everyone to go, thanks to loans and the abundance of colleges. It's no longer for the "rich kids." I don't want to say that anyone can go, but it's gotten so much easier. So now, a college degree is common.

The concept of college is to learn about what you think your career path may be, then assuming you'll go get a job in that career, or some require further education. Mine is public relations - so I'm taking PR classes. BU's tuition is around $50k including room and board. So I'm paying $50,000 a year. For four years. $200,000.

So for $200,000 you would think that I would be getting so much more than I feel like I'm getting. Instead, I feel like BU is literally nickel-and-diming me every step of the way - and I'm still not getting my money's worth.

For example, I live in an on-campus apartment in South. It's a relatively nice place. Given how much it's rained this year, we've had some water leaking into our apartment. When me and my roommate called B&G, they said "We're getting a lot of complaints, we'll get to you when we can." When they came about 3 hours later, all the did was bring a bucket. We had a bucket. We didn't need another bucket.

A few days later another B&G guy came in and I showed him where it was leaking. Since it had stopped raining, it wasn't leaking. He said "I can't do anything about it if it's not leaking."

Fast forward a few weeks later, when monsoon season hits Boston, and it's leaking in my apartment again. But not just the same location, literally in three different spots. Then it started to get moldy. I called B&G again, and no one's been here. It's been a week. Then I read in BU Today that there were over 600 on-campus leaks reported. I tweeted to Dean Elmore, he said "I'll have someone come over." Really? No one came. And the last time they did, they did nothing.

How can you have 600 on campus leaks? I understand the rain was much more than we've had in quite a while, but 600 seems too high. It's probably leaked last year, and they were told, and still did nothing. What the hell am I paying $50,000 dollars for when my place is disgusting.

Some other fun facts about my apartment - there is no internet port in my room. Or a cable port. They changed the window structure in my building so that air can't get in, making my room a hell hole even when it's 20 degrees out. The walls are so thin I can hear everyone. In every way. The fridge is smaller than the one we had last year. When we moved in, the fridge was broken and they didn't fix it for a few days. We didn't have a mirror. It took weeks to get a mirror in the bathroom. We kept calling and filing requests for a mirror and got none. We gave up and bought our own. The sunlight in my room lets me wake up at 7 am everyday. Everyday. EVERYDAY.

Or I could talk about the print quota fiasco, where BU, who last year gave us a 500 page quota this year, gave 100. Then, told the professors to not make copies of hand-outs, instead make us print them out, making us use our reduced print quota. In my political science class, our teacher had well over 20 uploaded articles that spanned as high as 56 pages. Half of my quota is spent on one article for one class. I took four classes and it was all the same. So therefore I have to pay money just to print my things that last year would have been free. But my tuition goes up. And all we get from BU is stock quote straight up bullshit. "We're going green" "We're cutting costs" "We found that students don't use their print quota." Then they removed the computer labs that were located at different locations on campus. They brought them all to the library, so it's still available, but it just seems inconvenient and inefficient.

Then I went to the Career Center, where I wasn't offered much help in finding a job. I said "How can I work for a Public Relations firm in Philadelphia?" Their response: Use CareerBuilder and Google. I'm so glad that I pay $50k to be told to use Google. I never would have thought about Google. Thanks guys. They did help with cover letters and my resume, but overall, I don't feel like it was all that helpful. I got better help from my internship in the fall. Their career fairs don't apply to my industry at all - but most of the people there seem to be worthless too. For instance, companies like the FBI and Abercrombie & Fitch would be there. That's not where I'm going. Call me picky. I know PR is kind of a different thing, but no help at all? Really?

It should be MANDATORY for every student to take a class about the job process. How it works. Resumes. Cover letters. Etc. Make it specific towards everyone's major. Give each student a CAREER ADVISOR. I have an academic advisor, but combine the two. Make some kind of mandatory check-in every few weeks. Talk about plans. Brainstorm. Help us. Isn't that what college is ultimately about? To learn and to use what you learned in the world. Help us see through the second part. I don't want my hand held, I want to meet half way. It shouldn't be totally on me to find a job on top of taking four classes and having an internship 2.5 days a week. There's too much going on for me to find a job too. But by incorporating it into class, it's helpful.

I have friends at PSU who have a career advisor and they help them have a plan for internships and jobs. I could go to PSU for $14k a year. Do the math.

To me, the college process has become much more of a business than an education. People can spin it any way they want. At the end of the day, it's about making a profit. The President of the University makes A LOT of money. I can't seem to find the number, but I found this article where the old President made $6.2 MILLION two years after he retired. WHAT THE HELL DOES HE NEED $6.2 MILLION DOLLARS FOR AFTER HE RETIRES.

I know that not all of my money goes into his severance pay and that BU has a pretty good endowment. But that seems absurd. Instead, if they spent $6.2 million, surely our tuition could be a little lower, or we would have something helpful. Nah, give one man $6.2. We don't need to help our students.

I pay $50,000 a year and honestly, what am I paying for? A leaky apartment? 100 pages to print with? Classes that aren't really teaching me anything? To be told to go to Google? I've learned so much more from my internships than from class. Am I paying to get a job? Indirectly, but BU isn't doing a damn thing to help me and act like they care.

Why Why WHY would I want to give any money to BU as an alumni? For the BU Class Gift, they're asking for $20.10. While I understand and like the concept of a class gift, I believe you give gifts as a thank you or because you appreciate someone. What am I thanking them for? The advice of Google? I pay $50k a year. That's your thank you gift. I honestly don't know anything about my financial situation whether I'll be in loans or not, but I don't feel like this entire experience was worth it. Maybe I didn't make the most of it. Maybe I "settled." I made great friends and I had a great time - but I think that would happen anywhere. But I want my money back - because I'm paying for a product that isn't what it was advertised as. I didn't pay $50,000 to live in a moldy water logged apartment. Or to have to find my own job. Think of it as a customer client relationship. I'm a customer, and I'm being deceived.

I don't know if this posts counts as a rant, or maybe I'm just too frustrated with everything. I feel overwhelmed and just like a number.. It's leaving a sour taste in my mouth for the final weeks, and it's unfortunate. Everyday I say "I can't wait to be out of here" and everyday it gets closer and closer. But I've also realized that the world is a lot of shams and lies, and you have to wade your way through.