Back to School: It's all about the money, dude

Eun Joong Kim's letter to Interrobang two weeks ago brought back an unpleasant dealing I had with Fanshawe College last fall when I also ran into the “it's our policy” attitude in the registrar's office.

For those who might have missed Kim's letter, his complaint is as follows: in 2008 he was accepted into a program at Fanshawe. However, on the first day of classes Kim was informed he didn't have enough mathematics qualifications and was thus “uninvited” from the program. That was bad enough, but then when he asked for a tuition refund, he received all but $250 back.

Kim's point is that he shouldn't be penalized because nobody had told him he didn't meet the program prerequisites. Further he was told he could apply the $250 to his tuition fees if he reapplied. He did apply again for a program, but in his words was told “your money is gone.”

Now I haven't heard the other side of the story from college officials, but I do feel Kim's pain about the “missing” $250. You see, I ran into a fee issue myself, and I figured I'd just sit on this story until I read Kim's plight.

I'm in the post-graduate corporate communication and public relations program, for which I graciously received funding through the province's Second Career plan. I'm in the process of reinventing myself as a public relations person after being downsized in December 2008 from a 28-year newspaper journalism career.

I consider myself lucky that I received the funding and also that I continue to receive what they call “salary continuance,” a kind of drawn-out severance from my former employer.

Yet I can say I was a bit puzzled when a few weeks afterwards I received an e-mail from the college's “fees team” that said I still owed them money. A quick look on WebAdvisor showed that somehow the $2,032.68 that I had paid a week after the start of classes had mysteriously been downgraded to $1,895.47. Yikes, did Uncle Dalton not have enough money in the second career account?

Well, actually Uncle Dalton's cheque wasn't rubbery, but the college's accounting had a whiff of elastic. This was in the form of a $137.21 “Payment Plan Setup Charge” that had devalued the government funding.

It turns out that although the college had granted me a fee extension that didn't exempt me as a second career student, from having to pay this service charge. Now, luckily $137.12 wasn't going to break the bank for me, but I figured there are probably other second career students for whom such a bill could mean the difference between paying the rent or eating. It was, to use Kim's words “our policy.”

That wasn't really good enough for me, so I contacted the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities official in Sarnia, who had approved my application. She was surprised at this fee, since neither Lambton College nor St. Clair College had been levying such charges against Second Career students.

Later that week, I buttonholed my MPP, Bob Bailey, at the Petrolia farmer's market and in effect asked him, dude where's my $137.12? Bailey's assistant made inquiries on my behalf and found out that the province can't tell the colleges to defer fees since these are determined by each institution's governing body.

Yet many do, since they are assured of funding for approved students. After all, the provincial government pays the lion's share of colleges operating budgets. The real issue was the delay in processing applications, not money.

Fanshawe insisted that “all students are made aware of this fee.” And the college wouldn't entertain an appeal “as they are not a charity.”

Like Kim, I don't recall getting that message, although somewhere in the bowels of Fanshawe's policy vortex there probably is such a clause.

The point is that it's all about the money. Sure, the college says it's student-focused, but in the end it's just a business, like your friendly cell phone provider or landlord. Actions speak louder than words, my friends.

Maybe, administration should follow some of the tenets I've learned in my courses and do the right thing and fix their attitude towards students. After all, they are customers and alienating them is bad for business.

Bruce Langer is a student in the Corporate Communication and Public Relations program at Fanshawe College. He can be reached at b_langer@fanshaweonline.ca.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.