The Bane of Baylor

In light of my post a few days ago about getting my paycheck, I was thinking about how much I love Baylor, minus one thing. Everyday that I walk across campus I am captivated by so many things about my home for the past 3+ years.

I never ceased to be amazed by my professors. They are so willing to work with you and help you succeed. I have talked to numerous people at other schools and I am always struck my how different our views of professors and classes are. I have always (for the most part) enjoyed going to class and the mandatory 75% attendance policy is not a problem for me. Some of my friends at other schools have never even seen their professors at a distance closer than 30ft.

Our campus is absolutely beautiful. I love to walk down Fifth Street and stare up at good 'ol Rufus wearing his long trench coat and 1920's top hat. With the view of Old Main in the background with its spires I am taken back to the end of the nineteenth century and I wonder what it was like to be a student at Baylor at that time; during the time when the men lived on the east side of the creek (in Brooks) and the women lived on the west side of the creek (in Memorial) and just about the only social time they were allotted was the all-time favorite "Coke Hour" which we all know and love now as “Dr. Pepper Hour.”

I love the history and the traditions of Baylor. I can walk across campus and tell you the history of nearly every brick that was laid. (O-kay, I'm not quite that good, but you get the point.) I love the stories that tell about the history and development of the great institution.

I even love walking through the North Village and the
Baylor Science Building and seeing where our school is going. Though 2012 (or 2015, or whatever it is now,) has received countless criticisms, I am still an advocate. I know that some of my friends will disagree with me, but I think that the goals and methods of reaching those goals are honorable and will place Baylor in a highly esteemed position.

I also adore the people at Baylor. Though there is the fair share of ditzes and jerks, I have been so fortunate to surround myself with people of amazing quality. I have made friends that are so diverse in every possible area. God has used these people to shape me and challenge me and love me in ways that I never thought possible.

I will never regret my decision to be at Baylor.

I still have one problem though. The Cashier’s Office has been the bane of my existence here at Baylor. I have fought with them to get things done the way that they need to be done and in the time that I need for them to be every semester. I’m not venting at the people who work there, but rather the system that they work under. I nearly had to drop my classes this semester because they changed the financial settlement date from the ninth day of classes to the third day of classes and didn’t bother to make any announcement about it until the first day of class. They then proceeded to put the burden on the professors to tell the students that they needed to get settled or else they would have to be dropped from the class. It is not the responsibility of my professors to rake in the cash. They are there to teach because they care about teaching and obviously not because of making money. My Greek professor was so ticked off at the Cashier’s Office that he forbid us to stop coming to class even if we did get dropped because we could not get settled in time. “Classical Greek is more important than your tuition money,” he told us.

Yes, this was all about five weeks ago that all of this occurred, but it was brought fresh to mind when I was five weeks late in receiving my paycheck. A big part of receiving it that late was because it was the first chance the Cashier’s Office had to get to it. They were so overwhelmed with changing the financial settlement date that they couldn’t keep up with their own system.

There may be a bigger picture than just the Cashier’s Office that I don’t see and know about but it seems as thought they are the ones who have caused much grief for myself and many of my friends. I have had a few friends leave Baylor because they cannot seem to get the money that they need to stay or the money that they were promised. This may have something to do with 2012, or lack of donations due to the falling economy, (or 2012 again,) or some other factor unbeknownst to me, or all of the above. At any rate, something does not seem to be functioning as smoothly as it should.

As much as I love my university, it could use some serious reforming in the area of raking in the cash. They talk so much about how they care about students, but the tuition rate seems to be limited to those who can afford it. I only hope that future students do not encounter the amount of stress that I have had to deal with regarding financial settlement.

I don’t want this post to be a bashing Baylor post and it was not my intent to come across that way. Please be discerning in any comments that you may want to put regarding this post.