It started with this email (I’ve changed some names to protect the ignorant):
From: Doug Godsoe
Sent: January 11, 2011 9:41 AM
To: FinancialServices@unb.ca
Cc: president@unb.ca
Subject: Undergraduate Fee Payment Deadlines
So, I guess the deadline for paying undergraduate fees is Friday at 4:15pm, but it may be arbitrarily earlier because things could get busy up there.
[Student eNews for January 11, 2011]
Tuition and Fees Deadlines
All undergraduate student tuition and fees are due on Friday, Jan. 14.
Our hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Due to long ling-ups, our office may close the counter early to service students already in line by the end of the day.
One used to be able to pay fees online and avoid the “ling-ups”, but now students have to get there early to wait to be on time. For an institution whose role is the support of innovation and progress, you guys are so awesome.
Doug Godsoe, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Given my snarky tone and belligerent attitude, I was slightly surprised when I received the following reply the next morning (I really thought they would just ignore me):
From: FinancialServices@unb.ca
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:58am
To: ‘Doug Godsoe’
Subject: RE: Undergraduate Fee Payment Deadlines
Hi Doug,
I appreciate your email and thought I would clarify a few items that you may be unaware of.
Students can still pay online to avoid the line up and we do encourage students to do this. However, students receiving a student loan still have no option but to physically line up to pick up that loan document.
Approximately 60-70% of our students are on student loan funding and currently the majority of our students still receive a paper document that requires them to physically pick it up. These regulations are set by the provincial student aid office.
Currently only 1 province in Canada has moved to an online (no paper) system. Hard to believe with the technology today, however, both federal and provincial student aid offices seem slow to move toward a no paper system.
I have had several conversations with New Brunswick student aid about this and they have advised they are still a year or so away from a paperless process. So until we can move away from a paper document that students are required to pick up we will continue to have long line ups for this reason.
We do hire additional staff during the peak periods, our staff take shorter lunch hours and work longer hours to accommodate the long line ups-so yes I do feel we have an “awesome” staff. We also encourage students who do not have a student line to pay online.
I believe we do everything we can to accommodate students during this busy time, however, given all these factors there still will be a line up. I often do a comparison with other Universities and the same is true in other institutions during their busy times.
Sleepy Gepetto, Acting Manager
Student Accounts & Receivable Services
Financial Services
There is a bit of a misunderstanding in the next item. They think that since my bank offers a service called online banking, and I can use it to arrange a money transfer, that somehow this represents paying online. I think that when I make an online purchase, I expect to see a check-out option where I can complete the financial transaction with a credit card. Under their definition, I suppose that hiring a helicopter over the internet to drop grocery bags full of loose change on them qualifies as paying online. You say tomato; I say potato.
From: Doug Godsoe
Sent: January 11, 2011 9:41 AM
To: FinancialServices@unb.ca
Subject: RE: Undergraduate Fee Payment Deadlines
Hi, Sleepy. Thank you for your reply.
As of September 2008 students are no longer able to pay tuition fees online. At that time, the university claimed that the removal of this service would save something in the order of $700,000 annually. This decision left the students with little choice but to pay by waiting in-line. So, unless the university has secretly changed their collective minds on this point and hidden the make payment button on the eservices/fees web-form, I believe that you are incorrect in that there is no longer an option to pay online.
Were alternatives considered at the time the decision to remove the online payment option was made? Cheaper credit card transaction services, perhaps? Did anyone consider the impact that the decision would have on the quality of service to the students, or the cost of longer hours and increased workload on the financial department? Who knows, since there was no discussion or open debate on the topic prior to the service removal.
The prevailing attitude of the university administration that it is acceptable to eliminate services, take arbitrary and lengthy breaks, and close offices for mid-day meetings and during lunches without regard for the inconvenience these actions cause the students, is a mind-set that would not succeed well in the commercial world. If you went to Sears in the middle of the afternoon and found them closed for a meeting, or that they couldn’t let you in because they were closing early to make sure they could handle the customers already waiting in the lineup, you likely wouldn’t shop there again.
The students are paying customers, and they have better things to do with their time than to spend it lining up. If, due to shortsightedness and administrative ineptitude, there is no choice but for them to line up to pay their tuition, then your email should include a comment on how there will be extra staff available and extended hours all week long. Instead, we have, we may close sometime earlier (who knows what time that might be) if it gets too busy and we think we might not get home in time for cookies and tea.
Thanks, again for your response.
Doug.
To which their very brief reply was:
From: FinancialServices@unb.ca
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:58am
To: ‘Doug Godsoe’
Subject: RE: Undergraduate Fee Payment Deadlines
Hi Doug,
If you would like to set up a time to meet with me and/or our Director in person, we would be happy to discuss the issues you have raised as you are missing several relevant facts.
Sleepy Gepetto, Acting Manager
Student Accounts & Receivable Services
Financial Services
Now they want to meet with me to explain the relevant facts. Don’t they know that I’m not interested in facts? However, now that I’ve complained and they have offered to meet with me, I’m obligated to do something about it. I can’t just let it go, and besides, I always wanted to meet a movie director.
From: Doug Godsoe
Sent: January 11, 2011 9:41 AM
To: FinancialServices@unb.ca
Subject: RE: Undergraduate Fee Payment Deadlines
Hi, Sleepy. I realize that I have triggered a lengthy email exchange for an issue that would likely be better addressed in person.
Before it comes to that, though, let me apologize if the tone of my emails has made you feel that I am attacking you personally; it was not my intention to do so. I’m just vocalizing my frustration at the malignant attitude festering within so many university departments that students must conform to meet the personal needs of the administration. Wouldn’t this university be a great place to work if it weren’t for those pesky students?
My rancor towards Financial Services stems from a single item. Please, pretend for a moment that you are a student and carefully read the following excerpt from the Student eNews. This item has appeared every day this week:
Tuition and Fees Deadlines
All undergraduate student tuition and fees are due on Friday, Jan. 14.
Our hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Due to long ling-ups, our office may close the counter early to service students already in line by the end of the day.
If you were a student at this university, how would you be inclined to interpret the waiver on the hours of operation? I read it as: “We are open until 4:15pm, or some time sooner if it gets too busy.” The informational value of 9:30am to ??? is very small. If I am in class from 8:30am until 2:30pm and in a lab from 2:30pm until 5:00pm, where will I find the time to get in line to pay my fees? What part of the education I am paying for should I miss in order to satisfy the work schedule of Financial Services?
Additionally, the “ling-ups” typo that has gone uncorrected for an entire week signals either some sort of laziness, carelessness, or a general don’t-care attitude that is, at the very least, mildly distressing to the reader.
This announcement would have been better had it included information on extended hours, additional staff, and pointed to alternatives for waiting in line. I’m sorry, but I don’t accept the argument that conditions are no different at other universities as supporting the claim of greatness. Being the same as everyone else is the very definition of mediocrity. I don’t think that a recruitment campaign would produce satisfactory results if it carried the slogan, “Come to UNB. We’re no better than the rest.”
Whether it is correct or not, the public impression of UNB is that the university is struggling to maintain and increase student enrollment at a time when post-secondary education has turned into a political poking stick. The university’s Strategic Plan, championed by Dr. Campbell, is a significant effort to assure the future viability and economic relevance of UNB to the people of New Brunswick. However, all these plans will fail unless the administrative cultural attitude towards the students transforms into treating them as first-class customers, putting their needs first.
So, an in-person meeting would be worthwhile if the intention were to seek amelioration for the Financial Services issues I have raised. However, if the goal will only be to rationalize and justify the reasoning behind past administrative decisions, I think my time will be better spent addressing the larger picture with the Hon. Martine Coulombe and Dr. Campbell.
Thanks very much for your time.
Doug.
I especially like the part where I apologize for making it seem personal when it really isn’t, and then continue with “…malignant attitude.” It’s not you I have an issue with, really. It’s just your malignant attitude that I don’t like.
I haven’t heard back from them, yet. I’m still waiting to see if they think it would be a waste of time for me to go and meet with them.
Inside Doug's Head 