Camosun College has imposed new fee and class-drop deadlines that, while holding merit, fail in addressing a fair opportunity for students to make decisions regarding their career path.
I agree that it’s a good idea that the full cost of selected courses be paid three weeks prior to start of classes, to allow the school adequate time to assess enrollment and make decisions to allow the greatest number of students to benefit.
Where things fall apart a bit are the drop deadlines. The new structure prevents students from attending even one class before no reimbursement is available; to get money back, students have to drop before class even starts. Obviously drop dates need to exist, but why can there not be a reducing value, based on classes attended? Students should at least be able to attend the first class before losing any hope of a return.
I believe this will create an unintended negative outcome. The school will be forcing students who hear the syllabus and decide this isn’t the class for them to complete the course. The worst part is students who are waitlisted will have less chance if students who want to drop the course have no motivation to.
Applying the drop date after the actual first day of instruction would prevent students from being bound to a class they do not want. It’s not just me: previous articles in Nexus reported outcry from students regarding these changes. Notably, the change in deadlines has caused great concern from many students who indicate this will seriously impact them.
Where I believe Camosun (and high schools) fails students most is in counselling them adequately regarding college expectations. There is a lot of room for improvement on the communication side of things from the schools. After all, as we previously reported, in a survey sent out by the Camosun College Student Society, out of 800 respondents, 74 percent said they were unaware of the changes in fee deadlines.
Realizing that Camosun is culturally diverse with English as a second language for many, very little consideration seems to have gone into whether the students truly understand the process.
Furthering the problem is the level of confusion that already happens with new students.
When I started in May, I ended up having massive anxiety attacks and required supplemental counselling as a result of not understanding the college infrastructure. I had to figure out textbooks, laptop rentals, library cards, and benefits as I fumbled along, often to great frustration.
The college should provide a mandatory orientation class one week prior to instruction. This would ease a lot of anxiety students may feel, especially those already suffering with anxiety or other mental-health issues. In the meantime, the fee deadlines as they are now will continue to fail students.