Students are wasting their breath complaining about Camosun College’s tuition and fee deadlines when there are better solutions.
As we previously reported, on July 12 of last year, in a survey sent out by the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), 52.5 percent of students said the changes that Camosun were making to their fee deadlines affected them negatively. Camosun continues to stand behind their decision to change the deadlines, so here’s what I think should be done instead.
Camosun should prioritize writing more detailed and accurate course descriptions on their website. In a course I’m taking this semester, Editing and Publishing (CRWR-159), we mainly work together as a group to put together Camosun’s literary journal, Beside the Point.
This was no surprise to me as I had the instructor in the fall semester, and we got an explanation as to what this course would be like. However, the course description on Camosun’s website speaks to editing and publishing your own work, and has no mention of the literary journal.
For someone whose only knowledge of the course is what they read on the website, they would go into this course with completely different expectations. Maybe they don’t like a lot of group work and participation, as they aren’t able to attend every class for personal reasons, or they were really interested in the editing process regarding their own writing.
Under such circumstances, I would have been annoyed.
I’m sure this isn’t the only course that doesn’t exactly match its description online. The college needs to collaborate more with instructors to ensure accuracy of course descriptions (one instructor I spoke with said they had no control over the online course description).
Students may decide to not take a course given the lack of information on the website. In reality, they may have really enjoyed the course, but didn’t want to take the risk because they weren’t sure if it would be right for them.
I understand that the college wants students to make more intentional decisions regarding their education, and are trying to make things fairer for those who are waitlisted for courses. The new deadlines make things more manageable and reduce the negative financial impact on the college.
It’s one thing for Camosun to say it has changed the deadlines because it believes it will be beneficial for the students in the long run, however, this level of inaccuracy regarding course descriptions is certainly of no help to students. Camosun might even find there’s more students enrolling if the descriptions were more detailed.
Also, instructors should be required to send students their course outline for the class before it starts; I had a teacher do this for a course I’m taking this semester. Instructors who teach the same class sections every semester would already have a course outline. It wouldn’t take much effort to have it ready to send out a few days before classes start. This would give students a better idea of learning outcomes, workload, grading, and the instructor’s teaching philosophy.
Generally speaking, when buying a product, you’re given as much information as possible before you’re committed. With these proposed changes, students would be more informed to make decisions involving their education and career path.
Students deserve to know what they are getting themselves into, especially if they are no longer able to receive a refund once classes begin.