The same lies in truth here, except you notice it a bit more when you're nitpicky like I am. Monopolies exist all around my college.
We curently are paying out $58.50 in local telephone access. I remember being able to get a phone line, with long distance service, and a few options for about $20.00. In fact, I believe my family back home still has that line and is using it to get on the internet. So needless to say, they're making a profit, and there's not much you can do about it if you want to complain. Allthough we CAN dial 911 from on campus, you have to remember to dial a 9 before it. (Imagine how furstrating.. dialing 911, and not getting anywhere because you didn't dial 9911!).
In addition to a local phone service charge, we have various other charges for services we might not even consider using. Services, some of us didn't even know existed! We have a health center, which costs us an arm and a leg (81.50 is a lot if you're pyaing this through loans, finnancial aid, and you're own pocket). There's a publication fee for our student newspaper that's marketed as free (can you sue for this?:) ), there's a transit fee (for buses I don't ride), student center fees, refurbishing fees for various places that need fixing around campus (I didn't know we had to pay for that directly!), and even a fee to have an account with the cashier's office! (Now that's interesting). Not to mention we're being charged $45 a semester in a 'computer fee' which is basically a fee to use the lab (according to the literature they mailed when I was still in high school the labs were free use labs. Ha!)
To get to the computer oriented side of things is slightly different. I'm not sure how many college students out there are getting 'free' internet access. As it stands my university is charging $80 a semester for access to 'Resnet'. Considering the alternative of dialing out through the phone system here (which only gets up to about 36.6 if you're lucky), it's heaven. 10Mb link to a hub shared by your floor, which has a 100Mb link to the building switch, and another 100Mb link to the switch for the area, which all ends up back at 'smdfhub' which appearently is a really nice piece of equipment. $80 is a monopoly I suppose I can live with, but I can't help but wonder what kind of service I can really get in Raleigh for $80;)
The dorms up here aren't quite as bad as have been described, but then again, there are so many scattered all about it's hard to have seen them all. Dorms here usually come in two flavors 'Regular' and 'Premium' (or 'Slum' and 'Ritz' as the students call them). Premium dorms have air and are usually smaller. Regular dorms are just a bed, desk, and electricity (running water is down the hall). Did I mentioned that unless you have a car and are within a certain distance of campus, you HAVE to live in a dorm, frat house, or sponsored apartment complex? The conditions really aren't as bad as the name reflects, but there are a few residence halls around here that need some work done. Two in particular I know of are long hallways strewn with the occasional pizza box, half naked people wandering around between the shared bathroom and their room, and heaters that love to 'clank' and heat the room even when off.
The food is about the same. You pay a flat rate, get 'x' meals a week and if you don't use them all.. oh well. The upside to that is that we have a Chic-fil-A on campus, taco bell, and a small restaraunt called 'The Wolve's Den' at which you can use those meal plans toward your purchase (like 3.50 will by a real dinner).
To sum things up: Colleges have a monopoly. Not only do colleges take your money and then tell you what to do, but they charge you for just about everything labeled 'free'. If they were to can the efforts of dialpad.com and friends a lot of students would be relatively upset here. They already own a monopoly on everything else, why keep it up? I always thought competition was a good thing for everybody?
Perhaps this is priming the students here for the inevitable? You will pay for stuff you don't use or never see (taxes), you will pay us to teach you how WE think you should be taught (government), and we will keep you from spending your money anywhere else (monopolies)...
Slashdot Mirror
The same lies in truth here, except you notice it a bit more when you're nitpicky like I am. Monopolies exist all around my college.
:) ), there's a transit fee (for buses I don't ride), student center fees, refurbishing fees for various places that need fixing around campus (I didn't know we had to pay for that directly!), and even a fee to have an account with the cashier's office! (Now that's interesting). Not to mention we're being charged $45 a semester in a 'computer fee' which is basically a fee to use the lab (according to the literature they mailed when I was still in high school the labs were free use labs. Ha!)
;)
We curently are paying out $58.50 in local telephone access. I remember being able to get a phone line, with long distance service, and a few options for about $20.00. In fact, I believe my family back home still has that line and is using it to get on the internet. So needless to say, they're making a profit, and there's not much you can do about it if you want to complain. Allthough we CAN dial 911 from on campus, you have to remember to dial a 9 before it. (Imagine how furstrating.. dialing 911, and not getting anywhere because you didn't dial 9911!).
In addition to a local phone service charge, we have various other charges for services we might not even consider using. Services, some of us didn't even know existed! We have a health center, which costs us an arm and a leg (81.50 is a lot if you're pyaing this through loans, finnancial aid, and you're own pocket). There's a publication fee for our student newspaper that's marketed as free (can you sue for this?
To get to the computer oriented side of things is slightly different. I'm not sure how many college students out there are getting 'free' internet access. As it stands my university is charging $80 a semester for access to 'Resnet'. Considering the alternative of dialing out through the phone system here (which only gets up to about 36.6 if you're lucky), it's heaven. 10Mb link to a hub shared by your floor, which has a 100Mb link to the building switch, and another 100Mb link to the switch for the area, which all ends up back at 'smdfhub' which appearently is a really nice piece of equipment. $80 is a monopoly I suppose I can live with, but I can't help but wonder what kind of service I can really get in Raleigh for $80
The dorms up here aren't quite as bad as have been described, but then again, there are so many scattered all about it's hard to have seen them all. Dorms here usually come in two flavors 'Regular' and 'Premium' (or 'Slum' and 'Ritz' as the students call them). Premium dorms have air and are usually smaller. Regular dorms are just a bed, desk, and electricity (running water is down the hall). Did I mentioned that unless you have a car and are within a certain distance of campus, you HAVE to live in a dorm, frat house, or sponsored apartment complex? The conditions really aren't as bad as the name reflects, but there are a few residence halls around here that need some work done. Two in particular I know of are long hallways strewn with the occasional pizza box, half naked people wandering around between the shared bathroom and their room, and heaters that love to 'clank' and heat the room even when off.
The food is about the same. You pay a flat rate, get 'x' meals a week and if you don't use them all.. oh well. The upside to that is that we have a Chic-fil-A on campus, taco bell, and a small restaraunt called 'The Wolve's Den' at which you can use those meal plans toward your purchase (like 3.50 will by a real dinner).
To sum things up: Colleges have a monopoly. Not only do colleges take your money and then tell you what to do, but they charge you for just about everything labeled 'free'. If they were to can the efforts of dialpad.com and friends a lot of students would be relatively upset here. They already own a monopoly on everything else, why keep it up? I always thought competition was a good thing for everybody?
Perhaps this is priming the students here for the inevitable? You will pay for stuff you don't use or never see (taxes), you will pay us to teach you how WE think you should be taught (government), and we will keep you from spending your money anywhere else (monopolies)...
Just a thought.
- Foxbird