Major Achievements – Part III

Thursday, 24 May 2012

My major achievement today was finding out I got an A in my recent college course. Yay for me!

Actually, though, I have to confess: this was an easy course. It was a history class, for one thing, and I’m pretty into history. I’m the kind of guy who reads history books during summer break. Oh – look at that – on my shelf right now are three history books I am plowing through! Also, it wasn’t just any history, it was American history. And of the 196 nations on Earth, I believe I am most familiar with the one that I’ve spent 99% of my life in. And it didn’t cover just any time frame, either…it covered the 20th Century. I lived through nearly a quarter of that century, raised by two people who lived through nearly half of it. So, yeah, not much new in the class.

In fact, this is a thing that has irritated me about Hamline lately: In looking at my transcript of class credits I transferred in, I recently noticed they counted my two Lab Skills courses as worth exactly zero credits. I wrote to the Grand Lord of Transferred Credits (or maybe her title was “Transfer Articulation Coordinator,” I don’t recall), and told her that, since the two courses – which totaled 9 credits towards my last degree, should count for something at Hamline. After all, they were writing intensive, and I learned a whole heap about writing clearly, specifically, and succinctly. In fact, in comparing them to the course I just took, they were far, far more educational.

She said: “While the writing components of these courses may have provided excellent opportunities to hone your skills, as occupational science-based lab courses, they would not be able to fulfill English major requirements, per se.”

…So, basically, she’s saying that because the information and skills I learned in the classes had some sort of use in the real world, that they therefore can’t could toward my requirements at Hamline.

Yeah, that’s fucking messed up.

Friday, 25 May 2012

Speaking of messed up, I tried to pay my spring tuition with Hamline today. In fact, it took all day, and I never succeeded.

Did you know that if you pay with a credit card at Hamline’s online tuition payment center (where you have to put your tuition in a “cart”), that you have to pay about $25 per $1,000 for a convenience fee? I’m not sure what’s convenient about getting screwed out of $100, and I don’t know when Hamline started running their shop like TIcketmaster, but I think it sucks.

I called the tuition office (or whatever it’s called) and asked if I could just come to their office to pay in person. “Sure!” they said, “But we only take cash or check in person.” Oh, isn’t that convenient! I can pay for a 75 cent candy bar in the gift shop, and they’ll take a credit card, but two blocks away, the tuition people are still living in 1955.

Anyway, so I type in my credit card number and – get this – my card gets rejected because Hamline won’t take Visa. Yep, you heard that right: Visa is no good at Hamline. Visa, mind you, is good practically everywhere else on the planet – including online sales and even some garage sales I’ve been to, but at a major University in the middle of The United States of Consumerism? Sorry, no can do. And, nope, it doesn’t matter if it’s a credit card or check card.

This is all the more frustrating since I don’t even have to pay for the class – my employer does that. But my employer only reimburses me, so I do have to pay up front. So, basically, I just need to put it on my Visa, then turn around and submit the receipt for reimbursement, then deposit a big old check back into my account mere weeks later.

Anyway, Hamline, if you’re reading this: I have $4,000, if you’d like it. Let me know.