Me Vs. Hamline (again)

My employer reimburses much of my college tuition. To receive reimbursement, however, I need to submit some paperwork, including official documentation of my grade(s) from the previous semester.

This past week, then, I visited Hamline’s website and logged in to their Student Services page. From there, I selected “Student Records” and then “Final Grades.” After selecting the appropriate semester, a page came up displaying my student information. This included the subject, course number, and course title of the class I just completed. Under the column named “Attempted” it showed a 4.0. Under the column named “Earned” it likewise showed a 4.0. This is typical, since I get all A’s.

However, under the column named “Final Grade,” all it showed was an asterisk. Why was that? I didn’t know. Maybe there is a hold on my account. So I backed out of that page and went to “View Holds.” That page opened quickly and simply said: “No holds exist on your record.” So then I thought maybe I still needed to fill out a course evaluation, but when I went to that page, it showed the time for doing that was closed. So why not display my grade?

So I called the good folks in the Accounts department. The woman who answered the phone explained that I must not have completed a course evaluation.

“Yeah,” I said, “That’s what I thought. But it looks like that option is closed now.”

She said yes, it is closed. When I asked how I could do the evaluation, she said I couldn’t. So then I asked how I get my grade, and she said that, if a student does not perform an evaluation, the grades get held for 10 days “as kind of a slap on the wrist” for not doing it. She then explained that, since grades were released on December 27th, mine will be released on January 6th.

Um…

So, I might be wrong here, but I thought that, in order to get a grade, all I had to do was show up for every class, turn in every assignment, participate in class, and pay thousands of dollars. I’ve done all that, so Hamline’s policy is downright stupid and, if any other college has the same policy, they’re equally stupid. Not giving me my grade after completing everything the syllabus and the billing department said I had to complete is ridiculous. It’s tantamount to a waiter not giving me my dessert because I didn’t fill out the restaurant’s comment card. I paid for that god-damned dessert, so he better do his job. I paid for that grade, so Hamline better give me the grade on the agreed-upon date. If I wanted a slap on the wrist, I would enroll in a 1950s elementary school.

This is especially egregious since my GPA is displayed right there and I can see that I have an A. This is the kind of petty mindfucking that makes me nauseous.

And here’s another idea: How about not closing down the course evaluation option so fast? According to the woman I spoke with, course evaluations were due by December 20th. My final paper was due at 5:00 on December 19th. This gave me exactly 31 hours from the time my class finished until the deadline for filling out an evaluation. Sorry I was busy with working fulltime, owning a home, being a father and a husband…but maybe they can give me a little more leeway here.

And who uses an asterisk without a corresponding footnote?

Anyway, I called up my transcript, and my grade was listed there, so I will just turn that in to my employer.

Also, I’m never filling out a class evaluation at Hamline ever again until they remove their corporal punishment policy.