Parking

Parking at UNM is perhaps one of the most difficult parts of attending classes for commuter students. There are North lots and South lots, both of which require a shuttle to get from the parking lot to campus. These shuttles can add 15 to 30 minutes to the commute time, which can easily double the time spent commuting.

There is no easy solution; the parking lots are too far from campus to offer any other solution. With the cost of gas as well as maintenance on the busses, having additional shuttles running would only increase the cost of parking permits by leaps and bounds.

While some would get frustrated at the wait, and time spent on the shuttles, or perhaps become annoyed at not having a seat and being forced to stand, I think it only fair to take a step back and see things from another perspective. Parking permits already cost well over a hundred dollars, if the number of shuttles was doubled, one could only assume that the price of the permit would double as well.

To some, this may not be a problem. They may enjoy having twice the shuttles running giving them more opportunities to get to class easier. To others, the cost would not warrant the luxury.

I rode the South Lot shuttle for several years, finally getting sick and tired of spending, on average, 20 to 30 minutes to get from my class to my car. I now ride a motorcycle and park right on campus. I even pay half the price of a South Lot permit.

The motorcycle parking at UNM is often overlooked, as perhaps many don’t notice nor ride. There are several locations across campus that are designated motorcycle parking, most within throwing distance of your classroom.

The part I enjoy the most, by time I get home on the motorcycle, I’d have just gotten to my car taking the shuttle. While in the winter the situation isn’t always great, I have ridden in 20 degree weather to avoid the shuttle.

This post has perhaps come out having several parts to it. For the longest time I despised the shuttle, and if I was still riding it, I probably still would. Perhaps at least when I took the shuttle, I had time to sit and wait, which is something that many of us can probably use in our lives today.

Please, Use Your Turn Signals

I have two very simple desires when it comes to commuting to campus. First, I desire not to be killed by a careening car on the freeway. Second, I wish with every teeny tiny fiber of my being for South Lot to be clean, organized and for the wait for the shuttle to be less than five minutes. Alas, since transferring to UNM last spring, I have been caught in near-death experiences on the road more times than I can count and South Lot is routinely littered with glass, dog poo and various unidentifiable objects.

So why is it that Albuquerque drivers are so angry? Is it the green chile? I'm from Seattle, and I've seen my share of rush hour traffic, angry hippies and caffeinated soccer moms acting insane on the roads. But never, ever, have I felt the wrath of such aggressive and dominating drivers until I moved to Albuquerque. For example, just the other morning I was cruising along I-25 south nearing the "safety corridor" that should really be named "narrow stretch of roadway of hell." As usual, I tried my best to slow from 70+ mph to a more reasonable 60. For the record, I am still speeding, as the limit is clearly displayed as 55. But we all know that 60 is the same as 55 in the world of speeding tickets. And as usual, I find the bright headlights of another car pressed up against my bumper, impatient and ready to run me off the road. I must admit, I too would like to speed through this area of highway at 80 mph, but I have seen stealthy police vehicles hidden behind the on-ramp divider, just waiting for such a move. So every morning I try my darnedest to obey the law, and nearly every morning I am met with pure, unadulterated hatred. I have been flipped off, honked at and I've seen the angry faces of drivers behind me screaming at their newest enemy. So what's the deal people? You're not really going to get anywhere any faster by running me off the road. And when that day comes where the police officer IS sitting on the side of the road with the radar gun out, you will secretly thank me for forcing you to slow down. You will...

After my 7 1/2 minute journey from home to school, the horror is nowhere near over. Because I don't get to just drive to school. Oh no. I get to drive to the world's worst designed, worst maintained and slowest park and ride of all time. And to top it all off, I get to pay $117 a year for this fabulous service. It amazes me that for the past 3 semester, I have had a Tuesday/Thursday class at 9:30am. And it amazes me that for the past 3 semesters, I arrive at South Lot at or before 9am, only to watch 2, 3 or if I'm really lucky, 4 shuttles go by before I finally get the chance to elbow my way onto one. Clearly the University knows that throughout the day, there are high-traffic times when additional shuttle are needed. My question is, what are they doing with the thousands of dollars in revenues they bring in every year from parking passes? Couldn't some of this money be used to hire a part time driver? Maybe if we weren't paying our athletic coaches salaries worthy of brain surgeons we would have some extra cash left over for oh, I don't know...filling in the potholes that threaten to destroy my car every time I drive through South Lot? The idea of a park and ride is brilliant, but the execution here at UNM leaves much to be desired.

And it's not just the long waits to get on a shuttle or lack of maintenance of the parking lot that really offends me. It's mostly the fact that last spring my car was broken into in the middle of the day. Where was the yellow-jacketed security guard then? What is the point of paying to park my car in a supposedly monitored parking facility when it's just as likely to get broken into if it were on the street? Beyond security, why does the University allow solicitors to litter our cars with flashy postcards that often feature well-endowed females advertising some sort of club? There should be a law against such blatant disregard for private property. Just like there should be a law that if you change lanes in front of me and cut me off without using your turn signal, I should get to remove one of your fingers.

What is more important?

What is more important? Is your family more important than school or work? Is work more important than both school and family? We all strive for the best so that our family is happy. However, it seems that to get the best, we need an education. It is almost a vicious cycle!

At home, children are playing, screaming, hungry and seeking our attention all while writing an essay about an issue that does not directly concerns our life. We pause just for a moment, or it seems like a moment, to tend to our children and realize that two hours has passed. We return to writing the essay, which is due the following day or maybe in an hour, and find that we lost your train of thought. Do we give up? Before answering that question, we hear a loud crash. After investigating the noise we find that the lamp has just seen its last day. Now we put away our papers and prepare dinner.

Sometime in the middle of the night we finally return to our pile of papers and continue writing. After finishing the paper we realize that we may get about four or five hours of sleep. In the morning, we do it all again.

As students and members of a family, we each must juggle an extremely busy schedule. If we do not juggle our schedules efficiently, our grades may drop or a child may be left at practice or the bills may go unpaid. All too often people say that attending a university is comparable to a four-year vacation, but in reality, it is not a vacation. We work hard everyday to maintain our lives. Not only do we attend school and live as part of a family, we also have jobs.

Some of us attend school to become better employees for our company. We are always working toward becoming a better person. We want to be a better family member. We work hard everyday. Are the rewards of earning a degree worth all this hard work?

-Vivian

All NEW TRADITION!!!

In a day and age where people would rather converse through text message and instant messaging rather than speak on the telephone, and a professional can work out of their home than from a cubicle it is evident that the notion of traditional is changing. How has the collegiate atmosphere changed?
Two times in the past month I have heard an older individual criticize younger students about not understanding how the real world works. They base their comment on the fact that they are “non-traditional” students and have incite into the working world that they falsely presumed “traditional” students lacks. What is the distinction between “traditional” and “non-traditional” students?
Ten years ago there were two distinct types of collegiate students. The first designation “traditional” were students that were in their early twenties, fresh out of high school, and infrequently had a part-time job. The second designation “non-traditional” were students that were middle aged, had families to care for, had been in the professional world previously, and usually were currently a full-time employee and a part-time evening college student.
Do these classifications fit today - - NO!!! With soaring tuition rates, rising housing costs, and soaring gas prices more and more students, no matter the age, have part-time or full-time jobs to hedge the expenses of pursuing higher education. This work experience gained by younger students fulfills more knowledge into the real world, and falsifies the notions that a young individual does not understand how the real world works. More young people have children at a young age, and continue their dreams of a college degree. With this in mind those lines between tradition and non-tradition are faded and in areas totally dissolved. With this new definition and shifting demographics it would seem the new age “non-traditional student” would be the older “tradition”. So how can universities cater to these changing demographics?
The most effective way would be to lower tuition rates, and not burden students to accumulate tremendous debt in pursuing the American dream; however, we all know that this is not going to happen. Another more realistic alternative is to enhance the “non-traditional” learning environment. “Non-traditional” learning consists of anything beyond the usual 16-week classroom setting. Offering more courses that are conducted online, sorter condensed 8-week programs, intersession week long programs, and a wider range of late evening courses are all areas that would enhance and expand the learning experience for the new age “traditional” students. It is a new and evolving environment, and traditional universities should evolve with their students.

UNM: The Dreaded "Commuter Campus"

I live a grand total of four miles from campus, but every morning, it takes me at least twenty minutes to get there. And that’s on a good day. This is because I park in the South Lot. Uh-oh, you know where this is going.

To get to campus on time, you try to be parked in the South Lot at least a half hour before your class starts, and even then sometimes the crowd to get on the shuttle is so big that you’re late anyway. Why not just set the alarm and get there earlier? Because like most people who live off campus, you work in the evenings after class, which means that you stay up later to do homework, which means that you value your sleep just that much more. You know all of this because unless you live on campus, you’re faculty, staff, or you’ve got rich parents who are willing to pay for the parking structure, you’re forced to do it every day. If that’s not a commute, I don’t know what is.

Granted, the current setup UNM has provided for us is better than having no parking at all. But what good is parking if you can’t afford it? Unless you drive a motorcycle (for which parking permits are $63), be prepared to pay between $112 and $166 for lot parking per year if you’re a student. Because of a graduated-by-income parking fee, UNM’s own faculty and staff have to shell out anywhere between $112 and $1,600 depending on where they decide to park, but good luck finding a professor who parks in South Lot to save money.

When I attended New Mexico State University, parking permits were cheap, and there was a surplus of spaces. NMSU even offered free lots (on the edge of campus) for those who didn’t want to spend money to park. Now, just because you hate the parking at UNM (and trust me, everyone does; go ahead and ask), a cheaper, more efficient parking system is no reason to transfer down to NMSU. Instead, we, the academic community of UNM, must press for a change.

The way NMSU has been able to offer $40 permits (for both students and faculty) is through its cost structure: the reduction of their overhead costs has allowed them to pave lots, fund shuttles and security, and pass the savings on to the students. What exactly is overhead? In this particular situation, it’s the parking structure, or NMSU’s lack thereof. NMSU’s website has statistics detailing other universities’ parking structures, saying that such a structure would cost between $15,000 and $25,000 per parking space to build (have a look if you don’t believe me: http://nmsuparking.com/FAQ.html). And you wondered where all your money was being spent.

Rumor has it that the University has been looking into building another of these money-eaters. I would like to take this opportunity to beg that they do no such thing. Although undeveloped or otherwise available land is sparse in the Nob Hill/Student Ghetto area, I implore the University of New Mexico to find some and put it to good use. Come to think of it, last time I checked, there are a couple of available unpaved lots just south of The Pit (whose principal use is tailgating… remember now?). According to NMSU’s website, traditional parking lots cost around $1,000 per parking space to develop a lot on open land. With more “regular” parking lots at UNM’s disposal, UNM could afford to pay off the parking structure faster, eventually driving down the cost of parking. I don’t know about you, but that would make me happier.

So, how do we make this happen? Simple: all we have to do is expose the parking structure for the succubus that it really is, and support for a new one will quickly diminish. The fact of the matter is we have a right to relatively inexpensive parking here at UNM (cause if the Aggies can have it, why can’t we?), and I would like to know that the Board of Directors here at UNM have evaluated all of their options before the price to park goes up again.

Financial Aid at UNM is EPIC FAIL.

I’ve had more than one run-in with Financial Aid, as have many of my classmates, acquaintances, and friends. We’re all tired of how things are run over there, and since the blatant errors and complete ignorance of this department affects every student attending classes at this university, there’s no better time than the present to discuss the issue. For some reason, I’ve had to go see them about problems with my financial aid during every single semester I’ve been a student here - that's two straight years of having to wait to see an advisor who doesn’t really care about whether or not I get to stay in the classes that I'd registered for. I realize that as a student here at UNM, waiting there is something that’s to be expected maybe once or twice in my college career…but not during every single semester!

An example of why I’m fed up with how things in the Financial Aid department are currently running is something that happened to me in their offices last semester. Right before the deadline to be dropped from classes for lack of payment or financial aid, I suddenly got an e-mail from the Bursar’s office that said that I owed UNM $2500, the exact cost of my tuition plus my textbooks. Upon making an appointment with and then seeing my advisor, I was basically told to plan to make payments, because there wasn’t anything she could really do to help me.

At this point, I was livid with her, so I left the office and called a friend of mine that had the same problem. My friend had gone through the same thing that I was dealing with back then, so she gave me the phone number and e-mail address to the manager of the Financial Aid department. I e-mailed the manager, and she arranged to have me come in to see her immediately. It turns out that there was something that could be done about my problem, so she fixed the problem. The problem turned out to be a clerical error in my financial aid file – it said that I didn’t want unsubsidized funds. The problem was solved, but only after I had to go through a very maddening ordeal with an advisor that I thought actually cared about helping her students.

From many of my friends, I’ve heard horrible stories of being dropped from classes because of clerical errors over at financial aid, having an advisor say that there isn’t anything they can do about any problems and that they should think about a payment plan, and of people being blown off by financial aid staff when they call the office to get basic information about their status or to make an appointment with an advisor. As a matter of fact, at one time when I was over in the office making an appointment with my own advisor, I noticed one of the work-study students at the front desk was chatting away on her cell phone and filing her nails. She could have very well been helping out with the extremely long line that her co-worker was dealing with, but she was basically in her own world and didn’t even bother to look up at me when I passed her by. The Financial Aid department here claims to be here for students, but if this is the way they’re actually here for us, then I’m not sure that I really want their help.

From my own personal experiences and what I’ve heard from my friends, the Financial Aid department here at UNM is doing a very bad job when it comes to caring for its students, and until we as students make a stand and say something to the Dean of Financial Aid and the President of the University about how things are being done over there, things will stay on the same downward spiral…otherwise known as business as usual.

Student Healthcare Goes Above and Beyond on Campus

With the upcoming elections, there has recently been a lot of talk about healthcare in the media. This is an extremely important issue to me for a couple of reasons. First, I’m just one of those people who are always fighting off some infection. I catch everything. If someone I know has a cold, I catch their cold plus pneumonia. I don’t know what is wrong with my immune system. Maybe I didn’t eat enough Flintstone’s vitamins when I was a kid. (Actually, I probably ate too many. Those things were delicious!) The other reason healthcare is pretty high up on my list of socially important priorities is that not only do I frequent doctors offices but I also do not have health insurance. This would be potentially problematic if it weren’t for my success with the UNM Student Health Center.

Every time I mention the words: student health center, I see people’s faces scrunch up in distaste. These types of inexpensive healthcare faculties have bad reputations for being ineffective with poor patient care. I’m here to tell you that at the UNM Student Health Center this is not the case! I have personally used its services throughout my long student career and have never had better care.

The center offers inexpensive basic healthcare for students enrolled at least part time. They do offer health insurance to students each year but, their doctors’ visits only cost twenty dollars. That’s about the same or less than a co-pay through an insurance company anyway. Lab work is of course paid for by the student but, lab costs are much less expensive than that done for private practices and lab results come back in usually about an hour!. Patients can be seen by appointment or through the walk-in clinic anytime. Also, students are explicitly told to notify a nurse or other staff members if they are kept waiting for more than twenty minutes in line, in the waiting room, or in an exam room. Anyone who has spent the dreaded hours sick and waiting in a doctor’s office knows what a rarity that is!

The doctors, nurses, and physician’s assistants are the most amazing aspects of the health center. They are always thorough and never give you that sense of needing to move on to the next patient. I had another example of this excellent medical care recently. Over the winter break I was sick for a few weeks with a couple of different illnesses and was seen at the student health center. I was intensely ill and was urged by the staff to come back to track my progression several times over the course of three weeks. Every few days my doctor would call me at home to check up on me! Then she would ask me to come in to do follow up exams, which I was not charged for. With five doctor’s visits, several prescriptions, and extensive lab work, my total cost for the entire three weeks of care was only 100 dollars. I would challenge anyone to find a medical practice with better patient care!

I could go on and on about the amazing experiences I have had at our health center. My best advice is to experience it for yourself! I urge all UNM students and staff to utilize the many services provided by the health center, even if it’s just to get a cheap flu shot or to pick up your prescription in between classes. I’m graduating this semester and am sad to give up the student health center as my medical sanctuary but, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to use it these last years.

VooDoo Economics and the Legacy of Ben Stein

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning I wake my daughter up an hour earlier than normal to get her ready. I drop her off at my sister’s in the NE Heights and drive a littler faster than normal to be on time for my 8AM math class. My teacher arrives on time and is friendly, approachable, and has a great sense of humor. Yes, she does wear slippers and always has chalk all over her butt, but that does not bother me. What does bother me is that when I am at home doing my homework (excuse me, trying to do my homework) I am lost and confused. I repeatedly ask myself, “Did we even talk about this?” I heard other students saying the same thing last week and have realized that she is just a poor teacher. I put a lot of effort, time, and money into my education. I take it very seriously and I wish that more teachers would do the same.

Most of us are familiar with the saying, “Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach”. This statement is misleading because it implies that no skill is required to teach and it is just a fallback for those who are unsuccessful in practical applications of their degrees. This may apply to some teachers, but certainly not all of them. That could be the distinction between being a crappy teacher and a great one, the desire to actually instruct. I have been in school a long time (no I am not telling you how long) and found that teaching is an art and a skill.

I have had some amazing teachers and with their guidance and skill I have learned a great deal. I have had some teachers that made 45 minutes of class time an eternity. It reminds me of the classic scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” regarding Voodoo economics. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, watch the video from the link and I feel confident you will understand my point. For example, my English 101 teacher would sing Amazing Grace whenever we didn’t know the answer to her questions and she wouldn’t stop until she heard the right answer. This situation made for some extremely long mornings. The only thing I was certain of was that she loved the McGriddle sandwich but everything else was fuzzy. Teaching requires more than spouting facts, sentence structure, and your personal life. Being a good teacher means that you care whether your students understand, how they learn, and what they will actually retain when finals are over. Most importantly, it should never, ever, ever include non-stop loops of Amazing Grace.

I understand that for most teachers their job is monotonous and that most students mentally checkout before class even begins. I do not care, even if a teacher has taught a class 52 times, it is the first time I have taken the class and I am eager to learn. I would have more empathy for bad teachers if there were not such outstanding teachers that have been teaching just as long. If I were to rewrite the famous maxim regarding teachers it would go something like this. “Those who are privileged enough to be able to apply their degrees in a job they love, more power to them. Those who have to find another source of income should only teach because they want to.”

Coming Soon!

In the next several weeks, this blog will begin to share perspectives from UNM students (all enrolled in a section of English 320) on various subjects related to life at the University of New Mexico. Stay tuned!