I check my mail and there is a schedule and a list of classes for the 1996-1997 year. That's when I find out that I haven't paid my deposit yet and so I am not registered. I didn't get a reminder and neither did my parents, so I go to accounting and pay the deposit. I even check the box on some form that says, "Yes, I am coming back" instead of the one that says, "No, I am leaving so it is okay for you to delete my registration information." I am okay again. Suddenly, the woman behind the counter points to a date on my blank schedule and tells me that's when I can sign up for my classes. But I already have registered, I protest. I am all set. Not any more, she informs me. You lost all your registration information.
I now have to sign up for classes all over again. I am praying that the classes I absolutely need to graduate are not full by now. Why does it have to be like this? Why even bother checking those boxes? Why didn't I get a reminder or a phone call or even a small note that said "Hey, stupid. You missed this deadline. Hurry up or you'll lose all your classes." My brother goes to a college of similar size but with lower tuition costs, and his advisor called my mother to ask if he had withdrawn when he didn't show up for a week of class (because of the weather). Why didn't my advisor get some note to contact me and see if there was a problem? I only have four months to go! I'm not going to transfer now!!
My problem with this whole event is the following. We just had a recent tuition hike. We need this to provide students with necessary services, right? How about a service that waits a week or so before deleting your entire schedule? A service that finds a way to inform the student that he or she is in default and needs to pay their deposit immediately? Sure, they did this last part, but now they have endangered my future and and the futures of others in my predicament. So in my haste to get my classes and such done and pass at the same time I neglected to follow the WPI calendar and note the date that says "Tuition Deposit Due." Does that mean they can't wait a week or even two days before purging their system of my schedule like so many bad clams?
This may be whining. This may even be pitiful. You may not ever face this situation yourself. But what if you do? What if you did? At an institution that carries a hefty name and a heftier price tag, a little more should be expected than this.