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Answers can be absent at UH

Being a college student is tough. Not only does one have to juggle classes, studying, work, family and friends, but also all the time spent surfing the Internet, picking whom to support in the presidential election and, of course, finding time to sleep. It makes one tired just thinking of all the events one has to cram into his or her waking hours.

One aspect of a student’s life that should be easy is finding an answer. In an ideal world, the response to an inquiry would be a mouse click or two away, but thanks to People- Soft this is not the case. Students have to get creative in order to ascertain what is going on with their academic progress or financial situation.

Filed a petition with your department but have not received a response? You can find out whether it was approved through the supposedly antiquated Enrollment Services Online (simply click on "academic audit").

A trip to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid to find out why your financial aid has been delayed will have you pondering during your exhaustive wait why the service representatives in the department get up after helping one student to wander around and have casual conversations with other employees.

Say you get an answer not suitable to you and you want to take your case to a higher up – like to the attention of new UH President Renu Khator.

You will have to search out her office on your own, as very few UH employees know how to get in touch with the president, much less where the office is (it’s on the second floor of the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building).

Want to know why you need to take a foreign-language placement test in order to continue in the first year of Spanish?

Refrain from asking anyone in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, since the only answer given is, "It must be taken because it has to be taken." That’s hardly a substantial response.

Though it is required in order to place a student in a level of foreign-language course corresponding to the student’s proficiency, one wonders why the student must pay $10 to take a department-mandated placement exam.

A student already pays tuition for the class, in addition to at least two additional fees that support the Language Acquisition Center.

The test could be administered through the LAC since a student’s fees ensure one has use of the facility throughout the semester, and since it is a requirement of the department, however, the placement test must be taken through the University Testing Center, which charges a fee.

The search for answers to University-related questions can go on and on.

While whomever you ask may not be knowledgeable enough to give you a concrete answer, the constant theme throughout is that student’s need to be diligent in pursuing the information needed to satiate their inquiries.

Knowing all there is to know about your academic pursuit falls squarely on your shoulders, my fellow students. Those chatterboxes in financial aid are not the ones who need the money to pay for school – you are. Placement exams need to be taken and fees need to be paid by the student.

A Chinese proverb says, "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever." If you end up feeling foolish because of the people to whom you asked the question, ask someone else.

Keep asking until you get your answers. You are the one who benefits from your education, so you need to get to the bottom of all that is happening related to your time here.

Do not fork over money without knowing why; do not sit idly by and allow yourself to be run over by a seemingly unorganized bureaucratic establishment housed on University grounds. Advocate for yourself, for no one else is going to speak up for you.

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