Heather J.
Yelp
Full disclosure: I did not become a student here, for reasons listed below.
How much do you figure a Bachelor of Arts from UMD is worth, once you add up all the real, actualized, and fantasy benefits to personal, educational and career prospects?
Say... $20,000 a year? Remember, this is U of M at Dearborn, not Ann Arbor.
Choking on your coffee now? So was I, minus the coffee. That's how much you will be paying unless you have lived in-state for three years.The feds and state government call me a citizen after several months. But not shiny U of M.
That reality check sent me strolling straight for my car in their lovely, freshly paved and painted parking lot. Clearly this institution isn't hurting with that sort of infernal requirement helping them rake in the dough.
The admissions adviser saw me after a bit of a wait. She gave me a blinking bird look, and asked me what I wanted. Um, my dear, I'm here to transfer to your institution. It's not rocket science! Isn't it your job to explain the process to me? Off to an awkward start, I concentrated on my core concerns: degree requirements, transfer credits, tuition and financial aid, and adult education [e.g., evening/weekend classes, online courses, challenging or testing out, acceleration].
** Note to people: meet with an academics adviser, not admissions. My adviser declared she couldn't really give me detailed responses and ended up printing info off the website I had with me.
Requirements: She handed me the print out from the website.
Transfer credits: Shuffled my transcripts and gave a vague 'we review classes for comparisons' speech.
Flexible learning:
Her: "History doesn't offer evening or weekend classes, so you know."
Me: "Really? Their handout on the website says they are committed to evening classes."
Her: "Um... Huh. I guess you can look on online..."
Me: "Are there any specifically noted in the calendar or is there a timetable for the coming semesters?"
Her: "No."
Scintillating helpfulness.
Financial aid:
I told her my status: a transfer student who moved to Michigan in 2011 who doesn't wish to use federal or state student loans. Queue talk about FAFSA and a dozen different scholarship options she sees I can't qualify for: no transfer, international, new student, etc.
"Oh. So... yeah, you don't qualify. But you can try private scholarships!"
The killing blow was that cost per year. "$10,000 per year," which was the total cost of my AA degree, 4 years of Canadian university where I flipped majors, and all expenses (books, fees, transportation, gym, wasting time). Maybe I can make it work.
Residency:
Her: "So you've lived here three years."
Me: "No, since last year. 2011."
"Oh. Then you're out of state. Ann Arbor sets the policies for all three campuses. You have to live here three years to get in-state tuition. U of M attracts people from all over the country, all over the world. When they make their decision, you can submit a request for review but there's a 99% chance they'll judge you're out of state."
I tried not to laugh. I politely declined, telling her it was well outside my range. I thanked her and started to rise. She powered on through her spiel. I dumped the calendar and print-outs into the recycling bin.
Great job selling your overpriced undergraduate institution, honey. There's nothing UMD offers that Wayne State, Eastern Michigan, Michigan State, Oakland, U of D - Mercy, University of Windsor or frankly University of _Phoenix_ doesn't. O of M AA has great grad rates... UMD doesn't.
You didn't sell me, and I won't be coming back. With service like that, why would I?