Ignorance is not bliss
ConnectND has been in the news quite a bit recently.
It was discovered that several universities in North Dakota were overcharging students for the ConnectND fee to implement the PeopleSoft solution.
This is not surprising on the surface, since everyone in the university system sees the students as cash-cows and has little problem with charging more and more for any service.
NDSU has essentially doubled tuition since 1998, which exceeds the very low rate of inflation and if you ask any professor, it becomes very clear that they aren’t getting the benefits of this tuition increase.
What exactly is ConnectND? It is supposed to be the “all-in-one” administrative solution to the state and the university’s problems.
However, it hasn’t proved to be this at all, and the students are paying for it: $81 per semester, to be exact, for each fulltime student. The program also causes headaches for anyone using it.
However, the real problem is the fact that the North Dakota Board of Higher Education set the cap for the student fee at $42 back in 2003. This means that every university charging more than the $42 cap is in violation of the policy.
What caught me by surprise, however, was the relatively minor reaction to this violation of policy.
Imagine if the roles had been reversed and the state had been overcharged.
Would there be this deafening silence?
Not likely.
Because the victims of this policy violation are students, the reaction is tepid at best. After all, the students are the easiest targets from which to suck money, and any abuse of the system that charges them extra is easy to overlook.
What should the reaction be?
I think the reaction by the students and anyone else paying tuition or fees should be extremely outraged. Not only in light of extra charges, but also of the policy violation.
This is a double standard.
If a student violates a policy, there are serious repercussions, including expulsion from the university. This rule applies to all policies — even the ones created by groups that don’t consult or involve students in the decision-making.
There should be a demand by the student body — led by student government — demanding a refund for all of the overcharged money. This should include all of the students overcharged since the first time the fee exceeded the policy.
Secondly, the people and departments involved should be considered for possible disciplinary action. This could set a great precedent, and also show that even state institutions are not excused from shady behavior.
The last thing we need is an Enron scandal in the universities.
Although the tuition increases over the last seven years almost qualify.
The original article in The Forum said the overcharging was due to an “oversight” of the policy. Hmmm, doesn’t that sound like administrative-speak for, “I didn’t know that law existed?”
Every court in this land, and many students can quote this line from memory, says “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Penalties apply whether or not the law was actually known by the offending party. Again, I believe the reason this isn’t getting any big reactions is that the victims of this crime are students, who usually expect to be robbed.
How long will it take before college students realize they are being robbed and take a stand against tuition and skyrocketing fees?
I felt the student government’s reaction to the ConnectND news was less than enthusiastic on behalf of the students. The proposed remedy to these illegally imposed fees is to raise the cap or erase it altogether.
That probably will be the ultimate result, but in the meantime, it is high time that students demand an appropriate response, including: a refund, some sort of disciplinary action for the violators and an actual student-centered approach to fixing this mess — one that does not lead to increased fees.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum