,
31 tweets,
6 min read
Read on Twitter
Thread.
What Dr. Moraine is talking about here is part of what I've been talking about recently about the idea that institutions have a user interface.
Most people going through grad school are doing it for the first and only time. The process needs to be newbie friendly.
Most people going through grad school are doing it for the first and only time. The process needs to be newbie friendly.
The whole arcane system of funding higher education, where we make it unsustainably unaffordable and then partially fix that with a hodge podge of partial solutions that almost work if we're willing to work participants a few years towards an early grave creates misunderstandings
My original plans for life probably would have steered me into graduate studies, but luckily I had a nervous breakdown brought on by sleep deprivation related to insomnia and poorly understood sleep paralysis so I missed all that.
But with the national conversation around student debt forgiveness/debt reform, I've noticed a really common thread and that is: it's *really* easy to screw up your funding when you're a grad student. Miss out on forgiveness programs, get locked into penalties and high interest..
People with fellowships that are supposed to be paying their bills waiting forever for the money, being given hoop after hoop until getting paid effectively becomes another job.
As Dr. Moraine notes, policy is on the university's side in their dispute. And. I mean. It's on the institution's side. Not on the side of students.
Most students are probably in-state when they first apply, or out of state. Students who move hit this.
Most students are probably in-state when they first apply, or out of state. Students who move hit this.
The university deals with this every time it comes up. Students deal with it once or not at all, almost always the first time when they do.
There are people in this world who will stare blankly at a gas pump covered in plastic with an 'out of order sign' and then walking through a door with a 'Sorry, our pumps are out of order!' sign on it and walk up to a counter with the same sign to say "Your pump's broken."
But I don't think that's what's happening in all of these stories of people who miss important policies when signing up for funding, registering for classes, enrolling, taking out loans.
It's a hostile bureaucratic maze. It's a game with no tutorial level.
It's a hostile bureaucratic maze. It's a game with no tutorial level.
By the way, this is by far and away not the only issue here... but just think about how much of this would just go away if we funded higher education better.
If you didn't have to pinball back and forth among different sources of funding year to year to continue your studies, if you didn't to scrimp and scavenge and hustle all the time, if you didn't have to get a masters in bureaucracy on top of your degree.
I wonder if UMD has a similar policy for when they accidentally charge an out-of-state student the in-state tuition. I wonder. I really wonder.
I kind of suspect if they found out a student had been getting the in-state rate who didn't technically qualify, then not only would they charge the student back tuition they might be looking at that student's applications and petitions for fraud.
This is not a policy that supports students. The financial benefit to the university of it is marginal. A loss of a few thousand dollars spread out over years, in the rare case when it comes up.
The bigger "benefit" is in consumer psychology.
The bigger "benefit" is in consumer psychology.
Declaring the matter closed as soon as the transaction occurs limits their ability to have to consider any past transaction an open case they might have to revisit. It makes bygones bygones (but again, only in one direction), normalizes a lack of redress among students.
OH, YES, INDEED.
A lot of this makes sense to the people administrating these institutions because it's just how they do things in their world. People who have been in that world have a leg up, always.
A lot of this makes sense to the people administrating these institutions because it's just how they do things in their world. People who have been in that world have a leg up, always.
You shouldn't need existing institutional knowledge to navigate an institution.
That's bad user interface design. It gives a bad user experience.
That's bad user interface design. It gives a bad user experience.
It's not that this one case is the biggest problem in the world of higher learning or the high cost of higher education, but it's emblematic of multiple problems: the hostility of graduate studies to graduate students, the burden of paying for university, the workaholicism, etc.
If these threads get traction then inevitably there will be the backlash of "Oh you should have known, obviously it's your responsibility."
I feel strongly that people who move through an institution should be able to trust that institution. It's sacred to me.
I feel strongly that people who move through an institution should be able to trust that institution. It's sacred to me.
If you're in a situation where your guides through the system are handing you forms, telling you what you need to do, setting up the registration for you... they shouldn't be on autopilot unless it's an autopilot situation.
Was it the responsibility of the faculty or the admin staff or anyone else to know this one student had moved from out of state to in state and make sure they did the paperwork for that?
I mean, no.
Because the meta of the system wasn't designed to make anyone responsible.
I mean, no.
Because the meta of the system wasn't designed to make anyone responsible.
And that's bad design. It's a bad system. It's a bad system that will work just fine for a lot of people, for the "typical" user, and then almost inevitably badly fail someone who just lands in the wrong spot.
A rollercoaster that passes every safety test but will eject anyone from an Ohio town that had an odd population in the 1970 census on days after it rains is not a good rollercoaster.
And the thing is... from what I can see, from the outside, academia is not getting easier. It's not getting less stressful. The same factors that are making people work two-three jobs for not enough to do better than dying more slowly in the private sector are affecting academia.
So any one of these tricks and traps that people are falling prey to... they might have been workable, sustainable, avoidable before, when they were coming less often.
And some people will always be dealing with more things at once.
And some people will always be dealing with more things at once.
Anyway. It's a sucky situation, there's no real recourse. Dr. Moraine has effectively donated $6,000 to UMD and they're not even naming a brick on a paved pathway after them.
Policy is principle.
I read a quote recently: "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." James Clear was talking about personal habits, but it can apply to institutions.
(And game design, side point.)
I read a quote recently: "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." James Clear was talking about personal habits, but it can apply to institutions.
(And game design, side point.)
Anyway, if you're currently or about to go into the university system, this is something to look out for. Especially if you're going between responsibility for paying and not, or moving across state lines to live closer to your school.
And of course knowing how it works at UMD because of this cautionary tale isn't necessarily going to tell you what you need to look out for or how to avoid it somewhere else.
But at least you can know it's a thing.
But at least you can know it's a thing.
In conclusion... Dr. Sunny Moraine is also one of the most emotionally literate and evocative fiction authors I've ever known and this is my favorite collection of short stories in the world. They're out a lot of money, so it's a great time discover them.
sunnymoraine.com/2016/06/09/sin…
sunnymoraine.com/2016/06/09/sin…
