IlliniBucks
In a school setting where one has the advantage of moving up the line, IlliniBucks might be extremely useful. There is a possibility of a high demand for IlliniBucks since there is no additional charge for receiving the allocation. Some factors to consider when determining exclusive access can be through merit-based and community involvement. The level of community involvement and merit-based can be joint that is allowing outstanding students with academic achievement, engagement, service and demonstrated leadership on campus have access to IlliniBucks. This way students are not only measured by their GPA, but their overall qualification. It might also be unfair to put a class restriction because it encourages everyone to perform well regardless of whether they are freshmans or seniors. Candidates would be selected every year through nominations from students or faculty and staff members. This can be similar to the way they pick the senior 100 honorary students every year. There would also be criteria given to students to reprimand their IlliniBucks if they stop performing well academically or stop exhibiting leadership and community involvement.
Registration is typically one of the things that stress college students apart from exams, applying to jobs, among other things. Finding the right schedule plays a great role in reducing exams stress. Using myself as an example, I don't like 8ams because it usually takes me a long time to actually get up from my bed after waking up. So being able to find the perfect schedule in terms of time, day of the week and location are things I consider when picking classes. I prefer to have my classes start at 11am, and end somewhere around 2pm. It gives me enough time to get dressed, eat breakfast and attend classes. I also prefer when I have to back-to back classes because I get to finish on time, and also avoid having to think about what do if I have 30-1hr break between my classes. Also, having one class I consider difficult, and another class that is a lot easier is much preferred by me. This is to reduce the possibility of having two difficult exams consecutively. Infact, I would trade a Friday class for a 8:00am class just because I would rather sleep in on Friday or travel to Chicago Thursday evening so that I can have a long weekend. Lastly, I prefer if my classes are close to where I live and particularly close to each other. This semester, most of my classes are either at Wohlers or DKH, so its easier to get to them since they are back-to back. It also reduces the chances of me missing classes because I wouldn't want to miss two classes in a row. Thus, if IlliniBucks is an option for me to easily get my preference without having to constantly check course explorer to see if someone has dropped a class I want, then it is definitely something I would spend my IlliniBucks on.
Event tickets such as football games, basketball games or even performance at Krannert Center are things that I would spend my IlliniBucks on. I am a huge fan of basketball games because I love how interesting it is and how active it makes me feel. Football games on the other hands aren't my favorite because I don't really understand what is going on. I also think that they can be too long sometimes, but I go to them mostly when my friends are in town or really just to show school spirit. Also, I love watching life plays and shows at krannert because this makes me appreciate art more, and allows me see things in a different way. Usually, I would buy tickets to basketball games in advance, but for football games and shows, I am less likely to buy them. Hypothetically, knowing that my IlliniBucks can get me a 50% discount on tickets to a football game would increase the number of games I see in a season. It would even be amazing if I can buy ticket for a guest. I would be more inclined to spend my Friday/Saturday going to games, and even spare evening during the week to attend shows at Krannert. Something to consider is if I get priority to pick front row seats or at least seats with great views with my IlliniBucks
Since the initial charge for Illinibucks is included in student's account, it might be easier to get all students to opt for it., especially if the cost is low. I say this because people are more likely to act in a certain way and spend more money when they are not directly paying for it. Consider the example of people purchasing a lot of goods and services when they have a credit card. They keep swiping, and making that payment because they are not automatically aware of the charge probably till when their credit card statement comes in the mail at the end of the month.
On the other hand, if the price of IlliniBucks is too high people might not be interested even if it allows them move ahead of the line. An example to consider in this case is the university housing meal plan rates. The popular meal plans is the 12/15 and 10/45. The 12/15 allows students to have 12 all-you-can eat meals from Sunday-Saturday with 15 additional credit which is equivalent to $15 to purchase items from the convenience stores in any dining hall. The 10/45 is similar to 12/15 but students gets 10 meals and 45 cafe credits. Most students tend to get the 12/15 meal plan because of the extra $680 difference between the meal plans; cost for 12/15 is $4,560 per year and cost for 10/45 is $5,240. In fact, students that sign up for the 10/45 in their first semester often switch to 12/15 because they do not end up finishing the 45 credit in a week or they end up using their credit to swipe in their friends to eat at the dinning hall. Thus, making IlliniBucks expensive might reduce the demand especially once students realize that they can cope without it or they can find ways to ask friends that still opts in for illinibucks regardless of the high price to help them reserve classes or purchase items for them.
Registration is typically one of the things that stress college students apart from exams, applying to jobs, among other things. Finding the right schedule plays a great role in reducing exams stress. Using myself as an example, I don't like 8ams because it usually takes me a long time to actually get up from my bed after waking up. So being able to find the perfect schedule in terms of time, day of the week and location are things I consider when picking classes. I prefer to have my classes start at 11am, and end somewhere around 2pm. It gives me enough time to get dressed, eat breakfast and attend classes. I also prefer when I have to back-to back classes because I get to finish on time, and also avoid having to think about what do if I have 30-1hr break between my classes. Also, having one class I consider difficult, and another class that is a lot easier is much preferred by me. This is to reduce the possibility of having two difficult exams consecutively. Infact, I would trade a Friday class for a 8:00am class just because I would rather sleep in on Friday or travel to Chicago Thursday evening so that I can have a long weekend. Lastly, I prefer if my classes are close to where I live and particularly close to each other. This semester, most of my classes are either at Wohlers or DKH, so its easier to get to them since they are back-to back. It also reduces the chances of me missing classes because I wouldn't want to miss two classes in a row. Thus, if IlliniBucks is an option for me to easily get my preference without having to constantly check course explorer to see if someone has dropped a class I want, then it is definitely something I would spend my IlliniBucks on.
Event tickets such as football games, basketball games or even performance at Krannert Center are things that I would spend my IlliniBucks on. I am a huge fan of basketball games because I love how interesting it is and how active it makes me feel. Football games on the other hands aren't my favorite because I don't really understand what is going on. I also think that they can be too long sometimes, but I go to them mostly when my friends are in town or really just to show school spirit. Also, I love watching life plays and shows at krannert because this makes me appreciate art more, and allows me see things in a different way. Usually, I would buy tickets to basketball games in advance, but for football games and shows, I am less likely to buy them. Hypothetically, knowing that my IlliniBucks can get me a 50% discount on tickets to a football game would increase the number of games I see in a season. It would even be amazing if I can buy ticket for a guest. I would be more inclined to spend my Friday/Saturday going to games, and even spare evening during the week to attend shows at Krannert. Something to consider is if I get priority to pick front row seats or at least seats with great views with my IlliniBucks
Since the initial charge for Illinibucks is included in student's account, it might be easier to get all students to opt for it., especially if the cost is low. I say this because people are more likely to act in a certain way and spend more money when they are not directly paying for it. Consider the example of people purchasing a lot of goods and services when they have a credit card. They keep swiping, and making that payment because they are not automatically aware of the charge probably till when their credit card statement comes in the mail at the end of the month.
On the other hand, if the price of IlliniBucks is too high people might not be interested even if it allows them move ahead of the line. An example to consider in this case is the university housing meal plan rates. The popular meal plans is the 12/15 and 10/45. The 12/15 allows students to have 12 all-you-can eat meals from Sunday-Saturday with 15 additional credit which is equivalent to $15 to purchase items from the convenience stores in any dining hall. The 10/45 is similar to 12/15 but students gets 10 meals and 45 cafe credits. Most students tend to get the 12/15 meal plan because of the extra $680 difference between the meal plans; cost for 12/15 is $4,560 per year and cost for 10/45 is $5,240. In fact, students that sign up for the 10/45 in their first semester often switch to 12/15 because they do not end up finishing the 45 credit in a week or they end up using their credit to swipe in their friends to eat at the dinning hall. Thus, making IlliniBucks expensive might reduce the demand especially once students realize that they can cope without it or they can find ways to ask friends that still opts in for illinibucks regardless of the high price to help them reserve classes or purchase items for them.
I want to focus on what you wrote in the second paragraph because you were quite descriptive about your time of day preference for classes as well as about having a mixture of easy and hard courses. (Please let me know how Econ of Organizations fits in that dimension.) So, for the sake of argument, let's say that you are typical of most students in the preferences you describe. The question then is how should the campus respond with course offerings. Which students get those 8 AM classes? Or should the campus get rid of them and simply offer classes during those time periods when students are willing to go to class? Of course, that would reduce the supply of course offerings and at least in some cases where courses are in high demand, that would probably be the wrong thing to do.
ReplyDeleteSo it might be worth thinking through what an efficient allocation would be where some students did get the 8 AM classes. Let me give two different arguments about this. Some educators argue that students your age are nocturnal and thus that school should start later. Others argue that school is preparation for the world of work and when you are working you have to get to work on time. In the first argument, 8 AM classes are a kind of punishment or boot camp, an unpleasant thing that has to be endured because there is now way to have enough courses otherwise. In the second argument 8 AM classes are a kind of training for the world of work. Students need to get use to that and reorient their schedules accordingly.
In the first argument, first and second year students probably should get the bulk of the 8 AM classes, as fitting with every rite of passage. Everyone goes through it. In the second argument, juniors and seniors, especially, should get the the 8 AM classes because they will soon be on the job market.
I want to note that many students, while viewing school as preparation for the world of work, also consider it as something quite different. They have the freedom from not living with their parents and not having the responsibility to work a full time job. So they spend a lot of time on recreation, because they know they won't have that freedom once they graduate. Then they need to be responsible.
The university, in my opinion, acquiesces to the student preference. So it would be quite a sea change to actually have the second argument become university policy. But one wonders if it actually were to happen if the students would be more successful thereafter.
I would say my classes this semester do not follow the easy and difficult setting, but rather they are all long classes. That is, each an 1:20 minutes. They are also not focused on exams, so instead of having 4 exams for a class, in most cases I only have two. Badm 320 is arguable one of the most popular business classes on campus because of the professor's teaching style and exam type. That's the class I have at 9:30 before Econ of the Organization, and I would say Econ of the Organization requires more of my time in a typical week.
DeleteI have met a couple students that prefer 8am classes, and their argument is similar to yours. They believe it is a good preparation for the real world. The 8am classes should still be available, but students that have the illinibucks get preference over others. Completely scrapping 8am classes would defintely reduce the supply, and allocation of classes because there wouldn't be space for every class to pick a later time. I wonder how these classes are being allocated. Do professors pick 8am classes or does the school schedules them without giving professors much options to choose?
I had to sign up for Badm 320 this semester, and postpone taking Badm 310 till the spring. This is because Badm 320 is only offered at 8:00am in the Spring. I believe if students had the opportunity to bypass 8:00am classes with their IlliniBucks, then they would opt in for IlliniBucks instead of having to wait another semester to pick their required class.
I absolutely agree that everyone should experience at least one 8:00am class, and probably the most efficient way to do this is making people take these classes as freshman's. The funny thing is somehow we are able to make it to an 8:00 class or work when we have no choice. For the past two summers, I had to be at work at 8:30am, and everyday I made it to work on time, considering that it was a 30 minute CTA ride from my house. I had to be up at 6:45 to be out of the house by 7:45am. I think this is the case of many others (using some of my friends as a reference), they are able to make their 8:00 work even when they convince themselves that they can't take an 8:00 class because they are not morning people.
Registration is always a stressful time of the semester because you have to match taking the classes you need to take with times that work with your personal schedule with finding the right professors of the class. It is especially unfair when two or more professors teach the same class and one is easier than the others. If one is easier, word spreads and that professor's class gets filled up right away. For me, it is always a struggle for me to get up in the morning at any time before 11:30 (I know, it's bad). So I try to avoid any classes before that time. As a senior, at this point I know what kind of classes and at what times works best for me as a student. It is important to make the selection of your classes very carefully for it to match the type of student that you are so you can succeed the best academically.
ReplyDeleteI'm a night owl, so luckily for me, waiting to do laundry wasn't so bad. Since I'd already be up at 1am, I'd do my laundry then because most of the washers and dryers would be empty. So I guess in this situation it's the night owl, not the early bird, that gets the worm (or laundry).
One thing I wonder about offering Illinibucks to students with really good grades or with campus involvement is that if it encourages a vicious cycle of those kids doing better and the ones without being worse off. Since Illinibucks saves us on time waiting, that time we save could be used towards being more productive like studying and participating in RSOs. I would argue that not giving the academically-challenged or not-involved students won't encourage them to improve because they'll still have to waste time waiting in lines, time that could be used towards bettering their performance instead.
I also dislike early morning classes and discussed the topic on my post. I also believe that freshmans and sophomores should have to be the ones to take 8ams, that might be selfish, but think about it, as a freshman you are still used to waking up early for school (from high school) and therefore more likely to keep the habit going and even more likely to continue taking early classes. I think keeping the habit would be more efficient than trying to make a senior, who woke up at 11am for the past 3 years, also who is more likely to be 21 years old and going out more to enjoy their last year wake up for an 8am to "train them for workforce".
DeleteAgain, I do not believe selling Illini Bucks would be a very good idea. It would be difficult to price them exactly at equilibrium. Now, the idea of rewarding students who are involved in the community or go above and beyond (honorary students) is a great idea. If they are seen as valuable, which they would if they can be used to all the applications you mentioned, students would want them, and maybe be more motivated to join an RSO, volunteer more in the community. I don't think it would motivate students to become honorary, since every student would want this, accomplishing that is a different story, but it would be a nice reward for those who accomplish that.
Therefore, Illini Bucks would create a benefit for the university at no cost.