Illinibucks
seem like an interesting concept to implement for the campus. While at first I
did think that Illinibucks could be very positive for such a large campus and
make figuring out who gets priority easier, (whether it’s senior students, athletes,
etc.) it could also cause anger among students due to the change in the process.
This sort of change puts money on top of the list, meaning that if a student
had the money, they would have priority over anyone else, which does not seem
fair. Things that would be a candidate for this are things such as registering
for classes, purchasing books, sporting events tickets, and many more.
My first
priority when it comes to anything having to do with this university is getting
my preferred class schedule. That is why the first thing I would use my Illinibucks for is getting priority to be one of the first students to
register for my courses. The next thing I would use my Illinibucks for is for
books. Other than those two things, I can’t imagine really using them for
anything other than books and registering for classes because I usually don’t
attend a lot of sporting events.
I believe
that a number of prices would arise if Illinibucks were actually implemented.
Setting a price would be very difficult and could cause a potential loss in
money for the university. If the price is too low then too many students will have priority, therefore too many people would have priority which defeats the purpose. If the price is too high for the Illinibucks then the same thing could happen. Not enough students would buy it which means that everyone has the same priority and that Illinibucks are benefiting anyone. It also gives a dollar amount to get first priority,
which should be the case in my opinion. Being a senior, having a high GPA or
large amount of credit hours should be more important for giving someone a
priority rather than the amount of money they have.
Suppose that Illinibucks were allocated to each student at the beginning of the semester. They aren't purchased. They are part of being a student. Would that take care of the first objection?
ReplyDeleteI can understand your use of Illinibucks for registering for classes, but books are really commercial goods provided by the market, not the university. There may be an issue of waiting in line at the bookstore during the first week of semester, where Illinibucks would be useful, but if you bought your books on line, you'd have to pay for that. It doesn't make sense to use Illinibucks for that purpose.
I definitely see how transfer bucks could affect the course selection process. I think that this would personally create conflicts in how illinibucks would be divided. In theory illinibucks would create a more level playing field but it would create unnecessary conflicts when people should have a priority of other people. Should someone from another major have the same priority over students that need to take a specific course in order to graduate? What if people can purchase more illinibucks with additional money? You mentioned that you don't typically go to sporting events or anything of that nature. What if someone that is very involved in these types of events? What if they utilize their illinibucks for extracurricular activities instead of school? I think many people could potentially suffer because they are unable to effectively balance out their illinibucks.
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