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Every year the hoity-toity higher ups at my university meet up to decide changes in course fees etc. The laws say they can't rise any higher than 4% every year. It's gone up 4% every single year. It used to be a kind of open thing where students were allowed to debate the potential raising of course fees, but last year they held the meeting in an undisclosed location, and banned students from attempting to disrupt it when people figured out where it was going to be held. Our university's vice-chancellor is the highest paid public servant in the country; last I heard he got a $20,000+ pay rise recently.
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Jan 26, 2015 08:03
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| # ? May 16, 2024 10:50 |
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:The textbook industry is a goddamn racket. There's one professor in particular I've had like six times who is not only freaking brilliant but also awesome. He only actually used a textbook for one class, ever. He even wrote his own for the one class but when he found out that people just referenced his power point slides he quit requiring textbooks at all and just posts his slides on his site. I have another professor who won't even put in book requests and when the semester starts will say "you'll need to get this book at some point, I don't really care when. You can get any edition, it doesn't really matter. You can find first or second editions on Amazing for like $6 and those are good enough." When asked their opinions on books both agree that they're hideously overpriced. I kind of feel like more professors are going "wow, gently caress textbooks."
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Jan 26, 2015 08:12
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don't buy textbooks except for when you need it for the access to key to the homework, and even then try talking to the professor or something e: i've only ever needed an online access key for 100 level science courses anyway
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Jan 26, 2015 08:37
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ToxicSlurpee posted:I kind of feel like more professors are going "wow, gently caress textbooks." Definitely. It's not even just younger, cooler folks, either. My BLAW prof is this 60-something Mississippi lawyer, but he said that basically everything we'd need would be posted on blackboard.
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Jan 26, 2015 11:43
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How Rude posted:why aren't there laws or something protecting the interests of the students or whatever. it feels like i'm burning money every time the next semester's bill is ready to be paid with all the extra course fees and textbooks on top of my tuition Oh, oh, this is an easy one. They consistently have the lowest voter turnout in major elections, and even lower in smaller elections like the 2014 congressional election. As someone politically active who just left the 18-24 bracket, this is a sore issue for me. Granted, this isn't the whole issue, but it is a big loving deal.
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Jan 26, 2015 17:49
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How Rude posted:why aren't there laws or something protecting the interests of the students or whatever. it feels like i'm burning money every time the next semester's bill is ready to be paid with all the extra course fees and textbooks on top of my tuition In the case of textbooks, the answer is "lobbyists"
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Jan 26, 2015 18:12
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I'm in an MBA program, and for this year instead of raising tuition, they unbundled textbooks (used to be included with tuition). So it's a backdoor tuition raise. Each new class that begins, the students ask pointed questions about whether they really must buy the textbook, can I buy an older edition, etc. All of the professors are appalled to hear how much the textbooks cost. Most of them backed off on the textbook requirement in response.
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Jan 26, 2015 19:53
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For almost 4 years I had good luck with group assignments. For the first time. I've gotten someone lovely. 3 times I've tried to meet up he's been gone for 2. I've asked him to e-mail me on the research he should have done. If I don't get anything tonight, I'm just going to do the work myself and tell the prof he can move to another topic. I've always been chill with people and made sure we could do least amount of effort for best grade available (and my groups always seemed to have gotten pretty good grades) but if you can't even manage an hour or two of googling, gently caress off.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:42
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Warmachine posted:Oh, oh, this is an easy one. They consistently have the lowest voter turnout in major elections, and even lower in smaller elections like the 2014 congressional election. And also expensive textbooks make that industry a lot of money, which matters more to Washington than your student debt.
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Jan 27, 2015 00:04
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I stopped requiring textbooks in my courses a few years ago. I just ran the math and (assuming everyone bought them) I've saved students $15,750.
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Jan 27, 2015 00:19
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lord funk posted:I stopped requiring textbooks in my courses a few years ago. I just ran the math and (assuming everyone bought them) I've saved students $15,750. Must be nice only having two students
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Jan 27, 2015 01:04
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Lamprey Cannon posted:You are the weird creepy old guy trying to hang out with college girls. Stop it. you're an idiot
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Jan 29, 2015 03:58
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"Take the quiz as many times as you want online, I'll take the highest grade!" *every attempt sends an email to my student email * Thanks guy.
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Jan 29, 2015 06:31
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So group projects. Everyone in my current group was supposed to send me their work by Thursday night so I could put everything together for our presentation on Monday morning. All of them did, except one. I sent an e-mail, a friendly one, explaining that I didn't get their work yet. No response. But they did post on Facebook about going to the movie theater tonight. So I'm glad they're having fun while I'm staying in stressing out, I guess.
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Feb 1, 2015 09:12
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Picnic Princess posted:So group projects. Everyone in my current group was supposed to send me their work by Thursday night so I could put everything together for our presentation on Monday morning. All of them did, except one. I sent an e-mail, a friendly one, explaining that I didn't get their work yet. Hey, if only one blew off his or her part, you got pretty lucky. Here's who could've been in your group: Ras-Trent: No project work from this guy because he's always stoned. Wears the same foul-smelling Grateful Dead hemp hoodie every single day. Shows up to class late, if at all. Never bothered buying the textbook. Sergeant Important: In ROTC, and can't come to class or participate in projects because he always "has drill that day." Thinks he's better than everyone else and has no problem butting into conversations to say so. MegaMom: Didn't complete her project portion because WELL UNLIKE YOU GUYS I'M A FULL-TIME STUDENT AND A FULL-TIME MOM, I HAVE FOUR KIDS TO RAISE, I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO MAKE THE POWERPOINT BECAUSE RICKY HAS COLIC AND I HAD TO TAKE JESSICA TO THE ORTHODONTIST TO HAVE HER BRACES ADJUSTED AND YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANY OF THAT BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE KIDS The CEO: Didn't bring his project work to the meeting because "it's on his other laptop." Wears an ill-fitting Burlington Coat Factory suit to class, and carries a briefcase for some reason. Wants everyone to think he's smart, handsome, rich, and on the fast-track to corporate management. If you do finally get his portion of the project from him, it'll all be totally wrong and essentially useless, and he'll laugh it off, saying "oh ha ha, I was preoccupied with 'other projects' when I did that." ALL-STAR PRO: Full ride sports scholarship. When he isn't at practice or hung over, he will actually try, because Coach said he had to pass this class. He can nail a free throw in front of thousands of screaming fans, but you'll never see that Excel graph he volunteered to make. He'll be lucky to even get the computer turned on. Brosef Fratman: SPRING BREAK! New Socrates: One semester of introductory philosophy courses awakened something in this kid, and now every little thing requires a deep discussion and tons of reflection. He or she agreed to write the abstract for your project, but it's six pages long and peppered with references to pre-socratic philosophical thought and political theory. Taciturn Tina: Never speaks. Sits in the back of the room and stares blankly into space when called on by the professor. When everybody was volunteering for parts of the project to complete, she didn't speak up, and nobody noticed. Halfway through the semester she stops showing up to group meetings and nobody cares. When filling out group evaluations, you all write "Who was this?" next to her name. Yokel Townie: Sixty-seven years old and in his sophomore year of undergraduate school. Does nothing in group meetings but chat with MegaMom about what it's like to have kids.
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Feb 1, 2015 18:07
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Group work is awful, primarily because it's always stuff that could be accomplished way more efficiently by one person. Sure, learning how to deal with idiots to accomplish something is a valuable skill, but you should be learning that in student organizations rather than in class.
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Feb 1, 2015 20:28
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:Hey, if only one blew off his or her part, you got pretty lucky. Here's who could've been in your group: Send this to Hollywood as a pitch for a prime time comedy and you'll never have to go to school again.
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Feb 1, 2015 20:45
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I have a professor that absolutely insists on lecturing way beyond the time class is over. She'll get visibly annoyed if notebooks start being put away so much as a nanosecond before class is over and insists on quietly telling you about assignments when it's already 5 minutes past "class is over now" time. She even told us to stay put until she was done. I have a class ten minutes after this class that's literally on the opposite end of campus. It's a bit of a hike and with my damaged legs I can't really get there all that fast. Did I mention that the first class moved further away from the second after the semester started? So now I literally can't get to the second class on time, ever, at all, and can't change my schedule. To make matters worse the clock in the room is actually wrong. When the computer projection on the screen says 12:50 the wall clock will say 12:45. Take a wild guess which one said professor goes by.
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Feb 2, 2015 06:55
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ToxicSlurpee posted:I have a professor that absolutely insists on lecturing way beyond the time class is over. She'll get visibly annoyed if notebooks start being put away so much as a nanosecond before class is over and insists on quietly telling you about assignments when it's already 5 minutes past "class is over now" time. She even told us to stay put until she was done. Just leave next time, who cares if she gets annoyed. If she says anything about it tell her that her class is over and you need to go to your next class. She doesn't have the power to make you stay, and what she's doing is pretty unprofessional. If you feel like it's really a problem see her in her office and bring it up to her.
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Feb 2, 2015 07:12
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Synonamess Botch posted:Just leave next time, who cares if she gets annoyed. If she says anything about it tell her that her class is over and you need to go to your next class. She doesn't have the power to make you stay, and what she's doing is pretty unprofessional. If you feel like it's really a problem see her in her office and bring it up to her. Yeah, she may get mad or whatever but if it's past the class time just leave.
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Feb 2, 2015 07:26
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Mr E posted:Yeah, she may get mad or whatever but if it's past the class time just leave. On one hand that's what I've been doing. On the other hand she gave out details on an assignment 8 minutes after class ended.
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Feb 2, 2015 08:35
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ToxicSlurpee posted:On one hand that's what I've been doing. On the other hand she gave out details on an assignment 8 minutes after class ended. Get an arrangement with somebody who can stay to send you the details. I had a professor like this- he'd lecture up to the last minute, but he was never so rude as to continue after the bell rang.
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Feb 2, 2015 09:13
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ToxicSlurpee posted:To make matters worse the clock in the room is actually wrong. When the computer projection on the screen says 12:50 the wall clock will say 12:45. Take a wild guess which one said professor goes by. Change it before class. You could even set it a couple minutes fast!
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Feb 2, 2015 15:41
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:Taciturn Tina: Never speaks. Sits in the back of the room and stares blankly into space when called on by the professor. When everybody was volunteering for parts of the project to complete, she didn't speak up, and nobody noticed. Halfway through the semester she stops showing up to group meetings and nobody cares. When filling out group evaluations, you all write "Who was this?" next to her name. I get these a lot. There are so many students that just sit there and stare and don't say anything. You can even ask them to contribute or say "What do you think Tina?" and they just....stare. Maybe they say a word or two then breathe in and sigh and then it's back to staring. Either that or they are checking Facebook/Vine/Pinterest for the 50 billionth time. They probably in other words gently caress group work, it just stresses out the students that actually care about doing well and automatically passes the students that don't do poo poo
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Feb 2, 2015 15:59
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How Rude posted:in other words gently caress group work, it just stresses out the students that actually care about doing well and automatically passes the students that don't do poo poo The worst part is when professors say "well you'll have to deal with people that don't work hard as you in the real world so get used to it." Except that last I heard somebody that lays around and does literally nothing is unlikely to keep their job long. poo poo changes a lot when it shifts from "paying to be here" to "being paid to be here." Colleges want to keep people there because it gets them money. Jobs do not like keeping dead weight around because it costs them money. It's a massive difference. Yeah jobs tend to have people that aren't exactly the most reliable and are kind of lazy but I guarantee that in the real world somebody saying "I just didn't do anything for this project" is going to be out of a job.
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Feb 2, 2015 23:20
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Oh man I hate the big "in the REAL WORLD" speeches so loving much. It's always some motherfucker who's never left the Toy Town of academia, bloviating about how IN THE REAL WORLD your boss will poo poo in your mouth all day every day and your co-workers will tamp it in with their dicks. And usually it's to justify the sloppy-rear end unprofessional conduct of a perpetual high schooler who thinks that cause they occasionally have to write a paper and teach a class they are fuckin' HARDCORE so that's why it's cool that I lost all your papers/make you jump through some hoop or other/act like a oval office in response to a simple question. I am 29. Prior to going back to uni I had a fairly high-powered executive position, where millions of pounds hinged on my ability to Not gently caress Up. The arbitrary cruelties and insane demands that these phD mothafuckaz seem to think abound in The Real World have yet to manifest for me, or for anyone else I know. REALLY though, what annoys me is fuckers who hack and cough their lungs out all the way through lectures. If I'm trying to learn about ctenophora or central limit theorem the last thing I want is some tuberculoid bastard coughing his lung-lining all over the back of my head. Stay home, you sickly puppies! poo poo's ridic!
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Feb 2, 2015 23:30
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Disgusting Coward posted:Oh man I hate the big "in the REAL WORLD" speeches so loving much. It's always some motherfucker who's never left the Toy Town of academia, bloviating about how IN THE REAL WORLD your boss will poo poo in your mouth all day every day and your co-workers will tamp it in with their dicks. Christ, that's vivid.
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Feb 2, 2015 23:48
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If I had to go to class sick, I wore a surgical mask. Seemed like the polite thing to do, especially if attendance would eat into my grade. I also hate that my asthma likes to manifest as coughing. No, I'm not contagious. But I am popping cough drops in a near constant stream to stay quiet during class.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:27
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Aerofallosov posted:If I had to go to class sick, I wore a surgical mask. Seemed like the polite thing to do, especially if attendance would eat into my grade. I also hate that my asthma likes to manifest as coughing. No, I'm not contagious. But I am popping cough drops in a near constant stream to stay quiet during class. It's cool, coughs can't be helped. As one of those students who does not give a poo poo about his mark I hate group projects because I feel compelled to put in more effort then usual since other peoples marks depend on my ability to not gently caress up.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:54
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Ahaha, gently caress me somehow I managed to skip algebra completely and just moved on to intermediate algebra from pre. No wonder I sucked so hard at it! Thanks, academic counselor lady!
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Feb 3, 2015 04:17
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How Rude posted:I get these a lot. There are so many students that just sit there and stare and don't say anything. You can even ask them to contribute or say "What do you think Tina?" and they just....stare. Maybe they say a word or two then breathe in and sigh and then it's back to staring. Either that or they are checking Facebook/Vine/Pinterest for the 50 billionth time. This was my business stats class. In the end, myself and the other dude carrying the load both got our talking points straight for the peer assessment and told the professor the other two didn't do poo poo beyond contribute a laptop and making the powerpoint--sorry, keynote--because Macs are better or some such (  ) and wearing low-cut tops, respectively.As such, I hate group projects, and always take the opportunity to go it alone if it presents itself.
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Feb 3, 2015 17:37
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How Rude posted:in other words gently caress group work, it just stresses out the students that actually care about doing well and automatically passes the students that don't do poo poo There are few things worse that you'll have to endure during college than watching your 4.0 slip right through your fingers because of a group project that was worth 95% of your course grade. Two things that are actually worse come to mind: a letter from health services saying "You'll be on valacyclovir for the rest of your life," and hearing Ras-Trent say "Yeah, dude! We got a C+!" 
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Feb 3, 2015 17:39
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I successfully escaped a toxic group once. Over the course of 2 weeks, the other 5 people in the group literally did nothing for this project. There were two big deliverables, including an experiment design halfway through. I did everything for the experiment design, sending emails over and over again asking the other idiots to do stuff (which they never did). I ended up just printing out the emails and going into my professor's office. Sort of notable that I only had two responses in two weeks. Our conversation was "I am in a group with 5 freeloaders. I am paying big dollars to be here and I don't want to be doing the entire assignment for everyone. I would like to join another group." They crashed and burned pretty badly during the final presentation. I don't know what grade they got, and I don't care.
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Feb 3, 2015 17:59
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Last semester I heard of one particular game design group that was having trouble with their project purely because they didn't care for the genre they chose and there were conflicts galore. At least one person did gently caress all and failed the class, and most of the students from that group aside from the ones who actually did work are all in one group this semester (the class has to be taken twice) in a lab section I almost signed up for. I dodged a bullet but I feel bad for the other students in that new group because they're going to be in for hell if those guys haven't realized their incompetence.
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Feb 3, 2015 19:01
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I got all excited because there are two girls in my class that are sisters. We need groups of three and I picked one group tgat had no one in it and just prayed the sisters both signed up. I thought for sure it'd make communication a breeze, and no way way they'd let each other down, right? Well one sister signed up but the other picked another group and we got stuck with Mr. Show's up to one class a month.
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Feb 3, 2015 19:42
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I run my group projects fair even though it requires me to do a lot of extra work. I have constant check ins where they tell me privately what they're doing and what the other people are doing along with end of project write ups from everyone. They know at the start of the project that what they get on it might be different than a partners depending on the level of work I see out of all of them. I'm also willing to compromise if something happens like a group member drops the class. Usually I give them the option to complete it to the same standards of the group project for bonus points or I will change the requirements to something manageable.
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Feb 3, 2015 19:48
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Even though I've been back at school for well over a month, I'm still getting charged 80 dollars a month for my unpaid student loans. I'm going to go bankrupt unless I can somehow pull together enough money to pay my credit card bills that I was going to pay with the money that the government just took. Nice.
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Feb 4, 2015 00:06
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Austrian mook posted:Even though I've been back at school for well over a month, I'm still getting charged 80 dollars a month for my unpaid student loans. I'm going to go bankrupt unless I can somehow pull together enough money to pay my credit card bills that I was going to pay with the money that the government just took. Nice. you did make sure that the terms of your loan prevented whatever organization is loaning you money from charging you while you were at least part or full time right? I have to have at least part-time enrollment (generally half the credits of a standard semester) to not get charged with loan payments. If they are not honoring those terms there's something wrong about your situation.
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Feb 4, 2015 01:31
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How Rude posted:you did make sure that the terms of your loan prevented whatever organization is loaning you money from charging you while you were at least part or full time right? I have to have at least part-time enrollment (generally half the credits of a standard semester) to not get charged with loan payments. If they are not honoring those terms there's something wrong about your situation. I filled out all the proper forms, and that organization is the Canadian government so I really don't know why they're taking money out of my bank account. I had a mid-term to study for tomorrow but instead I'm going to be on the phone all day. Nice.
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Feb 4, 2015 01:45
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| # ? May 16, 2024 10:50 |
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On group project chat. One of my classes has a group discussion board where one of us has to post a question each week on a course reading and the others respond. It's pretty simple, just have to cite the article you are using and figure out a good conceptual question. So what does Bro McFrat do? He doesn't cite what reading he chose and managed to somehow completely misinterpret the tiny little passage that had little to do with the rest of the article that he chose to base his question around. Thanks dude.
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Feb 6, 2015 11:19
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