By Amanda Mastrangelo
I always considered myself lucky to be attending school so close to home. I have the liberty of easily getting home on weekends, seeing my family as often (or not) as I want and being able to quickly make multiple trips if needed for moving out of the dorms at the end of the year. But now, my Queens residence denied me a privilege many out-of-state Hofstra students are granted: the ability to take summer courses at another institution. Hofstra, among other Long Island schools, has a rule that if a student lives within “commutable distance” to the school, then they would not be permitted to take classes over the summer at a more convenient college or university. I currently live in Rockaway Park, Queens, which, according to MapQuest, is approximately 22.87 miles and 43 minutes away. This, I agree, could be considered “commutable distance.” But therein lies the problem: these estimates are for travel via car, which I don’t have. If I were to get to Hofstra using public transportation, I would have to take one city bus that stops down my block to a half hour ride to the subway, then take a 45 minute ride to get to the Long Island Rail Road, and finally take about an hour ride to then get the Blue Beetle to Hofstra’s campus. This would take a total of approximately two and a half hours, and cost me $10.50 each way. This is NOT a “commutable distance.” Not to mention that I would not be able to keep my full-time summer job because the four hour trip in addition to myclass schedule would take all day and then I wouldn’t even be able to afford the $20 per day the whole trip would cost.
I have visited multiple campus administators to argue my point and try to appeal this decision, but the answer was always the same: there is nothing they can do. In one situation, I asked why the rule stands as it is, and the explanation I received was minimal.
Apparently this rule exists because Hofstra wants to keep its students from transferring out. This, to me, translated as, “Hofstra wants your money, and we don’t care about your convenience, monetary funds or satisfaction.”
Now, I understand universities are businesses, and that they need our money in order to thrive, but isn’t a major goal of a business to gain its customers’ satisfaction? We, the students, are Hofstra’s customers, and without our satisfaction, no amount of tuition money is going to make Hofstra successful.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Hofstra.
I am involved in some great clubs and organizations, I’ve enjoyed most of the classes I’ve taken and I have met some really wonderful people. But this one rule really affects my opinion of this school.
It’s not so much the fact that now I will not be able to take classes over the summer, but more of the principle of the matter. Through all my experiences here and the student satisfaction surveys and focus groups I’ve participated in, I generally got the feeling that Hofstra genuinely cared about my contentment. But this rule proves Hofstra cares about nothing other than draining my bank account.
They say this rule of “commutable distance” is to keep students at Hofstra and to increase loyalty, but I know that for many students who have had this issue, this rule has had an opposite effect. For example, my suitemate was faced with this problem, and after first transferring to Hofstra in last fall, is now considering transferring right back out.
I just want to say that I, and many other students, professors and advisors I’ve spoken to, think this rule is unnecessary, and simply created out of greed. I am not trying to “cheat the system” and load up on community college summer courses in order to graduate early. As I’ve said before, I love Hofstra, and I would not want to shorten my time here in any way. I simply would like to make my course load a bit easier, and my summer much more convenient. I hope this message is heard, and perhaps something can be done about this rule.
Amanda Mastrangelo is a sophomore community health student.. You may e-mail her at [email protected].