Perhaps the only area in which America manages to exceed Ireland in terms of being a rip-off is in its education sector, which is one of the most prohibitively expensive in the world.
Everyone knows that going to university in America is a ferociously expensive endeavour, and I’d say it’s almost beyond dispute to say that this situation simply isn’t right. Education, as a fundamental social progresor, should be as open to the population as possible, yet charging the kind of extortionate sums that American universities do simply isn’t compatible with this idea. Going to college shouldn’t necessarily encumber you with massive debt, yet here it does, which simply isn’t right.
Yet even when you’ve managed to get within the university system, it seems, the great third-levels of America are still intent on fleecing you on the way out.
I’ve had the not so distinct pleasure of having just spent four weeks within one of NYU’s two unair-conditioned dorms where conditions during the recent heatwave were pretty sticky to say the least.
Not having air conditioning is fairly bad, but then again you agreed to that before you signed up for it and so you can’t really complain, but why the stringent ban being imposed on bringing in your own units?
The answer - or so NYU says - has to do with power, but then again in most other countries in the world rent is understood to include reasonable incidentals like electricity consumption. Water heating, refrigeration, lights, and televisions also consume large amounts of electricity - especially when used together - yet NYU doesn’t see fit to ban these items, which are surely less necessary than staying cool in triple digit temperatures, so the ban doesn’t really make much sense.
But the kick in the teeth came when Rubin’s Residence Hall Director sent out a group email imploring heat-stricken residents to use their fan units as little as possible because of the drain on power which such units would cause. Then of the air conditioning units the e-mail says: “This is a reminder that portable A/C units are not allowed at Rubin (the dorm building). Our electrical system cannot handle the power levels these units require. Please be aware that having one is an actual policy violation.” So much for concern!
The second nuisance about a summer in NYU is the time the dining halls close. NYU force you to take a meal plan when you stay at their summer dorms, so you’ve effectively no choice about having to spend at least $100 a week on food there. Yet they close every day at 8pm, which gives you just about enough time to leave the office at six - sometimes later - , commute back home, stop off in the dorm, and walk an additional five blocks to the dining hall, where you’ll face more waits and queues. Try doing this in a place like Manhattan and it's surprisingly difficult. Not exactly customer service at its best, then.
Yet by far the biggest irritation came today when I was finalizing a move to a slightly more expensive dorm which has air conditioning (worth it, of course). Doing so, I decided to cancel my meal plan, as I wasn’t using it a lot anyway and was moving into somewhere with a kitchen where I could prepare my own food.
I also discovered last night that I'd over $120 worth of "dining dollars" on my NYU student card. This was good news as it meant - or so I thought - that even after having cancelled a meal plan I could continue to buy food in the dining halls. Yet of course, in ripoff NYU, this is not the case. You cancel the mealplan and you lose everything. "You should use all your dining dollars this week, because you will not be able to access your dining dollars after your meal plan cancellation becomes effective," a Senior Manager from the Housing Office told me.
Thinking back on my own college, University College Cork, I can proudly say that my university does everything within its power to take care of its students, treat them with respect, and minimize the costs of going to university for them.And for domestic students, it's free to begin with.
The kind of ripoff tactics which NYU seems intent on using to enrichen its already bountiful coffers would be simply unheard of back in Ireland.
It's time that NYU took a good hard look at how they generate revenue and find a way to do so that doesn't tread on the toes and rights of their paying students.