Students are the Future. Oh crap.

[Seshat]

Related to Tee mentioning that college isn't for everyone:

College isn't even for all the bright/intelligent people. Some of the smartest people I've known have gone the trades route for their careers!

My niece is a professional ballet dancer, and we couldn't be prouder of her.
My brother became a sparky.
I've known brilliant plumbers and bricklayers, and a very good friend of mine (before he moved to the other end of the country, waaah) is a sparky.

We-as-a-community will fall apart if all our bright, intelligent, and/or competent people go into college, and none are left to build and maintain our infrastructure.
Or to grow our food, preserve it for transport, ship it (via however many warehouses) to retail, and provie it to consumers.
Or ditto for all the other products we need. (substitute 'make' for 'grow'...)

The 'throw enough people at a job and it'll get done' corporate philosophy can only take a company so far; and it's incredibly wasteful. Better to play tetris with your staff, putting the right person in the right position.

(I'm one of the awkward zig-zag shapes you hate to see coming up)

[Aragarthiel]

Might have meant, "the area that eventually became Nunavut". /shrug

That's what I thought. My family tree lists my great-great-great grandparents as coming from Hungary, but at the time it was actually Transylvania. It's just easier to explain that they came from Hungary, though telling people I have Transylvanian blood is waaaaay more fun.

[Tee]

Might have meant, "the area that eventually became Nunavut". /shrug

[wolfie]

I worked with a perfectly lovely lady from Nunavut. She was 75, came to the US as a war bride in the 40's, had never seen a car before moving.

War bride? Wasn't aware of any Canadian ones with (Presumably) American Serviceman in that time period. That led to some interesting googling/wiki-ing. Love learning stuff like that, thank you.

That lady definitely wasn't from Nunavut. Nunavut is a fairly recent creation (IIRC, no earlier than the '90s - carved out of the Northwest Territories), so anyone who left the Great White North for the U.S. during the '40s couldn't have come from Nunavut.

On a related note, was the Kaiser's summer palace in East Germany or West Germany?

[Tee]

We get this on the phone a lot... just tell me who you need to talk to. And yet, it happens plenty.

Yeah, that's where I got my bad habit of interrupting students. Oddly, only one has ever minded, most just seem glad that I'm solving their problem/answering their question.

I can't even imagine how much this would happen on a phone, you know, aside from reading posts here.

I've requested that next time I have to train someone on a computer, I be allowed a laser pointer because of how much this has happened. "See the thing your cursor is on? Directly to the left of that" *they then move their mouse all the way to the other monitor on the right* "here?"

Yeeesssss, this idea pleases me. Especially if I should aim the reflection juuuust right...

This is why I sometimes commandeer the computer mouse. Some people apparently never should have gotten their Mouse License.

The bookstore here used to be right next to my office and without fail ever summer Friday that we were closed someone would come in, stand and stare at the sign showing the hours, and after 5 minutes come and ask me if the bookstore was closed.

It's scary how few people seem to observe, and read.

I'm hoping it's actually that most people do that, and immediately disappear so that I/we never notice them. That makes me feel better about the world.

Don't worry, they won't figure it out any time soon.

I've been doing it for a decade now at various jobs, and the only person to ever notice and call me on it was a family member.

Apparently I've a decent actor, cause I should have been caught long ago. :/

The number of times I've had to reassure someone of this is crazy. No amount of saying "the week of x date" seems to clear it up.

Yeah, it just doesn't seem to translate. I eventually just look at days of the class, and tell them that the first day of class for that class is BLANK.

They don't learn, but, I don't get a headache, so. Meh.

One of the reasons I got married was financial aid. I was 21 at the time and it let me skip the parents income bit. You can also likely do the emancipated minor bit to skip it as well.

Yep, also works if parents are in jail. But, I never get anyone with this problem who can actually use any of those exemptions. Just: Hard working people who have been effectively abandoned (But not actually unfortunately) and have to make their way on their own despite a system that, while not working against them, isn't doing them any favors (Just as their parents aren't)... and people who aren't hard working whose parents haven't so much abandoned them, as wished to god they would leave, and that maybe they hadn't exchanged genetic information about two decades earlier.

Edit: Did some searching, and near as I can tell, the requirements originate in the "Higher Education Act of 1965", but a good synopsis can be found here on Wikipedia. The FAFSA webpage isn't as good oddly enough. XD

I was confused as to why I didn't have to fill that out if it was necessary. That explains it.

I know that some financial aid is more strict than others. I'm getting a scholarship from the state that covers all of my tuition, but you have to keep at least a B in your classes and they're rather strict about people dropping classes. Hubs got the grant version of the scholarship (he didn't do as well as I did in high school), and when he dropped one of his classes because of a scheduling issue, his parents (he was 17 at the time and still living at home) had to pay back what the grant had paid for the class.

Those are vaguely what's supposed to happen. The tuition fee waiver just started doing that. The Grants work the same as your Husbands, but if you don't care about the debt, and I've heard of no mechanism for retrieving that debt, Aside from: "No more classes for you!", and as you can appeal to have classes again, and apparently people were somehow managing to sign up for more classes despite having debt on their records like that... (Shrug)

Honestly, it seems like they're getting their act together, but wow, they waited a while.

I worked with a perfectly lovely lady from Nunavut. She was 75, came to the US as a war bride in the 40's, had never seen a car before moving.

War bride? Wasn't aware of any Canadian ones with (Presumably) American Serviceman in that time period. That led to some interesting googling/wiki-ing. Love learning stuff like that, thank you.

[Aragarthiel]

One of the reasons I got married was financial aid. I was 21 at the time and it let me skip the parents income bit.

I was confused as to why I didn't have to fill that out if it was necessary. That explains it.

I know that some financial aid is more strict than others. I'm getting a scholarship from the state that covers all of my tuition, but you have to keep at least a B in your classes and they're rather strict about people dropping classes. Hubs got the grant version of the scholarship (he didn't do as well as I did in high school), and when he dropped one of his classes because of a scheduling issue, his parents (he was 17 at the time and still living at home) had to pay back what the grant had paid for the class.

[Ophbalance]

One of the reasons I got married was financial aid. I was 21 at the time and it let me skip the parents income bit. You can also likely do the emancipated minor bit to skip it as well.

[BlaqueKatt]

I worked with a perfectly lovely lady from Nunavut. She was 75, came to the US as a war bride in the 40's, had never seen a car before moving.

[Shangri-laschild]

I get the whole “Tell them the whole story” thing, I do it frequently. The key to that is telling them everything they would need to know regarding the issue in question, and nothing further. You don’t tell them your Life Story, you give them the Barebone but full facts of the matter, and you ONLY do that when you aren’t certain what to do next, and need them to help you figure out where to even start with your problem.

We get this on the phone a lot. Even worse when they start getting into even more irrelevant facts. I don't need to know your uncle moved. It doesn't even actually have anything to do with this situation. He wasn't involved in your schooling, you didn't help him move, I don't need the Christmas newsletter level information, just tell me who you need to talk to. And yet, it happens plenty.

Me: Click the link that says [system].
Student: Where?
Me: Right there. (Points closer, an inch or so away, nothing else within 4 or so inches)
Student: Where?
Me: I’m pointing at it.
Student: Where?

I've requested that next time I have to train someone on a computer, I be allowed a laser pointer because of how much this has happened. "See the thing your cursor is on? Directly to the left of that" *they then move their mouse all the way to the other monitor on the right* "here?"

Two young women walk up to the roped off cafeteria, see the sign I added to it that read “Cafeteria closed, bathroom open only”, one reads it aloud to the other within my hearing, they look at each other, walk around the barrier, sit down, and start chatting.

The bookstore here used to be right next to my office and without fail ever summer Friday that we were closed someone would come in, stand and stare at the sign showing the hours, and after 5 minutes come and ask me if the bookstore was closed.

(One of these days someone here on campus will learn what sarcasm and feigned enthusiasm is, and on that day I will be a lot of trouble.)

Don't worry, they won't figure it out any time soon.

“If the semester starts on a Monday, but my class only meets on Tuesdays, do I have to come in on that Monday?”

The number of times I've had to reassure someone of this is crazy. No amount of saying "the week of x date" seems to clear it up.

[Tee]

Most likely he was from Clyde River. I have a friend who just finished a 4 year teaching contract up there. If he was a native from there very few native actually finish school, let alone go to college. My friend had 5 native graduates this year. A google maps link for anyone interested in where Clyde River is.
https://goo.gl/maps/GTSBF

Could be, couldn't think of a way to ask him before he left, and this is preeeeetty far away from that section of Canada. Heck, he could have moved years before (He was early 20's I believe), someone people keep accents decades after they've left the place they got it from.

I actually cannot recall exactly (Or even approximately) what he looked like (Aside from "Perfectly normal"), so I wouldn't be able to tell what his background may have been.

If a person has to ask any of the one-liners then they clearly do not have what it takes to finish a college/university course.

There must be way to fail them before they can get in.

We are a Junior/Community College, in all honesty that's what the bigger 4 year colleges kinda use us for. That, and saving students (And by Proxy, State Government, Federal Government and the Taxpayers for both) thousands of dollars each by starting their degrees here, rather than there.

[earl colby pottinger]

Again

If a person has to ask any of the one-liners then they clearly do not have what it takes to finish a college/university course.

There must be way to fail them before they can get in.

[PastryGal]

Me: Uh, no offense intended, just curious, but I’ve never heard that accent before
Student: Oh, I’m from Nunavut, it’s in Canada.
Me: (Brain flips for a second) Oh, furthest North part of Canada right?
Student: Pretty much. (Finishes the reset) Thanks again.

Most likely he was from Clyde River. I have a friend who just finished a 4 year teaching contract up there. If he was a native from there very few native actually finish school, let alone go to college. My friend had 5 native graduates this year. A google maps link for anyone interested in where Clyde River is.
https://goo.gl/maps/GTSBF

[Gilhelmi]

I am lucky enough to have a decent paying job that does not require a degree of any kind. I have a buddy who works there, he did not even have a High School Diploma when he started.

I have thought about going back to school. Maybe getting a degree as a machinist or engineer. But I really do not want to "pull the trigger" until I am sure. I really do not need the degree, it would just be for fun.

[Tee]

Re: Financial aid. Wow, it's really that easy to scam? That's disappointing. Speaking as someone who did kinda what you described. Got out of high school, went to community college, had NO idea what direction I wanted to go, stopped going, years later am going back to school. I envy those people who have always known what they want to do, career-wise. I've just been doing my own thing, and I don't regret it. But it was time for me to pick something. Anyways, I really appreciate financial aid, and it pisses me off when I hear stories of people who just take and take.

Well.. To be fair, when I was new I had no idea who important that number was, and they could look it up for me, no problem. I do have it memorized now.

Yeah, I've envied them too.

Yes, it's apparently that easy to scam, according to the staff I've talked too. It's got heavy diminishing returns though. When you finally run out of chances, that's it, no more. They use your social for this, so moving won't help.

The changing college thing only helps prolong it a little, "I did so bad over there, failed a bunch, I just need/want a fresh start to do better".

Financial Aid here has really cracked down in the last semester though, at the end of Spring, they started putting holds on EVERYONE who owed money back to them for early dropping (they're calling it "overpayment"). I found out when I got around 10 people in a little over a week asking about it. They'll never be able to catch first timers, but, they'll get repeats well enough if they keep at it.

Assuming you're unusually dedicated, pulling "full time" (really only 12 units, 4 classes on average), aren't making much above the table (if at all), but don't have any dependents, you could get a estimate of between 2-4 thousand (which is about what mine was, after I had left an Americorp affiliated job, and gotten an Americorp Scholarship). I think you can get higher, pretty sure actually. Part of that is tuition, about 5-600 for 12 units, the rest is books, and mostly help with living expenses. You get half at the start, half halfway through. Apparently most scammers were just taking the first check, and not waiting.

It affects the college too, they get money through this, and when a student drops, the college gets less. Which is probably the real reason they're trying to fix it. XD

And yeah, the ID is a seven digit number, took me awhile to memorize it, but this guy genuinely sounded like he thought we would already know it. Maybe shouldn't have put it there, that space was for things that didn't need explanation, might remove it.

----

That's really dedicated, wonder how many languages they (Abbot and Costello) spoofed that way.

[wolfie]

Many years ago, I read an article about one of the famous comedy duos (I believe it was Abbot and Costello) who occasionally had roles that required them to speak a foreign language. Slight problem - they didn't know the language. Solution: they learned to read cue cards with phonetic symbols. To movie audiences, they were speaking the foreign language fluently, but in reality they didn't understand a word they were saying.