Before I begin, let me start by saying some of the things Taylor does that do I appreciate. We don't have mandatory chapel, our dining court has improved their food in the past semester, the professors care about the students, and everyone has the chance to partake in campus activities.
That being said, students have a $40,000 bill to pay every year. To make every nickel count, Taylor should consider removing:
1. The number of credits to graduate (especially for double majors)
I already have a beef with the fact that those with 1 major have to take 128 credits minimum. The largest schools in the US fly under this number: University of Central Florida (120), Ohio State University (121), Texas A & M (120), and several others.
But a double major has to graduate with 158.
158? Even if I came to Taylor with 30 credits (the maximum they allow you to bring in), I would still struggle to get all my classes in by four years. And, if I stray past 160, I lose all my scholarships.
Why do they penalize students for having multiple interests?
2. The small number of open house hours
At Taylor, guys and girls do not stay on the same floor -- and in some cases, the same hall. Taylor throws us a bone and gives us a few hours on the weekend to hang out with our guy friends in their dorms.
Friday: 7-12
Saturday: 7-12
Sunday: 1-5 (but usually this is just for couples, so I will exclude this)
Excluding Sunday, that gives us 10 out of 168 hours a week to hang out with the opposite sex. So, roughly 95% of the time, we toe the line inside our own dormitories.
3. The dancing rule
*Note: I have been told by some sources this no longer is in effect. Nevertheless, it still exists in the Life Together Covenant on the website.
Every year, students sign the Life Together Covenant (essentially a rule book for our school). When wings read through the guidelines: a series of giggles emits at one particular rule:
"Each year, Student Development may sponsor a limited number of on-campus dances for the campus community. The University also considers the following forms of dance as acceptable for the campus community: sanctioned folk dances, dances that are designed to worship God, dancing at weddings, and the use of appropriate choreography in drama, musical productions and athletic events. In order to preserve and enhance our intentional community, other social dancing is not permitted on or away from campus."
Come on. My high school had more lenient rules when it came to dancing -- and I attended a very strict high school.
4. The number of hoops a student jumps through to get an excused absence
Students at death's door have to venture to the health center about a mile away. If said student cannot drive (or get a driver), then they will have to brave a walk, enter the health center, hope to the heaven they have an opening (usually not the case), hope the physician deems their ailment worthy of an excused absence, get a form, take that form for a mile walk to a specific office in a far away building, drop that form off, then finally get well-deserved rest.
No, we need to change this.
5. The fines
In particular: in residence halls (but you can get fined for nearly everything)
At the beginning of the year, your PA (Taylor's version of an RA) gives you a form where you have to mark down all the damage done to your dorm by previous owners (decades worth). At the end of the year, if you failed to mark a single scratch on the furniture, you get a hefty fine.
Believe me. Last year I got fined $20 for a scratch ON THE INSIDE of my desk drawer.
6. The stress of room squatting
If you want to stay in the exact same dorm, in the exact same floor, in the exact same wing, in the exact same room with the exact same roommate: no worries!
Want to change any of the above: good luck!
Basically, if you want to switch rooms, you have to get with a roommate who already lives in your dream room. If neither you or your roommate live there, you get thrown into a lottery and end up who knows where (especially underclassmen)?
Also, if you choose to room with someone else. One of you, or both (likely both) have to break the news to the previous roommate that they must enter the room lottery draw because you're kicking them out of the room.
Granted, my University does a lot of things well, and I wouldn't attend anywhere else. But if the rules weren't "broke," I wouldn't suggest fixing them.
