stuck in my craw

I was getting the mail the other day and I got something from the University of Rochester where I most recently matriculated (I am guessing I move around too often for the people from Florida Atlantic to locate me). It touted some new incoming dean tangentially related to the nursing program, included pictures of students doing something nurse-like, and had some feature about some new and interesting (and likely expensive) piece of equipment that will help students further nursing in some nebulous manner. It also had an envelope and a plea for me to send them money. One would perhaps rightly assume that that was the point of the venture all along, with the articles serving as window dressing.

I do not now, nor shall I ever, understand this practice. A school, in my eye, is nothing if not a business. They are not performing acts of random kindness by educating the huddled masses as great personal expense. They are charging a fee for a service. In point of fact, they are charging many fees for many services. You are likely going to need to pay for books, lab fees, a parking permit, fees for transcripts, food cards, and on and on. Yet, they have the temerity to ask for more based on some warm fuzzy experience I had there.

I like eating out. Its one of my favorite things to do. Tia and I particularly like a restaurant called Belly, who serves incredible hamburgers, the likes of which I have rarely seen duplicated. When we go there, we have a good time, we order, eat, and then pay. They contact us if they are running specials or have a new menu item to tout. They do not, however, send us pictures of us eating in the restaurant, reminding us of our shared times there and then ask for additional monies because, 'my wasn't that quite fabulous!' In fact, I know of no business that operates like that and if they did, it is certainly a place you would not frequent again.

What makes me angrier about it is two, I think, very salient points:

1. I am still paying for school. In fact, I shall for some time and at personal sacrifice be paying for a number of years. As many as 20 are allotted me such is the magnitude of the sum I already paid for the privilege of learning there.

2. The endowment for the school is in excess of $1.3 billion dollars of approximately $380,000 per student. There are other schools that have more, but not many. By any accounts it is in the top 30 or so in the country in that regard. They could offer education for free......though of course they do not.

Ultimately, I just don't get it. Maybe I am missing some larger point, but mostly I just wonder incredulously how in the hell it works. Cause that is one sweet business model!

I haven't had a good bitch session in awhile. Thanks for indulging.