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I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

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Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#711

Post by kelnos »

brewdad wrote: post #195
jimt1234 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you need an account to register for classes? Can't you just register in-person like I did back when we roamed the earth with dinosaurs?

At UW? No. You must log in at exactly 6am (preferably 5:58) on your registration day. Have your planned schedule in hand with all class codes and multiple backups. Assuming the system doesn't crash repeatedly, all of the required and/or popular classes will be full by 6:05. Rinse. Repeat for the entire 2 weeks of registration.

It's amazing how little things have changed. I was Cornell class of '03, and this is basically how we registered for classes (though the "system" was a Java AWT app rather than what I assume is now a website) 25 years ago. It was a miserable experience. There has to be a better way to solve this problem.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#712

Post by johnnyanmac »

renewiltord wrote: post #698
johnnyanmac wrote: post #690

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on the breakdown, it sounds like she has $100 leftover per month. That pretty much sounds like "liability" money to me. Barely much to dispose of.

The average student loan debt is $38k. If you borrow $100 extra per month, and defer your first payment till the month you graduate, your extra burden is $5300 or so or about 14%. The average borrower takes 20 years to pay off the debt. They’d pay it off 2 years earlier without this extra expenditure.

Okay, but this isn't a 4 year university loan. It's a masters program after she went back to school.

Someone pursuing a masters is much more likely to have a plan on how to turn that degree into better career progression or other opportunities. Especially a masters student who spent time in industry.

And honestly 5k loans to pay off 2-4 years later is about as good a loan debt as you're going to get. Paying off thst debt is more about having a career plan by that time than penny pinching for as low as loan value as possible.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#713

Post by schimmy_changa »

jdkaim wrote: post #7

Update: I immediately took down my class project site after receiving yesterday’s ultimatum. I still don’t think the simple demo site violated the letter or spirit of the registration rules, but I took it down because I always want to operate in good faith. They followed up today to thank me for doing it, but also indicated that they were putting a hold on my account anyway. As a result, I am not going to be able to…

There's requests for evidence / input on the Seattle subreddit if you have time - I think locally we can get some pressure on them for you if you can back it up: https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1hyhzf0/student_fa...

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#714

Post by agluszak »

StefanBatory wrote: post #360
agluszak wrote: post #65

Interesting. I graduated from the _other_ UW (University of Warsaw) and our uni has course-swapping capability built into the University Study Service System (USOS)[1]. FYI public university education is fully government-funded in Poland (i.e. it is free for students). 1 - https://usosweb.mimuw.edu.pl/kontroler.php?_action=news%2Fde...

Isn't USOS like nightmare of a system? I've heard of stories that people had to graduate after time, because they failed a subject at first year (!) and they had no chance to sign up for the course in the following years at USOS because someone was always faster. I'm happy my uni in Poland didn't use it :P

USOS is just a tool and it's mostly a matter of how it's configured (for example MIMUW, my faculty, doesn't use first-come, first-serve registration at all) and how various policies are enforced.

Stories about students failing to sign up for a previously failed course are mostly urban legends, I believe. The dean's office has the power to override anything that's going on in USOS and they can manually register you for a subject if it's needed for you to graduate.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#715

Post by [deleted] »

jdkaim wrote: post #7

Update: I immediately took down my class project site after receiving yesterday’s ultimatum. I still don’t think the simple demo site violated the letter or spirit of the registration rules, but I took it down because I always want to operate in good faith. They followed up today to thank me for doing it, but also indicated that they were putting a hold on my account anyway. As a result, I am not going to be able to…

[deleted]

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#716

Post by [deleted] »

Aurornis wrote: post #113
dylan604 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't mention a lawyer casually. Just have the lawyer send a letter. Don't give them the option to call your bluff. People casually mention a lawyer so frequently it means nothing. Receiving a letter from an actual lawyer means everything.

Having a lawyer send a letter isn't an automatic win. Once you turn it into a legal threat you force them to escalate to their legal team. Reasonable lawyers would likely roll their eyes and talk the university back from this weird move, but you're not guaranteed reasonable lawyers on the other end. If they feel threatened they might start looking even deeper into into contracts you signed as a way to protect themsel…

[deleted]

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#717

Post by Over2Chars »

astockwell wrote: post #567
Over2Chars wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@jdkaim do the project as a way to say you're sorry, give them the work uncompensated (effectively they're charging you the value of your degree, I'd assume that's not trivial). Once you have your degree, you can go from there, hire a lawyer, sue for uncompensated labor (something about minimum wage laws, I think, requires they pay you), and so on. Maybe even some emotional distress. But hey, IANAL and ya gotta do wh…

This is probably the right answer. Similar to "dont fight the police on the street, fight them in court". Can even quiet-quit during the project if you need to.. software can take an awfully long time to build.. Also, track your time during the work. And keep all correspondance. Paper trail, paper trail, paper trail.

Yes, very clever. Have them deliver the diploma while you deliver the software... ever...so...slowly... and then, charge for consulting fees to make it work after you graduate!!!!

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#718

Post by tiborsaas »

gonzobonzo wrote: post #270
asdffdasy wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's almost like universities are about controlling an artificial limited access to knowledge than about knowledge uh.

That's what bothers me the most about this. The reason this is even an issue in the first place is because universities are aren't adequately providing what the students want. So you want to study, say, engineering. First you have to apply and get admitted to the university, and many people aren't admitted. The acceptance rate I can find for UW is 54% in-state, 46% out of state. Then the university tells you that if…

> Imagine a system where students could take classes from anywhere they want...

Udemy and friends are exactly like that. The only thing the platform can't replicate is the community feeling. Sitting at home isolated is not for everyone.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#719

Post by thih9 »

Note, there is a series of updates on linkedin, last one from 13h ago at the moment:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jdkaim_github-jdkaimhuskyswap...

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jdkaim_github-jdkaimhuskyswap...

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jdkaim_github-jdkaimhuskyswap...

> (…) Final update. The university has determined that I have satisfactorily complied with their request to take down the site, and I’ve said publicly that I do not plan to pursue anything like HuskySwap, so the hold has been removed without a meeting and I am back on track to graduate next quarter. I have thanked them for closing the matter. (…)

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