I waited in line for over 45 minutes to pay my dorm damages. I was the ninth in line -- behind Carl Peaslee, creator of the StagHen.com, and it took forever, though he made great company. Still I don't see what is so hard about having everyone line up and pay their bills. If I hadn't paid my bill, I wouldn't have been randomly entered into the housing lottery -- which I wish we didn't even have. To top it all off, my dorm damages are for things that I'm pretty sure I didn't do.
I used to think that a better solution would be to have us pay Claremont Cash or simply to increase the cost to our tuition bill, but then Shua Redel suggested that the reason that they have us pay in person is to control the dorm damage costs. So many students at Claremont McKenna have their parents pay their credit card bill, tuition bill, and/or Claremont Cash that there might be no way to control costs if parents picked up the additional bills.
Redel suggeted that if they didn't have the shame of showing up and putting their money on the table for puking all over the bathroom floor, then they might just increase their damages. After all, what incentive would students have to control destructive behavior? It's a great moral hazard argument and has me thinking. Maybe a randomized study is in order?
4 comments:
Throughout all of my years at CMC (senior now) I've never had dorm damages which specifically were caused by me. Yet ever year but one I had to wait in line as my damages were over the limit, except for one year. I propose we extend the dorm damage limit from $5 to $25. That way, those who did real damage have to show up and are shamed, while the other innocents who get anywhere from $3-$10 in damage attributed to them don't need to pay in person.
Charles,
You waited in line so long because you decided to pay your dorm damages at the last minute. When I went to Heggblade over a week ago, it was completely empty. The ordeal took me a whopping two minutes. Maybe you should've gotten your stuff together earlier...
Andyfag is still trying to collect from me for damages I didn't cause (and I'm an alum).
Of course, he can eat a dick.
I would appreciate some investigation into the racket that dorm damages have become.
Post a Comment