VSU still gets my vote

This is a very interesting article.

Just for some background, I have been a university student for the past 7 years (shut up! I'm doing 3 separate degrees! It takes a while!). 6 of those years have been as a part time student/full time worker. The first year that I went full time to uni, I was on campus for about 15 hours a week. I came from a small town outside the main city and no one else from my school went on to university. I didn't know anyone at uni, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that interested in making friends. To me, university is for education, not for parties and protests.

Even that first year I resented paying the compulsory student union fee. I didn't participate in any clubs. I didn't use any of the student services (it was a lot cheaper to buy food at Woolworths/Coles and bring it to uni to eat than buy it at the Refec, where they charge airport prices). I didn't play any sport. I didn't drink, so I didn't buy subsidised drinks at the uni bar. Nothing. To me, those hundreds of dollars a semester were a complete waste.

However, I wasn't that annoyed about it because it was my choice not to use the services. I was a full time student (although I did work 2 days a week). I had 3 days in which I could be on campus and participate in things. So, I only had myself to blame for not making the most of my money.

And then I started working full time and only going to night classes at uni. All of the student services were closed by 5. No Refec, no Copy Shop, no club rooms, nothing. The campus was deserted, and there was nothing open, besides the lecture/tutorial rooms. So why was I still being charged hundreds of dollars a semester? The rate was slightly reduced for a part time student, but it was still a ridiculous sum of money. Particularly when now I wasn't even given the opportunity to make the most of my money.

I was even more annoyed when I found out the money the student union received was largely spent on wages for their own staff, and on protests. I hate protests. I don't think they achieve anything. They're a waste of time and energy, unless you can get a whole city to stop work and join in, which is virtually unheard of these days. I resented that these dreadlocked, pyjama pants wearing, tree hugging hippies were using my money to hire buses to ship themselves and 30 friends to various pointless protests that didn't even make the news.

Still, the fees were compulsory. The uni wouldn't release your results if you didn't pay the fees. So I kept paying and kept resenting them.

And then along came the only thing John Howard ever did that I actually cheered for. I hated that man. And I hated Brendon Nelson even more for his education report in 2002 (I think it was?). He was responsible for pushing up the cost of each of my degrees by 25%. Still, the best thing was VSU. I was, and still am, all for it. Finally, someone was making sense. Yes, why should I pay hundreds of dollars a semester for services I have no access to? Why should I be forced to support the [insert minority here] Club where I wasn't allowed access to it, even if I was a full time student? Which brings me to another sore point - where are all the White Men Aged 18 to 45 Clubs? That group is the most disadvantaged, discriminated group in this country, and it irritates me. But that's a rant for another day.

Anyway, VSU was implemented. I cheered that I was no longer being forced to pour money down the drain.

And now the unis are crying that they're having to cut services. Surely that means, if there aren't enough students willing to pay to use said services, that the services just aren't required? Obviously, there were a lot of token clubs, societies and services on offer before that were only attracting a handful of students, being propped up by compulsory student union fees. If students think a service is particularly helpful (such as, say, the Copy Shop), they'll pay for it. Simple.

Perhaps a lot of students were simply using the services because they were forced to pay for them anyway, so they might as well get their money's worth? Perhaps now they're not being forced to pay for them, they can concentrate more on getting an education?

Personally, I still can't see a problem with VSU. Universities are for education, not for parties and protests. I personally could not care less whether my university has any sporting teams, social functions or other clubs/societies. I don't care if my uni campus becomes a sterile place. "To get good learning outcomes you need to feel part of a community". What utter bullshit! I get great learning outcomes, and I barely talk to anyone at uni (and generally when I do, I'm being forced to by way of a group assignment). I don't go to university to socialise. I go to learn.