What if......??

I've been thinking a lot about this lately: what if we created a university centered around the students and their education?

Maybe I'm a little bitter, maybe I'm ranting, maybe I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. I go to a large state school. There are more than 26,000 students and most (like 75%) commute as opposed to living on campus. Some commute 5 minutes, some commute an hour one way. We then ask them to add between 15 and 30 minutes to each end of their commute to get from their cars to class. I've had to park as much as 1 MILE from class. 

We have a ton of construction on campus. I can't go anywhere to avoid it. Campus is about to spend almost $13 million to tear up a road and cause a traffic nightmare to a) add sidewalks and b) add grassy medians and other road beautification. I can't make this stuff up. 

What if:
# We had more parking spaces than students, all within a 5 minute walk from any different building. And make the faculty park further away. 
# instead of spending tens of *millions* of dollars on grassy medians, we put it into scholarships to help reduce student loans. 
# students could choose to pay the fees that fund what I call silly "student programming" that's really only good for students who either live on campus, or don't have a job.
# lowered the cost of food on campus. This is a place of education, not a gas station. 
# we had professors who were invested in our education, not just ones earning a paycheck at a place where they can get tenure and publish papers. This includes more than 1 office hour a week. 
# we eliminate most general education classes. Let's be honest, it's a repeat of high school and an excuse for a university to get more money. 

But what do I know? Maybe this won't earn enough money to keep the school running. 

::sigh:: I'll just get my piece of paper and then go take Coursera classes. For free. It's amazing the resources that are out there for free or low cost for people who really want to learn something. 

Until next time,
:)