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Show Views&Opinion Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 Page 11 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com OurView AboutUs Editor in Chief Patrick Oden Registration ridiculous News Editor Rachel A. Christensen I t’s that time again. The scramble to see an adviser, the rummaging to find a four-year plan and the absolute madness that registering at midnight brings. For those of you new to this process, we wish you luck. Determining what classes to take and registering for them is not an easy process, and it’s becoming more difficult to find the classes we need as budgets are being slashed and departments are being tapered to bare bones. The first qualm most students have with registration is the time. Why must it be at midnight? We wait at home, ready to go to bed and as the clock turns to midnight, we try, along with every other student at USU, to log on to Banner and register. It’s like a crowd of first graders trying to shove down the tube slide on the playground at the same time. It’s painful, time consuming and totally ineffective. Most students aren’t able to get through the system and register until around 1 a.m., and if they are freshmen or sophomores, chances are most classes they need are already full. This leaves most students tired, frustrated and absolutely irritated with both the Internet and the university. Although we understand midnight is the only time most students are available – which gives students an equal chance at registering and getting into classes – we don’t think many students would mind changing the registration to a time that doesn’t harp on our sleeping schedules. Another problem students are experiencing is a lack of classes and sections offered. Budget cuts are thinning the selection of classes and professors available. Many classes are only being offered every other semester or not at all or only one section of a class is being offered. Elective classes are essentially nonexistent, leaving many juniors and seniors wondering how they will fill up their schedules with relevant courses and graduate on time. Because of the lack of classes, courses are filling up twice as fast or students aren’t given the options to fit classes in with the rest of their schedule. Will this postpone students’ graduation dates, costing them more money in an already financially difficult time? Are students forced to fill their schedules with “fluff” classes to reach 12 credits and qualify for financial aid because the courses they need aren’t offered? Is our education still top notch, even though classes that added depth to our education are being dropped? Is the quality of our education ultimately being hurt by budget cuts? Whatever your registration problems may be, we wish you luck and understand the frustrations you face. After all, we’ll be right there with you at midnight, wishing we were asleep and that there was a less frustrating way to register for classes. Interest abuse W hen Congress passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights last May, we called it a long overdue response to the abuses of predatory credit-card issuers who have used every trick in the book to extract money from cardholders. As it turns out, we underestimated the greed and craftiness of the credit-card industry. In a well-meaning effort to give issuers time to adjust their practices, Congress set a compliance deadline of next February. Instead of seeing the law as a clear signal that consumers are fed up with abusive practices, however, leading bank card issuers used the time to squeeze more money from the public. Not only have they done next to nothing to stop practices deemed unfair by the new law, but some of the practices that hurt consumers the most have become more widespread. According to a report issued Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts, “credit card interest rates rose an average of 20 percent in the first two quarters of 2009, even as banks’ cost of lending declined.” Every credit card offered online by leading bank card issuers was tied to rules and conditions that will be outlawed once the compliance date arrives, Pew said. Among other things, nearly all of the bank cards allowed issuers to increase interest rates on outstanding balances and permitted issuers to apply payments in a way the Federal Reserve found likely to cause substantial financial injury to consumers. Although arbitrary rate changes will no longer be allowed once the law takes effect, the higher rates that consumers are being hit with before then will remain in place. Many consumers with good credit scores and a history of paying their bills on time are shocked to discover that they are on the receiving end of this sort of treatment. Instead of being rewarded for handling their finances sensibly, they are being treated like deadbeats and smacked with rates that were once deemed strictly punitive. Increased rates that reach 29.99 percent have been widely reported in the case of some Citibank customers, for example. It has also been reported that Bank of America and Citibank were introducing new fees on consumers who don’t use their cards enough or don’t carry minimum balances. Spokesmen for the banking industry say consumers always have the option of refusing the higher rates,. But if they do, they run the risk of having their card revoked, either immediately or when the expiration date arrives. First of all, this - See CARDS, page 12 Assistant News Editor Catherine Meidell Features Editor Courtnie Packer Assistant Features Editor Greg Boyles Sports Editor Tim Olsen Assistant Sports Editor Graham Terry Copy Editor Mark Vuong Photo Editors Pete Smithsuth Tyler Larson ForumLetters Letters to the editor • A public forum Men’s track team deserves more credit To the editor: I was a bit disappointed with the coverage of the cross country teams this past weekend. I believe the men winning a fifth-straight WAC title deserves better than the second page in the sports section with no photo and little recap from some outstanding student athletes and their exceptional coaching staff. Sean Damitz Dear Miss Jones Dear Miss Jones, I have come to the conclusion that being the best friend officially sucks. Here is the deal: I have been best friends with a guy for more than five years. We seem to do everything together and tell each other everything, including our latest relationship developments. We first met in high school, and I sat on the sidelines as he dated one of my closest friends, which ended quickly after graduation. When he was on an LDS mission I wrote him but only on a friend level. And now that he is home I feel that I have officially been placed in charge of finding him marriage prospects. For years it has never bothered me when he tells me about the latest girl he is crushing on or asks for a little advice on how he can swoon some girl until recently. Lately, I tend to get jealous and can’t stand to listen to him go on and on about all these girls he seems to be chasing or vice versa. I am tired of being the best friend, and I’m ready to be the girlfriend. How can I let him know that I am interested in dating him without it being awkward and without our long established friendship being placed on the line? Filled with Jealousy Dear Filled with Jealousy, I know just what you mean. I feel like I have been the best friend to a dozen guys, when in fact I want it to be more. But through the years I have really come to value my friends. Friends are something special and can be an extremely important part of life. Too often I think friends are put on the side-burner when things are going well and then, when the land falls out from beneath you, your friends are always the first ones there to catch you. I know that I always give the “go ahead and tell the person your true feelings” advice, but for this situation I’m going against it. There’s a TV show that some of you readers may know. It’s called “Dawson’s Creek.” Dawson and Joey were friends since before they could remember. They knew everything about each other – their habits (good and bad) and even their thoughts at times. When the hormones began to flare the two realized they had some feelings for one another, and what did they do? Like any good made for TV drama, they decided to give it a shot. They dated and it went well for a little while, but in the end it wasn’t a good thing. They not only hurt each other, but they pulled in their potential partners and ultimately made a huge mess. One thing that I learned is that there’s no fun in a relationship when you know exactly what’s going to happen next. It’s important to find out some of these spicy things that best friends already know about while you’re dating. I admit that Dawson’s and Joey’s relationship was a great thing for a while. I remember before they got together – when they were still in the innocent friend stage, yelling at the TV – they would have sleepovers in Dawson’s bed. I yurned for them to be together and knew something great was going to happen when Dawson went with Joey on her birthday to visit Joey’s father in prison. I cried tears of joy when they had their first kiss in front of his bedroom window during the finale of season one. For me, the next six seasons of love and pain were bliss, but I knew that they were doomed, and no matter how many pints of cookie dough I ate in front of the TV, nothing was going to change it. Sweetie listen to me. Sometimes it’s just better as friends. Continue to give him advice and setting him up on dates. If your feelings do nothing but grow, feel free to tell him but don’t expect the response you want – it rarely comes. Good luck and remember: “With as many times as Miss. Jones has been around the block, her directions must be good.” E-mail your questions to be answered by Miss Jones to statesman. miss.jones@gmail. com Web Editor Karlie Brand About letters • Letters should be limited to 400 words. • All letters may be shortened, edited or rejected for reasons of good taste, redundancy or volume of similar letters. • Letters must be topic oriented. They may not be directed toward individuals. Any letter directed to a specific individual may be edited or not printed. • No anonymous letters will be published. Writers must sign all letters and include a phone number or email address as well as a student identification number (none of which is published). Letters will not be printed without this verification. • Letters representing groups – or more than one individual – must have a singular representative clearly stated, with all necessary identification information. • Writers must wait 21 days before submitting successive letters – no exceptions. • Letters can be hand delivered or mailed to The Statesman in the TSC, Room 105, or can be e-mailed to statesman@aggiemail. usu.edu, or click on www.aggietownsquare.com for more letter guidelines and a box to submit letters. (Link: About Us.) Online poll The mayoral elections are concluded and ASUSU went to lengths to make sure students were informed and involved. Was your voice heard? How did you vote? • Voted for Watts. • Voted for Morrill. • Didn’t vote. • Didn’t know about the election. Visit us on the Web at www.aggietownsquare. com to cast your vote. |