 "Photo: Joseph Herr")
Long lines with even longer waits are bothering students at Rocket Solutions Central.
One concerned student did something about it.
Anthony Bradfield, a junior majoring in math and economics, attended the most recent Town Hall meeting to get his questions answered regarding the long lines at the RSC. Town Hall meetings provide students a chance to voice their concerns over issues affecting them on campus.
President Jacobs was sympathetic to Bradfield's concerns.
"I am intolerant of lines as you are," Jacobs said.
Officials say they are trying to come up with solutions for the long lines.
Kevin Kucera, associate vice president for enrollment services, answered Bradfield's questions at the meeting. One of the contributing factors to the long lines is the university's new computer software, he said.
The Banner system, the computer information system that UT recently adopted, takes about two years to be fully implemented.
"Banner is in its first year, so our goal for next time around would be to try to spread that out," Kucera said.
An additional reason given for the long lines is Banner can only assess one bill per semester, meaning students only have a short time to pay their bills and fix billing issues. This leads to many students going to RSC during the first few weeks of the semester.
Kucera said he hopes to find a different solution to the billing issue next year.
"If you can spread the billing process out, with differing billing dates, we won't have a mad rush of people," he said.
For the meantime, the RSC has created an express line and the number system, he said.
Prior to RSC, students had to wait in multiple lines around that same time, Kucera said.
The long lines and system trouble has given students a break on other areas, he added.
"There is no deregistration, there are no late fees and we're working to make it a better system," he said.
Bradfield's question was answered, but for some students, such as Chris Sofranko, a junior majoring in pharmacy, addressing concerns at Town Hall meetings is not an easy task. He is so busy he doesn't have time to attend a Town Hall meeting to complain.
If he had a problem, he would just deal with it and hope someone else does something about it, he said.
"That's not the right thing to do," he said, adding he should do something. "But it doesn't bother me enough."
Dan Bryan, a sophomore majoring in political science and public administration, shares Sofranko's sentiments.
With two jobs and classes, he doesn't have enough time to attend a Town Hall.
Instead, Bryan would just talk to people he knows who are active within Student Government.
"There is no convenient time," he said of the Town Hall meetings. Tamara Brescol, a senior majoring in economics, has experienced the long lines at RSC.
However, she doesn't think attending Town Hall meetings will help.
"I don't think that it would make a difference," she said, adding that the university made its decision to put all the services in one place, so there was nothing else she could say.
The Town Hall meetings are held once a month to create a dialogue with students, staff and faculty.
Jacobs said students need to have responsibility, too, because the students are "the future of our world," adding that these couple years in college is their time to be involved on campus.
"I want students to recognize that this university is for them," he said, adding that students need to "keep their eye on the responsibility."
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