St Mary's University

Date: Oct 26 2007
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
If you are rich and money is not an issue to you, then St. Mary's is a good choice. I've been screwed out of so much money in the year and a half I've been here that it's not even funny. First, the registrar's office forgot to register me, and by the time they noticed their mistake, they had run out of money for part of my financial aid and I lost a $2000 grant because of their mistake. Then they even had the nerve to try to charge me a $150 late payment fee because of the $2000 that got taken out of my financial aid package. They automatically charged me the fee, even before they informed me that I had lost my $2000 grant due to THEIR mistake. I had to fight with the business office for almost an hour to get it taken off of my account, and ended up having to register for classes for the next semester the day before they started, when 90% of them were already full.

I took their computer lit tests, and wasn't supposed to be charged for them because I participated in some sort of study. I never recieved credit for the classes, so I took my scores in to have them counted, and I just noticed that I got charged $120 for the 3 tests. The tests cost $20 each, but like I already said, were supposed to be free for me. I still don't understand how they came up with a $120 fee for 3 tests that only cost $20 each.

Campus police gives out tickets for EVERYTHING, yet they can't seem to do anything about the huge amount of car break ins that have been occuring. I actually got a $50 ticket for parking in a VISITOR's spot while I was, get this, VISITING my boyfriend in his dorm. But because I have a commuter sticker, apparently I have to park in the commuter lot, even after classes are over for the day.

Don't even get me started on the school's food… Not only is it unhealthy (almost everything in the Cafeteria is fried), it's also very expensive and doesn't taste that good. At school, it costs \(2.59 for a loaf of bread that costs \).60 at the grocery store. A box of Nilla Wafers will set you back \(5.49 Campbell's Soup that costs \).40 at the grocery store is $1.19 on campus. And of course, if you live on campus, you're required to have a meal plan, which costs at least $1000+tax.

I also had my car towed during Oyster Bake because 12 hours after I had parked it, they decided to make the area into a no-parking zone. My mom had to meet me that the towing place because they wouldn't let me take the car out because it was in her name. They actually lost my car overnight, and then charged me a $40 fee in addition to the $110 towing fee because my car was there overnight… But that was the city of San Antonio, not the school. The school had my car towed, though, which is why I mentioned it.

Just a warning: if you live near San Antonio, go home during the weekend of Oyster Bake and don't come back until Sunday night. If you don't live in the area, DO NOT MOVE YOUR CAR! My boyfriend drove me home after my car got towed and the police wouldn't let him back on campus, even though he had a parking pass and his student ID.

I also find it funny that the school can afford a $20 million dollar bell tower (which doesn't even have real bells in it, by the way. It's a recording of bells), yet every year they end up tripling people in dorms because there aren't enough rooms for everybody. But $20 million for a belltower is totally reasonable, while using that money to build more dorms and repair the old ones is out of the question.