Cleveland State University

Date: Jan 11 2010
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
I've seen a lot of negative comments about CSU on this page, and I have to say, I'm not seeing it. I've been a student here for four years, and aside from the general university advisers not being very useful and a bit of organizational disarray (partially due to the current Student Center building construction set for completion Summer of this year), CSU is a good school, especially for commuter students. People can complain that prices for parking and tuition have gone up over time, but they fail to note that the prices for EVERYTHING goes up, given enough time. In my time here, tuition and fees have increased, but not any more than I think is reasonable.

Unfortunately, the neighborhood around CSU is not always safe at night. This is a consequence of a downtown urban university. However, the campus police force is always available and friendly. I have had nothing but good experiences with CSU police and security. Due to known issues of being out at night, CSU has installed a number of emergency call boxes and has security escorts available to any who should request them.

Technology offerings on CSU campus are more than adequate. The entire campus is infused with wireless internet connectivity, and open computer labs are available in almost every building. Additionally, CSU offers students the ability to loan out laptops at no cost to registered students for a period of 4 hours at a time (renewable via checking in at the loan counter). The university is currently involved in upgrading a number of computer systems and should have the entire campus running Windows 7 by the start of the Fall 2010 semester.

Cleveland State is currently in a period of expansion. The new Student Center building is replacing the old University Center. The Parker Hanafin Administration building is new home to a number of university offices. The new School of Education building is also slated for completion this year. A residential expansion is also taking place. Fenn Tower reopened a couple of years ago, and new student residences are under construction. Following the current expansion, the old Viking Hall is slated to be demolished and rebuilt into more modernized student housing.

Everything at CSU is not perfect however. My biggest peeve is during heavy snowfall, they typically will not close the university until the middle of the day, which causes traffic issues with everybody leaving campus at the same time.

Most of my campus experience pertains to the School of Communications and my on-campus job. Individual results may vary.