ATTN: Current UND Students: Laptop Program

challenger

challenger

New Member
Well, I know this is kind of a repost, so my bad.

I am fed up with this and it is time for people to unite and end it, if people really have the general consensus that I think they have.

I email Pete Schmacher, the Laptop director asking not to be in the program and this was his canned response.

I'm sorry we cannot make exceptions for anybody who disagrees with the current laptop policy. The policy is well-advertised (it's described in the UND catalog, and included with nearly every piece of correspondence distributed to incoming students), so you should have been aware of this expense before starting your aviation training. The policy is applied equally to all students.
Pete Schumacher, Laptop Director

pmschuma@aero.und.edu

Thank you for caring so much about your customers UND!

There just comes a point where this has to end and that point is now. Anybody who is a student, we need to start a grassroot effort to tell UND this program is a ripoff and we are not going to take it anymore.

There is my rant for the day, UND has lit a firecracker under the wrong persons ass. :insane:
 
challenger said:
Well, I know this is kind of a repost, so my bad.

I am fed up with this and it is time for people to unite and end it, if people really have the general consensus that I think they have.

I email Pete Schmacher, the Laptop director asking not to be in the program and this was his canned response.

I'm sorry we cannot make exceptions for anybody who disagrees with the current laptop policy. The policy is well-advertised (it's described in the UND catalog, and included with nearly every piece of correspondence distributed to incoming students), so you should have been aware of this expense before starting your aviation training. The policy is applied equally to all students.
Pete Schumacher, Laptop Director

pmschuma@aero.und.edu

Thank you for caring so much about your customers UND!

There just comes a point where this has to end and that point is now. Anybody who is a student, we need to start a grassroot effort to tell UND this program is a ripoff and we are not going to take it anymore.

There is my rant for the day, UND has lit a firecracker under the wrong persons ass. :insane:
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The problem is that there are some UND students who actually like the laptop program.

TXaviator said:
so can you just like, not ever go pick one up? not sign any paperwork for it, etc....
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They still charge you... you know how UND is...

It's so freaking pointless. In half my avit classes we weren't even allowed to use the stupid thing.
 
Yea I wrote him a nasty email about the laptop program my second semester here and now I just wrote another email to the aviation senator chick to see what can be done. I wonder if Pete knows that Microsoft office can be put on any computer.
 
juxtapilot said:
The problem is that there are some UND students who actually like the laptop program.



They still charge you... you know how UND is...

It's so freaking pointless. In half my avit classes we weren't even allowed to use the stupid thing.
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Probably, because they are actually able to get loans or better yet mommy and daddy is paying for their flying and 340 dollars a semester is not that big of a deal to them.

Me on the other hand, that 340 dollars could be the difference whether I am able to first get an incomplete and secondly get my flying done within the year. And even so I do not feel like paying 2700 dollars for a computer that I can buy now for 500 dollars and will be worthless in 3 years when I graduate.

UND is running themselves straight into the ground by not listening to the students. The administration at this school is atrocious all around.

Funny story to speak of the stupidity that runs amuck here. . . When I worked at the airport they accidentally paid me 1000 dollars an hour for my first paycheck and deposited 29,000 dollars into my bank account. I told them about it, it was a friday and they left in in my account over the weekend because their accounting people were gone!!! I should have closed my account and ran :banghead: Off topic but figured I'd through that story out here! haha

I think I will just transfer and get a normal degree after this semester because of their inability to listen to the customer.
 
this program also is pointless. How much are the computers? I would not pick it up, then if I was charged I would sue the school for services not rendered. I would then tell a judge that I already had a machine with all things that the laptop from the school had.
 
Welcome to 10 years ago when the laptops wouldn't even work from the first week and the classes never ever used them. How long at regional pay will it take at regional pay to payback the money on the laptop?

=Jason-
 
The Facebook group is up, anyone who wants this to end please join and invite all of your friends http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=340138476003&ref=ts

Any ideas from people of how to get started on this would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully, this is not something I am not supposed to do on this forum. I am just hoping some progress can be made on this issue, because I am not willing to go down without a fight. It is never intelligent to piss a pilot off! :rawk:

Pilotwannabe1123 said:
this program also is pointless. How much are the computers? I would not pick it up, then if I was charged I would sue the school for services not rendered. I would then tell a judge that I already had a machine with all things that the laptop from the school had.
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Would that actually stand up in court? I wonder how much it would cost me to do that. . . .
 
challenger said:
Well, I know this is kind of a repost, so my bad.

I am fed up with this and it is time for people to unite and end it, if people really have the general consensus that I think they have.

I email Pete Schmacher, the Laptop director asking not to be in the program and this was his canned response.

I'm sorry we cannot make exceptions for anybody who disagrees with the current laptop policy. The policy is well-advertised (it's described in the UND catalog, and included with nearly every piece of correspondence distributed to incoming students), so you should have been aware of this expense before starting your aviation training. The policy is applied equally to all students.
Pete Schumacher, Laptop Director

pmschuma@aero.und.edu

Thank you for caring so much about your customers UND!

There just comes a point where this has to end and that point is now. Anybody who is a student, we need to start a grassroot effort to tell UND this program is a ripoff and we are not going to take it anymore.

There is my rant for the day, UND has lit a firecracker under the wrong persons ass. :insane:
Click to expand...


In all fairness, Pete didn't take over as laptop director all that long ago. He does, however seem clueless on the policies regarding anything about the program. He has trouble running the CRJ 200 AeroSim software in his own Avit 428 class.. It's a shame... I am not quite sure how HE got picked to head it up, but I don't know how much different it was when Al Skramstad was running it.

Personally, I have spent too much on the Avit Laptop program ... there has to be a better solution.
 
lol, off-topic, but I just remembered how Mr. Schumacher always stares at the ceiling, grabs his chin, and pretends to be thinking deeply, "well let's think about this for a minute," whenever he gets asked a question he doesn't know the answer to, in class. :D
 
ORDFlyer85 said:
Personally, I have spent too much on the Avit Laptop program ... there has to be a better solution.
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Me too. The solution seems pretty simple. Do what numerous colleges and universities do across the country; simply require students to have laptops in class that can run certain software. It's no different than requiring a textbook.

This would be perfect for UND Aerospace. All you need is a laptop that can run Firefox and the MS office suite. If you don't have one, or forget to bring it to class, well too bad you won't be able to take the online quizzes and such, just as it is today with the current laptop program.

It boggles my mind as to why UND would want to take on a laptop program in the first place. It is a lot of administrative work for them when they could simply put a line in the course catalog that says all students must have a laptop. I've heard the financial aid argument, but with the UND bookstore now also the campus computer store, it shouldn't matter. Also, you can get laptops that would work for in class use really cheap these days.

The only plus to the laptop program is the support and replacement service. The negative is that students end up just paying for people that drop their laptop five times a semester. Also, if you live in the dorms, computer support is provided for free already. I've heard that one current option is to add a small technology fee to avit students to keep the support shop open while ditching the highly unpopular laptop program.
 
challenger said:
Funny story to speak of the stupidity that runs amuck here. . . When I worked at the airport they accidentally paid me 1000 dollars an hour for my first paycheck and deposited 29,000 dollars into my bank account. I told them about it, it was a friday and they left in in my account over the weekend because their accounting people were gone!!! I should have closed my account and ran :banghead: Off topic but figured I'd through that story out here! haha
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Sorry, I say BS. PeopleSoft won't allow for overdrafts like that. Your story is highly unlikely to have occurred.

challenger said:
I think I will just transfer and get a normal degree after this semester because of their inability to listen to the customer.
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As I mentioned before, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Try Embry-Riddle, I hear they're much better.
 
FlyMan07 said:
Not so fast. Stuff like this happens all the time. See this. Even "fancy" software is not perfect.
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Well, we can solve this. North Dakota is an "open-records" state, even with salary. I'll call HR on Monday and see if there really was a $29,000 overpayment, followed by a weekend where no one gives a crap about it. Frankly, I'd bet a ton of money on the BS.

edit: funny how in both stories the extra amount was exactly $29,000...hmm?
 
mrflier said:
Sorry, I say BS. PeopleSoft won't allow for overdrafts like that. Your story is highly unlikely to have occurred.



As I mentioned before, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Try Embry-Riddle, I hear they're much better.
Click to expand...

As a poor college student, I do not have 29,000 dollars in my account ever. I have an ATM receipt from when it happened. Secondly, what would I have to gain from making that story up and posting it on an online forum? It did happen.

UND is a school that could be great if the administration did not mess up everything and not listen to students concerns. So I guess my only advice is to quit drinking the Kool Aid
 
mrflier said:
Well, we can solve this. North Dakota is an "open-records" state, even with salary. I'll call HR on Monday and see if there really was a $29,000 overpayment, followed by a weekend where no one gives a crap about it. Frankly, I'd bet a ton of money on the BS.

edit: funny how in both stories the extra amount was exactly $29,000...hmm?
Click to expand...
Tell you what, if you are willing to bet money on it how about you pay for my flight training if its is true? :laff::beer:
 
I think that peoples opinions about the Laptop Program are split 50% 50%.

Personally, I don't like the program. I feel like we were "tricked" into thinking we actually need certain software installed on it for our classes. I have never taken a class where we actually used the software on it.

The program was created in a day and age where not everyone had a laptop. But now in 2010 you will find most people entering college will already own a laptop.

Most of the people I have talked to that like the program cite being able to just take it in and get a new one if it breaks as why they like it. But when it comes down to it if you factor in the cost of buying and OWNING your own laptop with a warranty it will come out cheaper than "leasing" a laptop for 4 years. Yes, UND *might* let you buy it cheap when you graduate and one of my friends did that, they erased all the software off and gave him a bad battery to where if you unplugged it it would die right away.

I have heard rumors that there will be no laptop program next year because they have not even choosen a new laptop that is supposed to replace the ones we have now this summer but that is purely a rumor.
 
oktex88 said:
I think that peoples opinions about the Laptop Program are split 50% 50%.
Click to expand...

I think the numbers in favor are lower than that because I think that a lot of students believe that if the laptop program is done away with it means that there will be no more laptops in class. This is not the case, but some people have taken it that way, especially by the aviation students that don't care about the cost; the ones that just care about playing games during class. These students hear "no more laptop" and, without listening to the full statement, suddenly become the laptop programs number one fans.
 
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