Ethical Issue

Submitted by Coach Kyle on

In the past few months my life has become very busy. I got my first "Big Boy" job at Ford that has me working till around 4:30 - 5:00; I recently graduated and I plan on going back to U of M - Dearborn for 2 night classes; I have been a football coach for 3 years and I'd love to continue doing it; and finally I bought student football tickets.

I can fit all of this in, but I'd rather cut back a little bit. The problem is that we're required to take 4 credits to keep our student tickets, and one class is worth only 3 credits. I suppose I could waste my time and money by taking a class that doesn't count towards graduation but I'd rather not.

So the real question is: Can I get away with less classes? Or will I get caught? Or maybe you think I should just man up and stop being such a morally reprehensible failure? All opinions welcome!

Michigasling

August 5th, 2011 at 7:47 PM ^

it seems a class on ethics wouldn't be a waste of money.

And since you've identified yourself pretty thoroughly, I suspect the chances of getting caught have increased exponentially.

Dark Blue

August 5th, 2011 at 6:12 PM ^

Call Dave Brandon and tell him that you will shine his shoes everyday, and that you will assist in adding 50,000 more seats to the big house. That should do the trick. 

Farnn

August 5th, 2011 at 6:58 PM ^

He's probably saying that leaving by 5 is pretty early to leave the office these days.  At my company most people aren't gone until 6-7, sometimes later.  No one keeps everyone there, its just the amount of work and people leave once they have finished their days work.

BlueDragon

August 5th, 2011 at 6:16 PM ^

there has been a large growth in 1-credit mini-courses that can be taken during the semester.  They aren't as long as a semester and they aren't as intense as a standard 3- or 4-credit science class.  Planets and Moons was very popular amongst my friends.  So was Dinosaurs.  Ask around in the science department at Dearborn to see if they have any mini-courses.

Witz57

August 5th, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^

This is a good idea.  I'll admit to having pulled the planets and moons card a few years back.  My situation was similar.  I'd switched from the Engineering to LS&A and I needed like one odd credit for a particular semester. It was pretty easy because My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.

Naked Bootlegger

August 5th, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^

Maybe things have changed, but I don't think UM has any Phys Ed classes on the books in the course catalog (at least not in the early 90's!).   It definitely was not a graduation requirement when I was a student.   I would have loved an opportunity to take a golf class at UM....those lessons are damned expensive, so might as well pay some tuition dollars, knock off some credits, and learn the game a bit on a beautiful course.

EDIT:  Above info pertains to Ann Arbor campus.  Don't know about Dearborn/Flint, etc.

His Dudeness

August 5th, 2011 at 6:39 PM ^

You can

A) take the one class and you may have to "validate" the tickets (pay the difference between face and student price) to get in even though you aren't a "student."

B) Take the two classes and suck it up.

C) Go into the stadium with your tickets and your ID when it is crowded as fuck and they will just let you in. The busier at the gate the better.

It's all up to you. Option C is what I did my final year at UM. Option B is what I did my first two years.

His Dudeness

August 5th, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^

Positive: Option C  gives you the benefit of going into the stadium at the gate near the student section with a bunch of looney drunks. The gate people are just volunteers there to work the games and see the games for free and they don't want any trouble so they usully let you in if there is a wall of drunken students pushing behind you.

Negative: the students rarely go in at game time so it will be less crowded than other gates. You takes your chances. Good luck. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go get fucked up on this fine Friday night. Cheers, boys.

MGoBender

August 5th, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^

Yeah, I don't really understand the question... If you have the tickets in hand, you're good to go.  You could withdraw from the class and nobody would probably notice.  Just bring your MCard and you're in.

MGoBender

August 5th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^

I guess I'm confused.

Have you bought student tickets

Are you registered for classes right now?

Assuming the answer to both these questions is yes, you'll receive your tickets before the fall semester begins.  You can drop the class(es) without major financial penalty up until day one.  So, once you get your tickets, you could drop them.

I guess this leads to the ethical question, but it's totally doable.  As of last year, MCards were not scanned.

Coach Kyle

August 6th, 2011 at 1:15 AM ^

To answer your question: Yes to both. However I just recently got accepted to grad school this last Wednesday. I signed up for tickets this last March.

I also forgot to mention that any classes I put off until later will be paid for by means other than my own. Any classes taken this semester will be paid for out of my pocket.

I personally think it's crap that the requirement for a grad student is 4 credit hours. That's 1 credit hour too many.

Surveillance Doe

August 6th, 2011 at 6:53 AM ^

I had a buddy try the buy-then-drop move a few years ago. After dropping, he got a phone call from the AD informing him that he could return the tickets or be billed the difference for non-student tickets. Basically, he had to validate every ticket, which he did.

Bando Calrissian

August 6th, 2011 at 3:54 PM ^

I managed to buy student tickets for football AND basketball for the year after I graduated, as I was coming back as a non-degree student the next year for some language classes.  Even though i wasn't going to be accepted or enrolled in the University until well after the deadline (just based on how non-degree registration works).  I don't know how it happened, but I got them.  And know a few other people that had luck doing the same thing.  

Long story short, whatever Athletics uses to gauge if you're a student or not, even your level of enrollment, is a bit of a crapshoot.   You'll probably be OK.