I feel relatively comfortable making the claim that the University of Missouri-St. Louis is the Weekends Only Furniture Outlet of higher education. Even setting aside the architectural similarities (they both look like box store warehouses!), we can see that, philosophically, the UM-St. Louis (as they prefer to be called) follows ideals set by the cut-rate furniture retailer.
A.) Both minimize costs by restricting hours of operation
Weekends Only Furniture Outlet keeps costs low (and possibly avoids some regulatory laws, I don't know) by restricting their hours of business to... weekends only. It means that they cram all of their customers into a two-day period every week, maximizing the amount of work they get out of their employees (in terms of sales/hours worked), and minimizing the amount of customer service (complaints) they will have to field. After all, if the entire staff is busy, there's no one available to handle any issues the customer may have with their purchased merchandise.
Point being, limiting the hours of operation works for the bottom line, regardless of whether or not it is better for the customer (it's not).
Well, earlier this week,while I was working on some calculus at University of Missouri-St. Louis's Thomas Jefferson Library, a voice came booming across the PA system strung throughout the building. "It is now 4:30, the library will close at 5:00. Please bring all materials you wish to check out to the front desk by 4:45," the voice called out. Now, on a Thursday, even on a break, 5:00 PM is a little early to be closing up shop at a university library. U. of Missouri-Columbia, my alma mater, stays open until 8. So I did a little checking up on some of the other student facilities from the two universities and how they compare:
All times listed are regular semester weekday hours
Main library closing times:
University of Missouri-Columbia: 2 AM
University of Missouri-St. Louis: 10:30 PM
Fitness center closing times:
University of Missouri-Columbia: 11:00 PM
University of Missouri-St. Louis: 9:45 PM
Available computer labs:
University of Missouri-Columbia: open 24hrs (Pershing Commons)
University of Missouri-St. Louis: 1 AM (SSB 103)
I won't even go into comparisons with the more well-regarded St. Louis universities (and UM-St. Louis comes up short even when put next to Maryville University!), but when UMSL charges the same amount per credit hour for tuition (every school in the UM system does), and in fact charges more in student fees than the flagship school (a margin that will only increase next year with the proposal that all students will be charged parking fees, regardless of whether or not they drive to campus), they clearly shows what they value: low overhead and high revenues; just like Weekends Only Furniture Outlet.
"The place is definitly(sp) no-frills and you get what you see. I think they purchase "need to go items" from other stores and sell them under one roof at [Weekends Only Furniture Outlet]."
"To me this place is a waste of time. The only thing we found was most of the items in the showroom were what you see is what you get. The prices were not that reduced unless it had been sitting there for a long time and so obnoxius(sp) that it probably would not sell unless they gave it away."
The quotations above are excerpts from two different Yelp reviews of the Weekends Only Furniture Outlet located in Bridgeton, MO. This pretty much sums up the experience of shopping there. The cast-offs and worn furniture that other retailers couldn't move, at prices hardly any lower than a dealer with a larger, higher-quality selection. I have personally gotten a rug-burn from the sofa my family purchased at a Weekends Only.
Much like Weekends Only Furniture Outlet, the University of Missouri-St. Louis's curriculum offerings are:
-Sparse (60 credit hours will take 3.5 years to complete, due to certain prerequisites only being offered in certain semesters and electives being next-to-nonexistent)
-Overpriced (the aforementioned tuition rates and fees levied being comparable to/greater than those at U. of Missouri-Columbia)
-Low quality (this semester I will have my first instructor with a doctorate, out of four classes total taken--Applied Statistics I, taught by a Doctor of Philosophy)
I could go into the similarities in attitude (in terms of hopes/plans for the future) of those who patronize Weekends Only Furniture Outlet and UMSL, but as a member of the UMSL student body, I think that might be too depressing.
Before I started writing this post, I was not even aware that students at UM-St. Louis pay more in fees than students at UM-Columbia, but I am now even more outraged than I was before. Why should the facilities be closed earlier--and be of poorer quality--than they are for those who pay less in yearly fees at the flagship school? My first semester at UM-Columbia, every course I took was taught by a full professor. Why am I paying the same tuition to be taught by grad students?
Suffice it to say, we deserve better.
