Some McMaster University students have allegedly been selling their seats in courses to fellow students, McMaster’s student newspaper, the Silhouette, reported in April.
McMaster’s online registration process, similar to Queen’s QCARD, makes it impossible to track how many unsanctioned transactions have taken place. It has been reported that some seats have cost students up to $100.
There’s no conclusive information on whether this is happening at Queen’s.
The actions by McMaster students who are selling their places are completely unethical. They set a bad precedent for Queen’s, where budget cuts and tight enrolment caps prevent some students from taking the courses they want or need.
They also widen the socio-economic divide when not all students can afford to buy their way into courses.
Rising tuition fees have made it impossible, or at least undesirable, for many students to spend an extra year finishing their degrees. The social pressure to pursue graduate studies limits them to courses that fulfill—sometimes perceived—entrance requirements.
Under these conditions it’s no surprise some students feel the need to put up cash for spaces in popular courses, but this devalues their education as well as undermines courses with spaces that students don’t pay extra for.
The University needs to take precautions against such potential actions.
An ideal situation includes having more sections of popular courses and a better teacher-to-student ratio. But if these options aren’t financially viable, the University should at least create waiting lists so students can be automatically enrolled in courses if other students drop them. It’s a logical move that would save students from having to refresh QCARD obsessively for sudden open spaces.
A list would also help students near the bottom decide whether they should begin looking at other courses before those fill up.
It might be necessary to have a human hand maintain the lists to prevent hacking; the istration needs to address this concern before implementing waiting lists, but it shouldn’t be a deterrent to creating them.
The University needs to act before students—albeit likely a minority—begin to cash in on seat selling.
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