What I would change about UIS

All of the English 101 classes were given a prompt for an essay on what we would like to change at UIS. A lot of different things were brought up in my class’ discussion about the topic. I’ll name a few of these ideas here. Students had chosen to write about increasing the food choices in the cafeteria, finding our who your roommate is earlier, quiet hour not being quiet, and problems with the grading system. Personally, as a commuting student, I think that a better transportation system is needed. Here is my proposal. This is only my first draft so excuse my mistakes…

A Better Transportation System

The University of Illinois in Springfield is continuously growing. The IBHE is providing the funding for the proposed construction of a new residence hall and townhouses. This $15.8 million dollar expansion of UIS would not be possible without funding from auxiliary funds. Enthusiasm, as in the essay “On Becoming a Better Student,” is important to the success of this campus, and the student body is excited to start building. The new residence hall will allow 200 more students to enroll here at UIS. This increase along with the new townhouses equals an allowance of over 850 students to live on campus. With the continuous expansion of campus, a better transportation system is going to be needed both on and off of campus.
As of now, there is no form of shuttling on campus. This is feasible because the campus is still pretty small and you can get to most places fairly quick. However, the University of Illinois in Springfield is just in the beginning stages of growth as far as construction goes. Moreover, as the campus expands out, students are going to have to do a lot more walking at a longer distance. “Too much walking” was one of the issues addressed in the essay “What No One Ever Told Them about College (A Survey).” Not only is this inconvenient for the student, but it also puts the student’s health at risk. Students can get sick from walking in bad weather or suffer from back strain from carrying too much stuff across campus.
Another point to consider is the addition of the first year General Education program. This is the first year that UIS has accepted General Education freshman. There are currently 201 Gen-Ed students at the University of Illinois. This gives students the choice of whether to live on campus or not, and many have chosen to commute. Transportation is very important to the commuting student.
There are five colleges located in Springfield. These are as follows: Springfield College in Illinois, Lincoln Land Community College, the University of Illinois in Springfield, Robert Morris College, and SIU school of Medicine. Although multiple colleges are located in Springfield, Illinois it is not associated with being a college town.
In a college town everything revolves around the campus, and most extracurricular activities take place nearby campus. Champaign, for example, is a perfect example of a college town. The University of Illinois practically owns everything there. Then, most college towns have an excellent transportation system. The University of Illinois in Chicago, for example, has a bussing system that runs until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The location of Springfield is very different. It is impossible for everything to revolve around the University of Illinois at Springfield when the city is so widespread. The city itself is expanding.
Then, many people go into debt early in life because of student loans that they took out as college students. In order to help prevent this from happening, a lot of students are forced to work their way through school. It would not be strange for a student to get a job in Springfield that is ten miles away because of how widespread the city is. This would cause a real problem for a student without a car.
Of course, a person may argue that there is no real problem here. He may just suggest that the student ride a city buss. However, a lot of times students are not able to use the Springfield Mass Transit bussing system because it runs every half an hour only until about 6. If a person had to work late or had to pick up something off campus for a class project that night then he would be out of luck. Last year, the city received funding in order to allow the busses to run until 11:30 p.m. However, due to funding this pilot program was canceled. The city of Springfield has not had nightly bussing since 1950.
Thus, the University of Illinois at Springfield is constantly growing with construction and with student population. Adjustments are necessary with these changes. Therefore, establishing a shuttling service for the students of the UIS would prove highly beneficial. As of now, there are no on campus shuttling services and students are forced to take the city bus which only runs at selects times. This can cause a major inconvenience for students without transportation. However, this proposed change would highly affect the students’ school experience in a positive way.