"Illinibucks"

This is an interesting idea which brings to mind a problem a former professor posed in class regarding students who drop classes at the last possible minute.  As he described it, this is harmful to students in several ways.  One, it takes up a space someone else may have been able to take, perhaps even desperately needed.  Two, it actually drives up the cost of tuition indirectly.  When a class is full at the beginning of the semester, the department must assign a professor to teach each one of those classes.  However, as people drop the class, the professor must still teach their sections even though the number of students remaining in what was once three or four separate sections could have been consolidated into one. The result of this is more professors each teaching less kids.  Professors must be paid, buildings must be maintained, and the cost of tuition indirectly rises.  

It has been quite some time since I was in the class I am speaking of and my recollection of the exact idea is a bit patchy.  In essence, my former professor’s solution to this was an idea called “drop tickets”.  At the beginning of a student’s college career, they are issued a set number of drop tickets, perhaps 3 or 4.  Every time they drop a class, they must surrender one of these drop tickets.  At the end of their college career, they can turn in every unused drop ticket for cash or some other type of reward, what exactly it was I can’t quite remember. 

This seems like a use for Illinibucks, potentially solving two issues at once.  The first issue, students need to get into classes but aren’t able to because they are full.  The second issue, students take up space in a class that someone else needs and then drop it at the last minute.  These would both be addressed by requiring students to use their Illinibucks to register for classes, as well as drop those classes.  If a harsher “penalty” were to be assigned to dropping a class, perhaps students would not add classes just to fill up their schedule only to drop them later on.  This would result in students taking classes they actually needed, and hopefully less students being shut out of classes they need because people who don’t need the class are taking up available spaces.

Another potential use of Illinibucks which I believe would appeal to upperclassmen especially, would be the option to move their registration priority up, enabling them to take sections of classes that meet at favorable times, as these usually fill up quite rapidly. A slight modification to this could be the ability to register for classes that may be blocked due to departmental restrictions. Again, upperclassmen trying to build a favorable schedule may want to take an elective but aren’t able to register for it until after a certain time.  The “easy” electives are often filled by that point, this would allow students to bypass that restriction.  Obviously there would be massive logistical issues with any of these suggestions that would need to be worked out as well.

Setting the correct price would be critical to the success of Illinibucks.  Set the price too high and nobody/very few students will use them.  This would negate the usefulness of the Illinibucks system to the students. At the other end of the spectrum, set the price too low and there will be a free for all.  This would also negate the usefulness of the system because there would be little to no reason for students to conserve their Illinibucks.  If everyone had unlimited money, would anyone actually be rich?