The Bathrooms

This morning as I was taking a shower, I had to make the decision of putting my towel across the shower area, and risk being seen naked (and as a trans guy living on a women floor for security reasons, that was a no-go for me), So I made the decision to instead put my towel next to my shower stall, which I soon realized was a mistake. I now am faced with another decision: Have a soaking wet towel or have my body be seen as I shower. I settled for not having a wet towel AND not being exposed, but to do this, I had to move the 'curtain' (I use this term loosely) to one side and bunch it up so the curl that starts 1/2 way down the curtain doesn't further expose my towel nor me. After turning the water off, I noticed mold on the shower head as well as the shower curtain itself, which is probably how people get sick so often.

The Buildings

I have had classes in all buildings on campus- Straz/Clausen, Lentz, JAC, the Library and even in the Stu. Carthage recently has spent $21m on a new dorm building that only houses 126 students, but the JAC (which is where i spend 1/2 my class time) has leaking pipes, floods and damaged walls and ceilings. They also used money to put up new directories on campus so non-students know where to go when visiting, but Lentz Hall doesn't have proper heating and cooling for appropriate seasons.

The Food

Okay, okay. You go on a tour and they take you through the Student Union (Stu) and they tell you about what kind of food Carthage has and where everything is. (Stu has Subconn, WOW, Baja, and Seattle's. Library has Freshens and Einsteins. Straz has Starbucks and the TWC has the Caf) But what they don't tell you is that its overpriced and overcooked, or it sits out for so long that it's cold and inedible. I worked at WOW for my first two years at Carthage and I currently work at Redzone (the 'cornerstore' that's also over priced excessively) and I can confirm the food is actual food, but the price for one order of fries is $3, and the price for a salad that comes to about 6oz in total is around $8.

The Dorms

There's 3 types of dorms on campus: Traditional (Madrigrano, Johnson, Denhart, Tarble and Swenson) which costs $11.9k each year (this includes food points as well, so really it's around $8.9k), The Tower (the newest addition considered a middle ground dorm) costs $8.9 PLUS another $2500 for the whole year, and The Oaks (the most expensive an the most overrated) that cost $8.9k PLUS an added $5k each year. The traditional dorms hold the most students (each about 320 students each with 40 students on each floor) and are given the least amount of attention. There's no air conditioning in the traditional dorms (which I understand is a luxury) BUT THERE's HEATING!!! The Tower has both air conditioning and Heating, but are not controllable per room by the students. The Oaks (that house about 80 students in each building (it's about 480 students total)) has both heating and cooling that's controllable by students. So what makes them different? Traditional dorms are generally more friendly ( due to your door being allowed to be propped open) and there's communal bathrooms and showers, and only two light per room on the same side of the room. The floors are not co-ed and Tarble has only women in it, (4 full floors) and Swenson is an all guys dorm (but theres about 25 students in it). The Tower has two neighboring rooms that are designed like traditional dorms, but the two dorms share a bathroom (so only 4 people use them instead of about 40). The Oaks has a suite style design where there's a shared space (consisting of two closets, a sink and a bathroom) and the bedrooms are separate from the other person's.

The Greek Life

BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING, I UNDERSTAND THERE'S A LOT OF *good* GREEK LIFE ON CAMPUS!! Carthage offers Fraternities (The Skulls, TKE, Turtles (Doves are a part of them, they are CO-ED) The Don's, DU) and Sororities (SOS, KPhi, Zeta's, DOE, Pi Theta, A-Chi-O, Chi-O, Sigma Alpha Chi). The floor of Sigma Alpha Chi was painted over this past summer, and Greek orgs are starting to dwindle down in size, and therefore being forced to give up being a Greek org in general. Less people are rushing as more people graduate and the severely affects the wants/needs for diversity and acceptance on campus.

The Tuition

Student's Pay $55,540 each year for small class sizes (average is about 23), a lake view on the way to class, a small campus (about 1/2 a mile long) and the experience of college itself. But what else do you have to pay on top of that? A parking pass (if you have a car on campus) Groceries (if you run out of food points, which you probably will), cleaning supplies for your room (including a broom and mop and vacuum if you have a rug, which you should because the floors are made of cold tile), textbooks are over priced at the bookstore, and takes a long time to get shipped to campus (and access codes are way overpriced), paying for being in groups/greek orgs (on top of other things needed for said things like required spirit wear for each organization).

Commuters, however are slightly different. They don't have to pay as much because they don't live on campus, nor do they get a meal plan (if they want food on campus they pay for it out of pocket). They also have to pay for parking passes, but there's no designated lot for them to park in (the north lots are for faculty as well).