“I never had a problem finding parking,” Heiney said. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
At KSU’s 50th anniversary this year, the campus is decidedly larger than five buildings. The university is now the third largest in the University System of Georgia. Parking is most definitely not free, and any current student knows that if he or she arrives on campus with less than 15 minutes to spare before class, tardiness is all but guaranteed.
The size of campus is not the only thing that has changed over the years. Registration is now as much of a nightmare as parking. Students get their assigned time ticket via OwlExpress and sign up for classes online, hoping the slots are not all filled.
When Heiney attended, registration was done on paper. He recalls lining up in the Administrative Building, filling out a piece of paper and that was it. Process complete. He can not recall ever having worried about getting a class he needed.
“There was always plenty of space,” Heiney said.
However, the most interesting difference to note, and likely the most unsatisfying one, is the difference in cost. During the ‘70s, KSU operated on the quarter system. In fact, it was a junior college until 1976. Though Heiney cannot remember the exact cost of full-time attendance, he said it was “much less than $1000,” adding that he had no student loans or debt upon graduation.
Clearly, not all the changes KSU has seen in its 50 years have been positive ones.
Even so, KSU remains a rapidly growing university with a great deal to offer its students. This is a fact that has not changed since the college’s creation in 1963. So while students may be less than thrilled about the rising cost of education, student loan debt, the stress of finding a parking space and still managing to get to class on time, they would be hard pressed to find an institution that has accomplished more in its short time than KSU.
Laura Heiney,
Sophomore Spanish Major
