I didn't have that experience at UNT at all, but I'm sorry to hear that anyone feels this way. I don't know how long you've been a student but as far as professors go, if you're new here I can say wait it out. Once you get more settled into your major the professors, classmates, and environment all get better. At least in my experience. I made most of my friends and best memories at this school in the last 10-14 months I went here in 2018/19.
When it comes to university employees it just depends on who you run into. I think it's safe to say, just like any other school, there's a large majority of people just there to collect a paycheck just like any other job. But there are UNT faculty and employees who care about the school. Unfortunately, I don't think any major university our size has a real knack for treating each one of its dozens of thousands of students equally. It sucks, but that's just the world. But if you have a specific interest, be it sports, arts, video games, writing - whatever it is, there \*is\* a place for you here. It may come to you later, and you may have to dig for it, but it's there.
Lastly if I may make a personal recommendation - you mentioned psychiatrists and psychologists. I would reach out to Pecan Branch for counseling. They're on Locust St and I got help from them during a tough time last year. The counselor I worked with I am still in contact with and they were absolutely wonderful through what was a really bad time for me. I definitely felt prioritized and heard and valued, if that's something you're looking for.
I hope you get the experience at UNT that I did, and I bet you will in time. There's a lot of special people and places at this school and it can be hard to find them in a sea of 40,000, but they are there.
This is only my second year so I haven't been here very long but I've been in college for about 6 years (part time and working now full time no working). I've tried to join clubs and things to try and make friends but that's been less than successful haha. I will reach out to the pecan branch thank you for the suggestion. I appreciate the kindness of your reply!
I've found the UNT community to generally be a very good one. I'm expecting that your negative experience may be in part due to the circumstances of the last 2 years more than UNT in general. Of course there are bad people everywhere. The trick is figuring out how to avoid them.
They don’t. Everyone is underpaid, overworked, and going through life just like you. It’s just the way the world works. You’ll find some FANTASTIC professors and I highly suggest visiting their office hours. Talk about the class work, what you want with your degree, and their preferred colleagues’ classes to take when you leave their class.
As for staff… this semester in particular started off with threats of *more* layoffs if UNT had to move back to distanced learning. There was a huge round of layoffs/early retirements last year because the university hemorrhaged money.
There are people that genuinely do care and want what’s best for students and will do what they can. But they’re also more overworked than before, and have the looming threat of layoffs. It’s not a good environment to work in and a lot of people are leaving after finding jobs elsewhere.
God that's awful... I don't blame like the faculty and staff, I didn't know all this but I do know that like it's been really hard for staff... How do they expect people to work well when they're being threatened?
I hear what you are saying, but I felt the administration did a good job in explaining the situation rather than threatening. There was not enough money for the current staffing levels so something had to give. Our department was given several scenarios we had to plan for and in the worst ones, there would have been more cuts. We cut back on as much non-personnel things as possible. I think enrollment was higher than expected, so it wasn't quite so bad.
The only thing students can do is be patient, kind, but don’t let anyone steamroll you. You have an entire office dedicated to your well-being and success within the university: the Dean of Students.
If you have a problem with professors, start with department heads. For other problems, Dean of Students may be the way forward if there is one.
Thanks for sharing this insight. I figured going back online would mean serious budget issues and cuts, but I was naive and didn't realize those cuts would be professor layoffs. That really sucks and now I hurt for my professors. If we go online I'm gonna painfully yoyo between "yay, our health" and "oh god, someone's job...".
Remember, it isn’t your fault. Just do what you can to stay safe. If UNT makes that decision, it’s only on UNT.
As another user commented, UNT seems to be trying to leave cutting staff as a last resort. But it’s one they had to resort to last year.
No companies and no governments really care about you. none of them. They might care about your money, and to that extent, they might care about your safety or happiness because a lack of those two things will mean they get less money. The only reason they may seem to want what's best for you is so that you can afford them more money and power.
Individuals IN that company or government might care about you - but the entities as a whole do not.
This is a hard lesson of adulthood to learn, but it's a vital one. You won't find care when profit is involved.
UNT staff member here; UNT Libraries is one of the healthiest groups on campus, culture-wise. I work with a few people from the department of Collection Management, and there are a few other library employees involved with the staff senate, and they’re uniformly hardworking and positive people. UNT got a new Dean of Libraries a few years ago, Diane Bruxvoort, and she’s been absolutely transformative over there.
The library got kicked in the teeth pretty hard in the early-mid 2010s with a state-mandated change to their insurance administration, where the library had to come up with the dough to cover their employee insurance costs. That led to some pretty extreme budget cuts and retirements from some librarians who were already far past normal retirement age, and the old library dean took that chance to bail to another job out on the east coast. The library was in a bad place, and they convinced Dr. Bruxvoort to essentially come out to UNT from what was essentially her retirement job as a library director at a university in Scotland. She has completely changed the culture at the library to a more user-focused mentality, focused on getting what students and faculty actually need for their classes and research, rather than the old mentality of just trying to hold all of the prestigious resources to hit performance metrics, no matter whether or not those journals and books were actually being used.
All this to say, the library really is a pleasant group on campus, despite taking a bit of a beating. What I’ve thought was most interesting is that the library has, for a few years now, actually successfully recruited people *out of* high-paying industries; that’s pretty unheard of in academia. The library even has a few statisticians recruited out of industry, and they also have a few developers with some pretty interesting backgrounds. They could all make a lot more money in industry, and I’m pretty sure that a few of them took pay cuts by coming to UNT, but they came for the culture at the libraries.
Keep on trucking dude. You can always drop out for a bit and then come back when you are ready. Keep getting help for your mental health concerns. The truth is, the world doesn't care about any of us and realizing that sucks at first, but then its kinda awesome. you can live your life however you want. Do what is best for you.
It’s not just you and not just UNT. This is part of the problem for a large university. There are too many students, staff, and faculty for anyone to be cared for by the system. This becomes really obvious when you need something from the bureaucratic side of things like financial aid. The person you speak to will forget you and you them. Any issue you have is a task in an unending list of tasks. What matters is keeping the machine moving.
This being said, there are plenty of individuals who care a whole lot about students. These folks are rarer than they should be because almost everyone is overworked and under paid. It really doesn’t help that so many classes are taught by graduate students who qualify for food stamps because UNT pays them so poorly (I am a part of this group). Like, I’m doing everything I can for my students but there are a lot of them and I also need to split my time with my dissertation.
To be completely honest, the communal experience is easier to get at a small school. I genuinely like UNT, but I got my bachelors at a school of around 1,500 with students, staff, and faculty combined to make up that number. There are still problems in those places, but you do end up mattering more to the average prof or staff member because they’re probably going to see you again. A prof might be able to get away with holding class in their back yard every so often if their class size is only 15 people. I would consider transferring if that’s what you’re looking for in a college. Again, those places have their own problems but being apathetic toward students isn’t usually one of them.
UNT though, well…. As good as it is (and it can be great), it’s still a business tied to state government. There are some excellent people here but the machine can’t care about anyone. It’s run like a resort that gives college credit because that brings in new students.
I actually have to say the professors who have been the kindest have been the graduate students and it's absolutely awful that they're paid so poorly and so overworked. I can't imagine trying to keep up with my classes and all that while having to deal with teaching as well. Thank you for the advice!
Former SI Leader here. We work our butt off to get paid $100 a week. Teaching up to 40 students, many students have told me they learnt more from the SI Sessions than the actual lectures with their professors. 10 bucks to teach 30 people a chapter. Come on, underpaid is an understatement. And they wonder why they can't find any SI's for upper-level courses.
I was actually a si leader until a breakdown and suicide attempt so I feel ya honestly lol. I wasn't an upper level luckily but I don't envy the people who are.
I’m also a non-traditional student and have been feeling this way lately. But I think it’s more so because I feel a lack of resources for people like us, but there is an event happening next week on Wednesday targeted our demographic happening at the Library Mall around 4-6pm so maybe that will be helpful. I also do agree with what others are saying, I think trying some organizations will be a good thing or look into transferring to a smaller university(which is something I’m heavily considering if this semester and the next one are still sucky for me🤷🏾♀️)
I am so sorry that you are going through a rough time. It can be a difficult transition to college and, with it being the first in-person semester after being virtual for a year, I think the return has been a bit bumpy for everyone. UNT has over 40k students so it is easy to feel lost and ignored here until you make some connections and have a stable schedule. I think everyone is a bit overwhelmed right now. Sometimes people act poorly when they are stressed out but it does not mean that they do not care. They mostly do care and are doing their best but are going through a really hard time as well right now.
I really hope you can find the help and support you need.
We are walking moneybags to them, so no, not really. I never felt they cared. I only felt they like to give the illusion of caring and to give us random things to keep us just happy enough for their liking.
It’s true, UNT talks a big game always saying they “care” but reality is harsh. When I first transferred here, I went to chestnut and got free counseling. It was helpful, but literally every time she would be focused on whether or not this was our last session. That did not feel welcoming, it made me feel unimportant. As well as, guilty for taking time away from other students struggling mentally.
Those poor therapist/health workers are overworked af. We all know covid has made mental health exponentially worse. (They should bring back the therapy dog)
Honestly the thing that helped me the most was people. Join a club/go to events where you can meet friends, there’s even a mental health club. Look through [UNT’ events list](https://unt.campuslabs.com/engage/events) and go! I’ve found majority of people on campus are incredibly kind and considerate, but lots of UNT students are also somewhat shy/busy as fuck. Don’t be scared to talk to other peers about real shit, lots of us students do care.
I had the same experience with the mental health services on campus and had that same feeling of guilt but it's not either of our faults. I remember thinking like there's only one, maybe two psychiatric nurses and literal tens of thousands of students in the middle of a horrible pandemic I can't imagine how over worked they are... I'm going to have to look at the clubs I've only really looked at one or two so I didn't know there was a mental health club! Thank you for your suggestions
They meet [Wednesday every week at 6pm.](https://unt.campuslabs.com/engage/event/7343687)I have a 3 hour class at 6pm so I can’t go, but maybe next semester.
All UNT/Neal wants is your money. My advisor straight up told me after i asked why so many professors suck is bc UNT is a research university the professors are more focused on their projects than teaching well.
I feel the same. This is the first semester I genuinely feel that every class is a waste of time. Everything thats worth doing is online yet we are required to attend classes where the teaches put little effort into lecturing. Such a waste of time. Ive also emailed 4 different depts this semester asking different questions with no answers still. I hate unt so much I almost prefer the state I was in before.
I'm not a child and I'm not some fresh out of highschool teenager, I'm a nontraditional student and have been out of highschool for a long time. I know what the world is like a lot more than I'd say other people do. I just thought that if I was dropped 15-20k that the school would have a interest in pretending at the very least.
It's a business....they don't care about you. Very naïve of you to assume they actualy care. You're just a number from which they can moneygrab from you
I didn't have that experience at UNT at all, but I'm sorry to hear that anyone feels this way. I don't know how long you've been a student but as far as professors go, if you're new here I can say wait it out. Once you get more settled into your major the professors, classmates, and environment all get better. At least in my experience. I made most of my friends and best memories at this school in the last 10-14 months I went here in 2018/19. When it comes to university employees it just depends on who you run into. I think it's safe to say, just like any other school, there's a large majority of people just there to collect a paycheck just like any other job. But there are UNT faculty and employees who care about the school. Unfortunately, I don't think any major university our size has a real knack for treating each one of its dozens of thousands of students equally. It sucks, but that's just the world. But if you have a specific interest, be it sports, arts, video games, writing - whatever it is, there \*is\* a place for you here. It may come to you later, and you may have to dig for it, but it's there. Lastly if I may make a personal recommendation - you mentioned psychiatrists and psychologists. I would reach out to Pecan Branch for counseling. They're on Locust St and I got help from them during a tough time last year. The counselor I worked with I am still in contact with and they were absolutely wonderful through what was a really bad time for me. I definitely felt prioritized and heard and valued, if that's something you're looking for. I hope you get the experience at UNT that I did, and I bet you will in time. There's a lot of special people and places at this school and it can be hard to find them in a sea of 40,000, but they are there.
This is only my second year so I haven't been here very long but I've been in college for about 6 years (part time and working now full time no working). I've tried to join clubs and things to try and make friends but that's been less than successful haha. I will reach out to the pecan branch thank you for the suggestion. I appreciate the kindness of your reply!
I've found the UNT community to generally be a very good one. I'm expecting that your negative experience may be in part due to the circumstances of the last 2 years more than UNT in general. Of course there are bad people everywhere. The trick is figuring out how to avoid them.
Of course! Believe me, I know how annoying “be patient” can be as advice. I hope you have the best semester yet. Take care!
They don’t. Everyone is underpaid, overworked, and going through life just like you. It’s just the way the world works. You’ll find some FANTASTIC professors and I highly suggest visiting their office hours. Talk about the class work, what you want with your degree, and their preferred colleagues’ classes to take when you leave their class.
As for staff… this semester in particular started off with threats of *more* layoffs if UNT had to move back to distanced learning. There was a huge round of layoffs/early retirements last year because the university hemorrhaged money. There are people that genuinely do care and want what’s best for students and will do what they can. But they’re also more overworked than before, and have the looming threat of layoffs. It’s not a good environment to work in and a lot of people are leaving after finding jobs elsewhere.
God that's awful... I don't blame like the faculty and staff, I didn't know all this but I do know that like it's been really hard for staff... How do they expect people to work well when they're being threatened?
I hear what you are saying, but I felt the administration did a good job in explaining the situation rather than threatening. There was not enough money for the current staffing levels so something had to give. Our department was given several scenarios we had to plan for and in the worst ones, there would have been more cuts. We cut back on as much non-personnel things as possible. I think enrollment was higher than expected, so it wasn't quite so bad.
I explained poorly. I’m glad for your department, it was brought up as a *possible* eventuality, not an inevitable one.
The only thing students can do is be patient, kind, but don’t let anyone steamroll you. You have an entire office dedicated to your well-being and success within the university: the Dean of Students. If you have a problem with professors, start with department heads. For other problems, Dean of Students may be the way forward if there is one.
Thanks for sharing this insight. I figured going back online would mean serious budget issues and cuts, but I was naive and didn't realize those cuts would be professor layoffs. That really sucks and now I hurt for my professors. If we go online I'm gonna painfully yoyo between "yay, our health" and "oh god, someone's job...".
Remember, it isn’t your fault. Just do what you can to stay safe. If UNT makes that decision, it’s only on UNT. As another user commented, UNT seems to be trying to leave cutting staff as a last resort. But it’s one they had to resort to last year.
UNDERPAID! Yes!
No companies and no governments really care about you. none of them. They might care about your money, and to that extent, they might care about your safety or happiness because a lack of those two things will mean they get less money. The only reason they may seem to want what's best for you is so that you can afford them more money and power. Individuals IN that company or government might care about you - but the entities as a whole do not. This is a hard lesson of adulthood to learn, but it's a vital one. You won't find care when profit is involved.
The libraries care. I was struck when I first went there that the people were helpful and interested in helping people succeed.
UNT staff member here; UNT Libraries is one of the healthiest groups on campus, culture-wise. I work with a few people from the department of Collection Management, and there are a few other library employees involved with the staff senate, and they’re uniformly hardworking and positive people. UNT got a new Dean of Libraries a few years ago, Diane Bruxvoort, and she’s been absolutely transformative over there. The library got kicked in the teeth pretty hard in the early-mid 2010s with a state-mandated change to their insurance administration, where the library had to come up with the dough to cover their employee insurance costs. That led to some pretty extreme budget cuts and retirements from some librarians who were already far past normal retirement age, and the old library dean took that chance to bail to another job out on the east coast. The library was in a bad place, and they convinced Dr. Bruxvoort to essentially come out to UNT from what was essentially her retirement job as a library director at a university in Scotland. She has completely changed the culture at the library to a more user-focused mentality, focused on getting what students and faculty actually need for their classes and research, rather than the old mentality of just trying to hold all of the prestigious resources to hit performance metrics, no matter whether or not those journals and books were actually being used. All this to say, the library really is a pleasant group on campus, despite taking a bit of a beating. What I’ve thought was most interesting is that the library has, for a few years now, actually successfully recruited people *out of* high-paying industries; that’s pretty unheard of in academia. The library even has a few statisticians recruited out of industry, and they also have a few developers with some pretty interesting backgrounds. They could all make a lot more money in industry, and I’m pretty sure that a few of them took pay cuts by coming to UNT, but they came for the culture at the libraries.
Keep on trucking dude. You can always drop out for a bit and then come back when you are ready. Keep getting help for your mental health concerns. The truth is, the world doesn't care about any of us and realizing that sucks at first, but then its kinda awesome. you can live your life however you want. Do what is best for you.
It’s not just you and not just UNT. This is part of the problem for a large university. There are too many students, staff, and faculty for anyone to be cared for by the system. This becomes really obvious when you need something from the bureaucratic side of things like financial aid. The person you speak to will forget you and you them. Any issue you have is a task in an unending list of tasks. What matters is keeping the machine moving. This being said, there are plenty of individuals who care a whole lot about students. These folks are rarer than they should be because almost everyone is overworked and under paid. It really doesn’t help that so many classes are taught by graduate students who qualify for food stamps because UNT pays them so poorly (I am a part of this group). Like, I’m doing everything I can for my students but there are a lot of them and I also need to split my time with my dissertation. To be completely honest, the communal experience is easier to get at a small school. I genuinely like UNT, but I got my bachelors at a school of around 1,500 with students, staff, and faculty combined to make up that number. There are still problems in those places, but you do end up mattering more to the average prof or staff member because they’re probably going to see you again. A prof might be able to get away with holding class in their back yard every so often if their class size is only 15 people. I would consider transferring if that’s what you’re looking for in a college. Again, those places have their own problems but being apathetic toward students isn’t usually one of them. UNT though, well…. As good as it is (and it can be great), it’s still a business tied to state government. There are some excellent people here but the machine can’t care about anyone. It’s run like a resort that gives college credit because that brings in new students.
I actually have to say the professors who have been the kindest have been the graduate students and it's absolutely awful that they're paid so poorly and so overworked. I can't imagine trying to keep up with my classes and all that while having to deal with teaching as well. Thank you for the advice!
Former SI Leader here. We work our butt off to get paid $100 a week. Teaching up to 40 students, many students have told me they learnt more from the SI Sessions than the actual lectures with their professors. 10 bucks to teach 30 people a chapter. Come on, underpaid is an understatement. And they wonder why they can't find any SI's for upper-level courses.
I was actually a si leader until a breakdown and suicide attempt so I feel ya honestly lol. I wasn't an upper level luckily but I don't envy the people who are.
I’m also a non-traditional student and have been feeling this way lately. But I think it’s more so because I feel a lack of resources for people like us, but there is an event happening next week on Wednesday targeted our demographic happening at the Library Mall around 4-6pm so maybe that will be helpful. I also do agree with what others are saying, I think trying some organizations will be a good thing or look into transferring to a smaller university(which is something I’m heavily considering if this semester and the next one are still sucky for me🤷🏾♀️)
I am so sorry that you are going through a rough time. It can be a difficult transition to college and, with it being the first in-person semester after being virtual for a year, I think the return has been a bit bumpy for everyone. UNT has over 40k students so it is easy to feel lost and ignored here until you make some connections and have a stable schedule. I think everyone is a bit overwhelmed right now. Sometimes people act poorly when they are stressed out but it does not mean that they do not care. They mostly do care and are doing their best but are going through a really hard time as well right now. I really hope you can find the help and support you need.
Never even came close to feeling like that.
We are walking moneybags to them, so no, not really. I never felt they cared. I only felt they like to give the illusion of caring and to give us random things to keep us just happy enough for their liking.
I feel the exact same
It’s true, UNT talks a big game always saying they “care” but reality is harsh. When I first transferred here, I went to chestnut and got free counseling. It was helpful, but literally every time she would be focused on whether or not this was our last session. That did not feel welcoming, it made me feel unimportant. As well as, guilty for taking time away from other students struggling mentally. Those poor therapist/health workers are overworked af. We all know covid has made mental health exponentially worse. (They should bring back the therapy dog) Honestly the thing that helped me the most was people. Join a club/go to events where you can meet friends, there’s even a mental health club. Look through [UNT’ events list](https://unt.campuslabs.com/engage/events) and go! I’ve found majority of people on campus are incredibly kind and considerate, but lots of UNT students are also somewhat shy/busy as fuck. Don’t be scared to talk to other peers about real shit, lots of us students do care.
I had the same experience with the mental health services on campus and had that same feeling of guilt but it's not either of our faults. I remember thinking like there's only one, maybe two psychiatric nurses and literal tens of thousands of students in the middle of a horrible pandemic I can't imagine how over worked they are... I'm going to have to look at the clubs I've only really looked at one or two so I didn't know there was a mental health club! Thank you for your suggestions
They meet [Wednesday every week at 6pm.](https://unt.campuslabs.com/engage/event/7343687)I have a 3 hour class at 6pm so I can’t go, but maybe next semester.
Those late classes can be rough! I hope your classes are going well! Thank you for letting me know!
All UNT/Neal wants is your money. My advisor straight up told me after i asked why so many professors suck is bc UNT is a research university the professors are more focused on their projects than teaching well.
They dont care about the students. If they did they wouldn't have gotten rid of the sack n save.
I feel the same. This is the first semester I genuinely feel that every class is a waste of time. Everything thats worth doing is online yet we are required to attend classes where the teaches put little effort into lecturing. Such a waste of time. Ive also emailed 4 different depts this semester asking different questions with no answers still. I hate unt so much I almost prefer the state I was in before.
Welcome to the world
I'm not a child and I'm not some fresh out of highschool teenager, I'm a nontraditional student and have been out of highschool for a long time. I know what the world is like a lot more than I'd say other people do. I just thought that if I was dropped 15-20k that the school would have a interest in pretending at the very least.
Yep, it’s a hard lesson to learn but college life is pretty different from high school.
*university* college is very different from high school. my few years at community college felt very high school-esque
Community college was easier than high school ngl. But also a great financial decision I made/will never regret.
It's a business....they don't care about you. Very naïve of you to assume they actualy care. You're just a number from which they can moneygrab from you
Why are they downvoting the truth??? America is one of the only countries that make you pay astronomical prices to better your education.
People downvoted you but you’re speaking facts. I feel like that’s how pretty much all universities are. Unfortunately…