UMSCSaturday January 23, 2016

 HOST SITE: Urbana

Breakfast @ 9:30 AM Meeting begins @ 10 PM

 

University Medical Student Council

http://www2.uic.edu/stud_orgs/prof/umsc

Guest Speaker:Michele Mariscalco, MDRegional Dean, UrbanaUniversity of Illinois College of Medicine

Tuition Survey:Dean Todd Van Neck

Slides produced by several students in Chicago: Erik Liederbach (M1), Ariana Melendez (M2), Eddie Beck (M2), Adrian Boscolo-Hightower (M2), David Lee (M4)

Will Donate• “I would because I feel like I'm getting a quality educations

and resources (study, academic, etc) to succeed in my career.”

• “I would donate some money to ensure that the students get nice facilities like the ones that were recently built for us”

• “I would be willing to donate as an alumni because UIC is like my second home since my undergraduate level, I always study at the school taking advantage of the different study rooms and lounges.”

Will Donate• “I would be willing to donate because I received a

scholarship from a doctor and it definately alleviated the financial stress of attending medical school.”

• “From some things I've heard, it sounds like some some student are really unhappy with UIC. Overall, I'm one of the students that loves our school. Of course there is always room for. They have conversations with us and allow things to change-in some cases very quickly like last year when we argued for being able to check over incorrect answers right after exams. When I am at a place where I can, I'll definitely be donating UIC COM. They're helping me become an intelligent and compassionate physician.”

Will Donate• “I am on the UPR track, and UICOM could not care less

about the other sites. I would definitely donate to the Peoria campus, though” [Peoria]

• “I would be willing to donate as an alumni due to the great staff and support I get from the RMED program. However, I will be unable to donate until after I am relieved from the debt I am taking on to afford medical school.” [Rockford]

Will Donate (Summary)• Students who have had a positive experience are more

willing to donate to pass their positive experience forward

• Students who received scholarships are willing to donate more generously

• Students are more likely to donate to specialty programs like HCOE and specialty tracks like RMed, UMed, GMed because they felt valued as students

Will Not Donate (Summary)• Students who feel that they cannot give until they pay off

their monumental loans (Indebtedness)

• There is a lack of trust that any gift will not be used to help future students effectively (trust)

• This lack of trust is markedly present in the UPR tracks

• Students take their experiences personally and feel that how they are treated over the next few years will determine whether they will give or not

Will Not Donate (Indebtedness)

•“It's hard for me to justify alumni donations because of the significant amount of student debt I will have after medical school. I will be $250,000 in debt. I will not feel comfortable until I am able to earn enough money to feel financially stable”

•Walking away from this school with $250,000 debt, there is 0% chance I will be donating money as an alumni. If tuition was more reasonable than I would definitely consider donating. But at this point, it is obviously too late for that.

•Given the absurd rising rates of tuition that my generation is seeing, schools will hopefully never see a dollar in "donation" from any of us. Run your school like a business, get treated like a business. Imagine if Chipotle sent me a letter asking for a donation for the burrito I paid them to make me yesterday. [Urbana]

Will Not Donate (Trust)

•“I would be hesitant because I don't feel that tuition use is transparent enough.”

•“As a first year student, the things which I find important at the moment are the facilities and the quality of the instruction. Currently these areas need the most improvement in my opinion, but this does not seem to be the largest priority in the eyes of the administration.

•“We have the highest public tuition in the country and I have no idea where this money is going. I'd rather donate directly to the hospital since I know UIH has a strong commitment to the underserved. “

Will Not Donate (Trust)

•“My (limited) experience has noted a significant number of administrative faculty with somewhat unknown function or strange administrative organization. I feel as if I've met more administrators than actual teachers/mentors since starting school.”

•“What makes you think that we'll believe you when you say you'll "help students" with our money, when you haven't listened to us for the 4 years we were here?”

•“We are not asking for medical school to be easy. We're asking for really simple things (letting us know about vaccination/registration/ERAS deadlines ahead of time, lecturers having consistency, our exams being at least somewhat related with Step 1/Step 2) that never get done. The key for why I won't donate is because we are students who KNOWS that most of the administration and the deans are paying lip service and full of hot air when they talk about donations going to "help students".

Will Not Donate (Trust)• “I would be unwilling because the University spends

money on things that I don't care about, Chicago seems to take money from the other campuses, and I have already given to the University through tuition.” [Peoria]

• “As a student, I've often felt that the goals of the college have been misplaced, with too much emphasis on engaging in new programs and activities and too little on optimizing the programs already in place. For example, while the new clinical skills graduation requirement is laudable in itself, the requirements have become obfuscated in an already bloated clinical program.” [Peoria]

Will Not Donate (Trust)• “Rockford currently has no paid teachers which raises

the question...where does my 40k a year go?! We have so many administration here who are completely UNHELPFUL, we have poor advisors, few research opportunities, and our match list reflects this. We have asked over and over how much tuition goes to each campus and Chicago refuses to give us that information. Why? It's likely because a large portion of my tuition supports students in Chicago and goes to resources that we cannot even use.” [Rockford]

• From what I know (which might not be a whole lot) it seems like too much of our money is paying for the HUGE salaries of people "high up" in the college. [Rockford]

Will Not Donate (Trust)• “I will never donate to UIC, because they spend all of their

money hiring more administrators, and less teachers. UIC Rockford only has volunteer faculty! How do you expect to recruit professors? Meanwhile all of the resources are conglomerated in the UIC Chicago campus. There is a lack of transparency on where the money is going and I will never be ok with a tuition hike until that is explained clearly.” [Rockford]

• During my time in Rockford, I was amazed at how much of the staff was working on a volunteer basis; this begged the question of where was my money going? This has been the repeated question for the last several years. [Rockford]

Will Not Donate (Trust)• “If I feel the school has forced me to pay more for services

that are not absolutely needed, then I will not be as willing to donate. If I feel the school has treated me fairly in regards to tuition, then I would be more inclined to donate.” [Urbana]

• The lack of transparency in how funds are utilized is concerning, because if I were to donate I would want to be sure my money was being used effectively to benefit students. There seems to be an abundance of administrative overhead, and the effectiveness is questionable. As an out of state student, the tuition strikes me as incredibly excessive, and I'm not sure why that is. [Urbana]

Will Not Donate (Bad Experiences)

•“There is no doubt that the environment for students has improved over the years, but students by and large still feel disenfranchised based on the quality of preclinical education they receive.”

•“It just always feels like we are in some sort of battle with administration; whether about curriculum or being transparent with tuition. I love my fellow students, and they have made my experience great. I understand we are a very large public school, but you don't have to make it feel that way. We desperately need more permanent OSA advisers instead of people who rotate out seemingly every year. It's just not very personal. “

Will Not Donate (Bad Experiences)

•“I will say that the clinical years have been excellent, but the academic/basic science years were horrible.”

•“In spite of the hefty tuition we have poorly ventilated anatomy labs, poor access to clinical faculty in the basic sciences, a lecture hall that can't accommodate all of its students, few functional computers, and no access to color printing (how many months has the color printer been broken for?). Funds should be shifted from administrators to the staff-- who directly support students-- and facilities. “

•“The cost of attendance at University of Illinois is not competitive with other regional public institutions, and the Chicago campus is not adequately supportive of graduates from Peoria, Rockford or Champaign. The latter aspect is not limited to monetary support, but things like advising, networking and research opportunities for those without competitive specialties at their campuses. Reducing the cost of attendance significantly would make the experience feel more "worth it", but right now it feels like the political and social capital is concentrated at a different campus and I am paying a ton of money while being shut out of the benefits.” [Peoria]

Will Not Donate (Summary)• Students who feel that they cannot give until they pay off

their monumental loans (Indebtedness)

• There is a lack of trust that any gift will not be used to help future students effectively (trust)

• This lack of trust is markedly present in the UPR tracks

• A subset of students take their experiences personally and have ill feelings against the institution

What can we do?

Conditionally Donate • “I understand that there are lots of people who want to

make medical education better at UIC COM. However, as a whole the school is run in an incredibly bureaucratic and convoluted way such that donating money seems like a futile effort. If UGME actually had control over lecturers/course directors and the administration were more transparent and working to improve the quality of education at UIC, I would consider donating if I were in a position to do so.”

Conditionally Donate

• “I would want my donations to go towards funding student led initiatives or to create an alumni funded endowed professorship.”

• “I'd be more inclined to donate if the school provided students with more than ample study space, access to resources/campus/anatomy lab/etc as it is essential for success and mental well-being throughout medical school.”

• “I would hope that alumni donations could help things at UIC go more smoothly and help students in areas that are lacking such as advising, counseling, and the presence of a core faculty that cares about medical students needs and interests and is present for more than just a few lectures throughout their education. “

Conditionally Donate (Summary)• Only would consider giving to particular ideas or areas

• The experiences they will have in the next few years will determine their willingness to donate

Any Questions or Comments?• What is the next step?

Executive board reports

Campus Reports

College Committee Reports

Student Leadership Retreat 2016!!Bob Freidel, M2 Rockford

Possible Dates TBA (Based on all four campus’ calendars)

Independent Student Analysis:

Recommended and guided by LCME Prepared by students themselves Review of medical education, student services,

and the learning environment More info here

OUR PLAN: Gather students for the LCME Working Committee

(applications coming soon!)– 4 positions, one student from each campus

Collect survey data (Fall 2016) Put together the ISA (to be ready for LCME visit in 2017)

Optimal Learning Environment Initiative:Jenn Baldwin, Urbana

Meeting Dates 2015-2016 Academic Year: Saturday, September 26th– CHICAGO (in-person) Wednesday October 28th (WebEx) Saturday, November 21st- ROCKFORD (WebEx) Saturday, January 23rd-URBANA (WebEx) Saturday, March 5th- PEORIA (in-person)

We will be having elections for our AY ‘16-’17 UMSC Executive Board – questions or interested in running? Email Sonali at khurana5@uic.edu