There are obvious rules to follow, whether spoken or unspoken, in order to keep out of trouble when attending college. Don’t get caught with illegal substances, don’t skip class, and don’t overwhelm yourself with too many classes at once, etc. goes for any school – but for the York College of Pennsylvania, there are a few other things to watch out for
1. Don’t live on campus or purchase a meal plan when you don’t have to. Now, this isn’t altogether avoidable as underclassman (freshman, sophomores and juniors) are required by YCP to live on campus. As a freshman, you will not have access to a kitchen so a meal plan is also necessary. There are a few ways that the college makes extra money from its students, and housing/meal plans are two of the larger ways. However, once you move out of freshman dorms, you are transferred to the West Campus residence halls. While most of these dorms have full kitchens, some do not and will require a meal plan as well. The goal should be to get off campus as soon as you can or to reside in a dorm that requires no meal plan; this is guaranteed to save students hundreds or thousands of dollars.
2. Avoid the larger freshman halls. There are two main freshman halls and each are three floors with approximately 50students on the third and second floors, and 25 on the first floor (non co-ed.) While these halls are cheaper to live in, they are also very stressful. The biggest stressor being that students are crammed (two to a room) on one floor with a lot of people. The shared bathrooms become almost impossible to keep clean yielding constant and inescapable drama almost every day. And privacy is very scarce as you are crammed into a small living space (one room, only) with a complete stranger. It is rare that this works out to be a healthy living arrangement and many roommates often request switches. If that’s not stressful enough, imagine living with a room advisor on your floor (essentially residence police) 24/7.
3. Don’t rack up library fees. This may sound like common sense, yet is surprisingly easy to do. You rent a movie, book, or CD, then set it somewhere in your room when you are finished with it because you decide to take it back later or tomorrow. You see it a week later, realizing you’re a week late. Boom: library fees. Now imagine if you’d borrowed more than one item. Besides the charges that this can incur, it will also affect your ability to do certain things with your academics. Any student with an outstanding library fee can’t graduate, see their transcripts, or register for classes.
If you’re interested in YCP, check out our article on Top 5 Things To Do On Weekend Nights at York College of Pennsylvania.
4. Walking the tracks. Being square in the middle of a fairly unsafe city, there are areas that no one should be walking around in at night. The environment can change in an instant depending on where a student decides to step off campus. On one side, the streets are nice, safe, and full of families. On the other, there are decrepit buildings and city streets. Here, there is a set of railroad tracks that runs parallel(ish) to the college. This is one place I recommend staying away from. They might seem nice to walk along to get away from the campus noise, but there are plenty of questionable people who walk, creep, and sleep on these tracks.
5. IFL: The class that no one likes. Unfortunately, I can’t advise anyone to not take the mandatory Information Literacy class. It is a requirement that all students take and pass this class. What I do advise against is taking it too seriously; although it’s a requirement, it’s a joke. This class essentially teaches students how to use Microsoft programs (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, et al) and how to stand up in front of other students and give halfway speeches. With everything else on your class plate, don’t add to your stress by sweating this class.
As a final note, I would like to add that it is a bad idea to feed the squirrels that populate the campus. One reason is because enough brownies will kill a squirrel. Two, they will decide that you are their new best friend. Forever.
Jamie Lyn Sawczyszyn graduated from York College of Pennsylvania in 2013 with a Bachelor’s in Professional Writing. She is currently planning to move to Philadelphia to expand on her education while teaching ballroom dancing in her spare time.