University of Portland Top Questions

The University of Portland is a wonderful school, but it is incredibly expensive to attend. As an out-of-state student, it is very difficult to find the money to attend UP, and as a result sometimes I feel pressured to take more credits than I should or to find more jobs than I need to feel as if I am making the most of my college experience.

The most frustrating thing about the University of Portland is the price of tuition. I come from a family that values independenacy, and as a nineteen year old college student $53,000 a year is hard to come by.

It is located on the hill, so there are not too many foodcards around. Thus, it is un-convenient to buy food.

The most frustrating thing about this school is having to take the core requirements, like Fine Arts and History. Although these core requirements are helpful and make our education more well-rounded they take up a lot of space in schedules. This then makes schedules much more rigorous, and creates an atmosphere that a student must sefficiently plan for. Although it is the most frustrating in the long run, I think it will end up benefitting every student.

I sprained my ankle once and went to the Health Center to be treated. Instead of receiving the help that I should have, I was told that all available appointment spaces were full and was told to go to ZoomCare which is off campus. I could neither walk or drive anywhere, nor did I have a car or have a solid understanding of the bus system at the time. I was definitely disappointed and frustrated with the lack of help I received from them. Thankfully my Hall Director was kind enough to drive me to the hospital and back.

The most frustrating thing is keeping track of all the deadlines along with school events happening because there are so many that you don't even know about.

Honestly, the food. I love nutritious, delicious food and while I was in the process of researching universies, the food options really stood out to me. Large posters are draped across the Commons with pictures of fruits and vegetables and signs reading fresh, local, organic, food but once I started working at the school cafeteria, I discovered that these advertisements were not so accurate. Not only does the food lack the healthy quality I desire, they also lack in selection. All too often I find myself in the cafeteria staring at the menus wishing for more healthier options.

The most frustrating thing about my school is that a couple classes are a lot harder than I was expecting. Theology is a require class and it is something I have little background on so I find it hard to keep up with what the professor is saying. There are many quizzes and readings that are required. The professor also assigned extra books to buy at the end of the semester so that was frustrating because it was required to spend a ton more money in order to do well on one quiz.

The most frustrating thing about attending my school is the quality of coffee. When I order a coffee here, I am never sure what it is going to taste like. A majority of the time, I end up with an alright cup of coffee and I have no complaints, but no praise either. However, there are times when the barista over steams the milks, burns the coffee, or messes up the drink entirely. In college, coffee is a vital part to making it through late nights and early mornings and not knowing what I'm going to get is unacceptable.

Sometimes the wifi is extremely bad but it is much much better this year.