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Campus Computer Labs: The Issue At Hand As a student at Prince Georges Community College I like to take full advantage of all the resources available to me since at the end of the day I am paying for them. This sometimes includes staying a few hours on campus and doing my work instead of waiting until I get home to do it. One major problem that I encounter on a daily basis on the PGCC campus is the campus computer labs.
I can never walk into computer lab without leaving out due to it being over crowded, little or no staff being around to help, or computers not working. As a PGCC student I believe this is a huge issue that really needs to be taken more seriously. On a daily basis I encounter a number of issues on the PGCC campus but the one that affects me the most is the problem with the computer labs. When I know I have to complete an assignment on campus I get an instant headache.
Not because I have to do the work but because I know the hassle I have to go through to find a computer lab that isn’t overcrowded and actually has computers that are working. Ashlee Davis, a current student here at PGCC also agrees that the computer labs here on the campus are a big issue. She goes on to say that, “When it comes time to use the campus computer labs she always find herself going to one lab and leaving or either waiting close to 15 minutes for an available computer. Just like Ashlee, most of the times when I leave one computer lab to find one that is less crowded, I find myself waiting longer for an available computer. In most cases if I know I have to complete work on campus I try to come early in the morning when less people are on campus or try to leave one of my classes a little bit earlier to beat the rush, but even then I always wind up waiting. Though PGCC is not a large campus I believe that they should have more computer labs available for students as well as staff to use while on the college campus.
To most people the overcrowded computer labs on campus does not bother them but for students like Ashlee as well as myself, it is a major issue that I think needs to be taken into consideration by the campus. Another issue that I always encounter with PGCC campus computer labs is the lack of staff. When I finally do find a computer lab there always seems to be a problem with the computers. Whether it’s the program freezing or the screen blanking out there is always a problem and in most cases not a computer tech around to help.
In most of the computer labs there are two computer techs to one computer lab that contains about one hundred computers. If twenty people computers are freezing at the same time it is impossible for both techs to help everyone in a timely manner. It has been plenty of times that I have waited over 15 minutes for a computer and then have to turn around and wait another 15 minutes for another computer because the first one is not functioning properly and the wait for a computer tech to come around to you is too long.
Though hiring more staff may be expensive and out of the schools budget, I believe this is something this campus really needs to invest in because it’s bad enough you have to wait to utilize a computer that your tuition is helping to pay for. Along with the other issues I come across with the computer labs on the PGCC campus, another major issue I always seem to come hand in hand with is the computers that do not work in some of the labs. I think it is ridiculous the amount of computers in the computer lab that have signs on them that read, “Out of Order! If the broken computers were removed out of the computer labs and replaced with new up to date computers, I’m more than certain the computer labs will no longer be a major issue on the PGCC campus. I believe with tuition rising every year us students at least deserve to have computer labs with working computers that we can go to without seeing an, “Out of Order sign. ” For the past three semesters I have been attending PGCC and the issues with the overcrowded computer labs, lack of staff, and broken computer labs does not seem to be an issue that is being taken very seriously.
As a full time student as well as someone who works a full time job it is sometimes more convenient for me to complete a lot of my work on campus rather than waiting until I get home, but a lot of the times I am unable to do that due to the issue with the computers and the computer labs. Like I mentioned earlier I know that the school has a budget that they have to stick to and the issues of the computer labs may not be able to fit in that budget but I think someway and somehow this issue needs more attention.
One suggestion that I think may improve the issue is by taking the two or three computer labs we have on the PGCC campus and convert them into one big lab. Doing this could eliminate the overcrowded computer labs as well as put all the computer tech staff in one area where more than two people at a time could receive help. The more logical solution to this problem would be to replace all of the computers with up to date computers and hire more staff but until then one big lab could possibly improve students like myself experience when they go to use the computer labs on campus.