Volume 134, Issue 5
Enrollment Explosion Forces Creative Staff Measures
Student counselors, weekend classes, additional summer session all being considered
By John Davis
|
Itıs not your imagination. Figures available from the Office of Faculty Support and Scheduling show a college-wide increase in enrollment over last year. Over 2,500 more students enrolled for credit in fall 2002 (33,163 students) than in fall 2001 (30,515 students), a 9 percent increase.
Instructors are overextended. Students canıt get the classes they want at the times they want them.
The college seems to be bursting at the seams.
Dean Linda S. Grohe said that almost all the credit health classes are at capacity.
³I walked by medical assisting classes and found 80 people waiting for a class that had space for only 40,² she said.
Counselor Joseph Padua said that the counseling department had to make some tough choices. ³Given the large load of new students, we had to prioritize by sending out appointment letters only to 1,200 new math students,² he said.
Librarians are noticing longer waits for computers and increased demand for texts and reserve books.
Library Dean Rita Jones said that in past semesters the library would expect no more than 25,000 students in a given week. This semester 29,000 students is more typical.
John Kennedy, a manager at the Learning Resource Center computer lab, said: ³Weıre busier than weıve ever been. Waiting lists to use the computers show [demand] this semester in normal hours is equal to peak times in past semesters.²
P.E. classes are also becoming crowded. ³In all yoga classes we are turning away students,² said Yoga instructor Peg Grady. ³After phone registration, all eight sections were closed.²
|
³Weıre busier than weıve ever been.²
John Kennedy,
Learning Resource Center |
³There are often problems and glitches, such as with online and phone registration. They become confused, classes get full, they canıt find parking and they get discouraged.²
Many explanations were offered to explain the jump in enrollment.
Padua pointed out that the children of baby boomers are now attending college and creating an enrollment boom of their own.
Others fingered the sluggish Bay Area economy and the disappearance of lucrative tech jobs. Young people can no longer rely on ³easy entry² technology fields and are returning to college to prepare for careers that require training.
Additionally, Behavioral and Social Sciences Dean Sandra Handler said that state budgeting quirks have put administrators in a bind.
³The economy is a major reason the students are returning in droves, and the state pays us to reach a growth cap,² she said. ³But now, with an economic downturn, the state lacks money to pay us the full amount.²
But administrators as well as instructors said that overall the college is adapting well.
³This enrollment increase caught us a little bit by surprise, but weıre dealing with it,² said Chancellor Philip Day.
Day said that the college needs to distribute credit courses more evenly across CCSFıs satellite campuses.
³Part of the justification for building new campuses is to take the credit students from Ocean and bring them to other sites such as Mission and Chinatown,² he said.
Science and Mathematics Dean Chi Wing Tsao said that departments in his school have stretched resources to meet demand. ³We have been able to accommodate nearly everyone by opening up larger classrooms and increasing teacher loads.²
He added that Sciences and Mathematics departments have saved money by using materials more efficiently. ³Previously [in an experiment] we might have used half a test tube of chemicals. Now we reduce it down to a couple of drops,² he said.
Tsao said that the Science and Mathematics has also obtained outside funds from organizations that include the National Institutes for Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
He cautioned: ³But now we are saturated and canıt expand any further without problems. The teaching staff is stretched to the limit, and if the numbers continue to increase, we will be at the point where we canıt handle more students.²
The enrollment crunch has forced college staff to think creatively.
The counseling department has trained 20 paraprofessional student peers to help new students.
Scheduling Dean Terry Hall said that the college might add weekend classes and an additional summer session.
Despite the strain on the collegeıs resources, Day remained philosophical.
³Demand for [classes and services] is high, no doubt about it. But it should not be sustained. The natural peaks and valleys of the economy will correct this.²
³Unemployment will be stabilized, and people will start to spend by shopping and travelling, then students will work more hours and cut back on classes. Itıs an ebb and flow. But [ultimately] we are an open-door institution, and people need training beyond high school. Itıs our mission.²