<p>A couple of sobering items in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning about the first day of school at San Francisco State University. </p>
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<p><a href=“SFSU%20is”>Quote</a> offering 354 fewer classes than last year, turning away dozens of lecturers, requiring employees to take two unpaid days off each month - and raising student fees 30 percent higher than last fall. …</p>
<p>Students register online at a time assigned to them. But because so many courses have been eliminated, many students found that classes were full by the time they were told to sign up.</p>
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<p>From a letter to the editor:</p>
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<p>While many of us had predicted things were going to be bad at the CSUs this year, it is certainly sad to see those predictions come to pass. The CA State budget crisis is seriously impacting these schools - and I am sure the UC is no better.</p>
<p>I saw that same article in the Chron. Very scary. While I wouldn’t want to wish cuts on the classics department, you wonder whether they could have matched which classes they cut a little more closely with demand.</p>
<p>A UC professor friend was complaining that the large lecture courses in the friend’s department will admit fewer students in the coming year. It seemingly makes no sense–why not put MORE students into large survey courses, since a lecture course of 150 vs a lecture course of 180 doesn’t really have a big change in quality. Except that then you have to pay for more TAs.</p>
<p>Our son’s department had planned cuts of 20% for TAs for this year but the TAs were reinstated because of a very large increase in enrollment. The 101 course went up by around 40% and had to be split into two course. The professor for those two courses in going to be very busy this fall. I noticed that the upper level courses had much more interest in practice-type courses over theory courses. It looks like students are gearing their courses for what they think the job market wants.</p>
<p>One Florida public university in a cost cutting move removed the phones from professors offices, saying professors could use their own cell phones to communicate with students1</p>
<p>Times are very hard for public universities.</p>
<p>I think they should do ‘appropriate’ cost cutting as does every business which may include eliminating certain less popular majors or increasing the size of the intro courses assuming they have the reasonable facilities for it (i.e. all students need to be at least in the room) but they should maintain the quality of the classes, at least the ‘remaining’ ones, including by increasing the tuition if necessary. The CSUs/UCs are a bargain tuition-wise compared to privates but of course will be no bargain if they allow the quality to go down the tubes. I wouldn’t be enthusiastic about paying higher tuition but it’s better than having the education quality going down. </p>
<p>It sounds as if some students are really up against it if they simply can’t reasonably get the classes they need.</p>
<p>^ The story about adding classes is nothing new for Cal States. It was that way when I attended CSUN years ago. First semester of freshman year is easy to get classes because you enroll before everyone else…hardest is second semester of freshman year and sophomore years when you’re put at the bottom of the registration priority list. Impacted majors, like business, always had these issues. With budget cuts it is probably worse and you’re paying more…so I understand the frustration.</p>
<p>I didn’t have problems getting classes at Berkeley - could be because I was in a small major. I talked to a current Berkeley sophomore and she claimed she didn’t have any problems getting classes this semester.</p>
<p>When I toured UC Davis with my D two years ago, we tried to drop in on a Bio class that had an auditorium of maybe 300 kids, filled to overflowing, including the aisles, with maybe another 20 kids sitting in a room just outside. They used huge monitors so the kids in the back could see, and a microphone for students with questions. </p>
<p>Sigh…just trying to get a handle on what it might be like for the HS class of '11</p>
<p>Just as a spot check (and obviously a sample size of one), I called a friend of mine whose son is a sophomore at SFSU this fall as a business major. </p>
<p>Online registration was apparently very challenging. Of the 4 classes he wanted to take, he was able to get into one of them. He had two alternative in mind when he sat down to register - only one of them was still available - and it conflicted with the one class he already had. He scrambled around and figured out two other classes he could take out of his GE - and then signed up for 3 units of PE so as to be full time. His schedule on Mondays was 3 one hour classes - 8, 11, and 2 PM. </p>
<p>He has sat in on 4 classes, hoping to add and has been unable to add anything. Needless to say he is more than a little frustrated.</p>
<p>In comparison, last year he got 9 out of 10 classes he wanted over the two semester - and was able to get the 10th by waiting around for a week or so for someone to drop.</p>
<p>As I said, sample of one - but it seems much worse.</p>
<p>^ Freshman are given registration priority. Sophomores are at the back of the line. So the different experience between registering for classes freshman vs. sophomore year is not surprising - especially for popular business classes. I don’t know how much of an impact it is due to budget cuts.</p>
<p>^^ Probably not…but, like I said, business majors at CSUs have always had trouble adding classes - it’s the most popular major and sophomores have the lowest registration priority. Those are huge contributing factors.</p>
This brings up a related point - if it’s truly that difficult to register for appropriate classes it seems that they should waive the restrictions for determining ‘full-time’ status if the classes needed were full. I know that full-time status is generally needed to be permitted to live in dorms, receive certain scholarships, etc. but maybe there’s some overriding law dictating what determines full-time. If they don’t do this then they force students to take random other classes they might not really even want or need and just add to the problem by taking spots in those classes.</p>
<p>The nasty secret of why it takes more than 4 years to graduate. There are not enough sections or the courses aren’t offered at the right times to meet graduation requirements. It happens everywhere but is worse now. As expensive as DD’s school is, it was an issue I discussed with the school. Since sequencing was essential, they do the scheduling for each major student themselves instead of letting it go into the queues. </p>
<p>S1 threw a fit when the required class for his degree had not been offered for almost 2 years, the one time it was offered he was on an internship. He made them sign off on a substitute class. But it took staying in the Dean’s office until someone would pay attention and the Dean signed off.</p>