Core classes may increase by 10 percent

Next fall, core classes at GC&SU could increase 10 percent in size because of a larger student population said Beth Rushing, dean of Arts & Sciences.

“(There will be an increase), not in all (core classes), but probably most of them, so overall there will be a 10 percent increase,” Rushing said. “In most classes it makes a difference of only two or three (people). It sounds like a big number, but it is really not because classes are not that big right now. It shouldn’t even be particularly noticeable to students.”

Rushing said that a number of factors led to the decision, which is not likely to greatly affect staffing.

“At least right now, we don’t believe that we are going to get new faculty for next year, but we are going to have more students. We (have been) successful in keeping and attracting students, but because of the budget situation, we are not sure we are going to get new faculty,” Rushing said. “It is just a bind. We are trying to make sure there are enough courses to take so that people can graduate on time.”

This does not mean that other, non-core classes will not increase in size.

“If there are a lot of students in one particular major, sometimes classes have to go bigger,” Rushing said. “We are just trying to manage the wonderful success of keeping people here.”

This fall, GCSU hopes to admit 1,043 freshmen, just a two percent increase over freshmen enrollment the previous fall. Last year, 1,030 freshmen were admitted, almost eight percent over the expected freshman class of 950.

“It was not that we let more (students) in, just more took us up on our offer,” said Mike Augustine, director of Admissions. “Fewer canceled than expected. There is so much unknown because when students apply, they are still shopping at other schools and have applied to all sorts of different places and are not really sure who will accept an offer and who will not.”

The estimate of 1,043 freshmen does not include 90 freshmen who will participate in new summer programs.

“There are living and learning communities like we have on campus now, but they start in the summer,” Augustine said. “One is for students who may want to get a head start, usually a high performing student who may just want to get ahead time-wise on their credits. The other program is geared toward somebody who might want a little bit of extra support getting started. They can learn the university in a more quite time of the year to get acclimated. They get more of an orientation that will last the four weeks of the semester that is incorporated in and among their classes.”

Any increase is an important factor when comparing GCSU’s funding to other colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia (USG). The formula that USG uses is based on enrollment, Augustine said.

Generally, approximately 50 percent of students that have been accepted enroll in the school. The idea is similar to a party: send out more acceptance letters than students who will potentially enroll, Augustine said.

This idea does not just include freshmen. The admissions office is currently looking to increase the number of international, transfer and graduate students (in certain programs).

Dean Faye Gilbert of the J. Bunting School of Business said an increase in international and graduate students would particularly affect the School of Business as the program offers graduate degrees at the Milledgeville, Macon and Warner Robins campuses.

According to Gilbert, approximately half of the students now enrolled in these programs are international students.

- Tyler Smith contributed to this article.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 3 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry