Low class sizes do not meet demand

Students are gearing up for registration, but many expect to
find it harder to get into the classes they need due to the school¹s low class sizes and growing student body.
Each year, seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen are allotted
specific times in which they are allowed to register for courses. Before each registration session, some classes, which are known for having a larger
class size due to core requirements, may receive a few more seats.
However, even though additional seats are often added the supply usally does not satisfy the demand. 
The first option students consider after registration when they
are unable to get a place in a class is to request a seat modifier. A
seat modifier can sometimes be obtained by contacting the professor teaching the course and asking for a place in the classroom.
Annie Watson, a sophomore art major at GCSU, was one of many
students who had trouble registering for classes that satisfy major
requirements.
"I  had an advisory hold put on my account and by the time I
got it  taken off, most of the classes were gone. I was only able to pick up one class," Watson said. "I  e-mailed teachers asking for seat modifiers, but everyone had already given too many."
A second  option for students who are unable to get into a
class  is to contact  the department chair to see if the person in charge can offer any help.
"I had to go to the department chair, explain my situation, and he put
me into classes that were already about six people over capacity," Watson said.
By going to the head of the department there is still no guarantee that a student will be able to get into the courses.
“Even though (the department chair) was able to give me classes, I didn¹t get into the classes I wanted. Some of the classes I have now, I don¹t have the prerequisites for, so I¹m a little behind,” Watson said.
If the department chair is unable to get a student into a class, the student has no other choice but to take the course over summer, or wait until the next semester and try to sign up for the class again.
GCSU has always prided itself on small class sizes, but with these class sizes, some students are being kept from getting into the classes they need to satisfy major requirements.
Jesse Bowen, senior assistant director of admissions, said that by keeping the incoming freshman class size low, small numbers in the classroom will continue to be possible.
“We are really monitoring class size because we don¹t want to continue to have larger and larger classes,” Bowen said. “When we do that we begin to have problems with classes too large and we¹re really drifting away from our mission to give students that type of liberal arts private school education ­small class sizes- that we are designated to offer students.”
Bowen said the average class size at GCSU is 16, and the freshman population is a little over 1,100.
“We anticipate this year¹s (fall 2007) freshman class to be about 1,060 again, and we’re implementing a number of different ways to monitor class size and make sure the next freshman class to be a little bit smaller,” Bowen said.
While many students enjoy the small class sizes that GCSU offers, they also want to be able to get into the classes they need in order to stay on track for graduation.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 2 2007. 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