Students are accustomed to impacted classes at San Joaquin Delta College.
However, something we are not used to is the recommendation that professors not encourage students to sit in on full classes if they are not on the wait list.
For those who are unaware, instructors received a campus-wide Spring 2012 registration bulletin recommending the campus to “not recommend or encourage students to attend on the first day of class in the hope that they may be added.”
This change has taken effect due to lack of state funding for the oversupply of students at Delta.
Delta has a cap of 15,000 students.
Currently the school is 1,000 full-time students over that cap.
That amounts to over $4 million in students the school is not receiving funding for.
This is why students are being turned away from classes that are already full. We know this is happening on campus. Some instructors told students the first day they could not be added.
Prior to this semester, students could wait in a class to see if a spot opened up.
That’s now not being allowed.
It would not be feasible for the school to take on more students than they have the resources available for.
While we understand the need to turn away students, we have to wonder what happens to the students who cannot get the classes they need.
Is this drop in policy hurting more than it helps?
What about the students who drop the class or do not show up the first day?
These are open spots available that the drop in students could have filled.
Look around, by the fifth week of school there are typically far fewer students around than the first week.
We do not believe this recommendation is fair.
Just because the school is over their limit on funding why should students have to bear the burden of dealing with the school’s mistake?
It is clear that some sort of procedure or plan should be put into effect to help those turned away.
Teachers should give students the opportunity to prove that they actually want to be in the class.
Let them show up for a few classes, take their names and see how they do on the coursework.
After a few weeks if they are still in the class add them to the roll.
This would open up spots in the class for the students that would have originally been denied a spot due to the current drop in policy.
We know the campus is in a significant budget crisis. We know that administrators are doing the best they can to keep the campus operating appropriately.
But we also wonder what happens to the students that were denied a spot in class this semester?
What options do they have if they are not at the top of registration priories?
These are questions we not only need to think about, but also to find answers to.
We advise the college to look into ways to limit enrollment that doesn’t mean turning away students before they even have a chance to start a class. We strongly object to the recommendation.
