As the semester rolls to a close, registration for the spring has begun, and students are less than enthused by the lack of choices when it comes to class section schedules.
It is no secret that enrollment is low at BCCC, and that low enrollment has forced the cancellation of many course sections. Christine Hagedorn, Dean of Student Services, says the main reason for low enrollment is the fact that there are fewer students graduating from high school, but more importantly more people are choosing to not go to college.
Hagedorn goes onto say, “The economy is getting better so people are working now and some deciding to go straight to work after high school. We usually do better when the economy is bad because people feel like they have a better chance of making money if they have a degree.”
The low amount of class section options could be due to the low enrollment, but that has yet to be confirmed. Regardless, students all over campus are upset about the lack of options they have while making their schedules for next semester, and for many people it has become inconvenient to their overall life schedules.
Rasheed Douyon, 20, business administration major from Trevose says, “I work, and have a very active family life as well, so I try to make my school schedule fit around all of that. I have some hard classes, and now I’m worried I’ll be put in a position where I have to take a bunch of online classes and basically teach myself.”
Since registration opened up in late October most classes that are not broad general classes required for every major, such as English Composition and Effective Speaking, have minimal options for class times.
From talking to students and faculty such as Hagdorn and Queeny on campus, as well as conducting personal research it seems that most courses only offer about 4 sections. The 4 sections are usually one night class, one Monday, Wednesday and Friday class, one Tuesday and Thursday class, and one online class. So as you can imagine this has become an inconvenience for students.
Carly Pendergast, 19, Journalism major from Newtown says, “As a journalism major all of my journalism classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I try to plan my other classes around that as well. But I’ve already run into the problem where the class I need to graduate, conflicts with my journalism classes, so now I’m forced to take it online.”
Ryan Brown, 21, criminal justice major from Fairless Hills shares similar feelings saying, “Making my class schedule for next semester has been a huge headache, trying to coordinate all my classes so they flow well, and make it fit around my work schedule. I would love to see more options.”
Hagedorn, the Dean of Student Services, stresses the importance of communicating with your advisors and deans of the departments. She says, “If the student is graduating and it’s a requirement for the major I suggest they talk to the dean because the dean will know if there’s an appropriate substitution for the class, they will know if the class will be opened up a new section, or they will know when it will be offered again. They may not have an instant solution but they’ll be able to come up with a plan of action.”
She also goes onto say that, “The deans need to hear from students otherwise they have no way of knowing that the students are in need or have scheduling problems.” Hagedorn also poses the possible and most logical reason for the limited number of class sections saying, “I would say the reason might be that there are 7 academic apartments and each dean is trying to offer the amount of classes that students need and fill the classes so that students don’t get classes cancelled at the last minute because they’re not full. It’s better to have limited sections that are full of students, than have too many sections that are half full and end up getting cancelled.”
However she does reassure students saying that, “I do think more sections will open up, they usually do because there is such a long gap between registration and the beginning of the classes. So they usually wait until the waitlist is full then open a new section. There is someone keeping an eye on the classes every day to see if they’re getting filled up. Then they determine what they need more of.”
Hagedorn assures students that faculty want what is best for students but they also need to be aware of the problem. Hagedorn admitted that she wasn’t aware of the problem until multiple students brought it to her attention, now she’s doing whatever she can to advocate for students.
If you are still in a panic Hagedorn offers this tip; she says to just register for the classes you need as soon as possible, even if it’s not exactly the time you wanted. She says then to keep your eyes open for new class section openings. She also stresses that the best thing to do is to be proactive, get ahead of the problem, talk to someone, and find a solution.
As stressful as planning your schedule maybe, keep your head up and stay optimistic. There is a solution to just about everyone’s but the first step to any of those solutions is communication.
Use your voice and make sure your concerns are heard, contrary to what some may think, the administration and staff really do care about the students of BCCC and they want to help. So stop by your professor’s office, adviser, department dean, or student services and voice your concerns, because you are the huge piece of solving the problem.