Registration period highlights budget problems

With registration for the Spring 2004 semester currently underway, students are already having difficulty enrolling in classes. The main problem is students are unable to find the 200-level classes they need because classes are already closed. As someone who registered for classes last Friday, near the beginning of the registration period, even I faced several difficulties getting into upper division classes. Ultimately, I was able to get several solid classes, but I have still been scrambling to get permission numbers to enroll into those classes I am truly wishing to take. For me, however, the problem was not nearly as severe as those students registering this week. With most upper division classes already closed, it is not a problem of getting the classes wanted, but simply being able to get into any upper division classes. As a case study, as of Nov. 6, the economics department had one upper division class remaining open, without counting the intermediate theory classes. The political science upper division classes are almost all closed with the exception of a few remaining slots in political issues classes. In addition, some of the 200-level classes that remain open are in fact closed since they are restricted to non-degree students. Noticing how quickly classes have closed up, why no classes remain open must be analyzed carefully before a solution to the problem can be undertaken. Certainly, I am not an expert at deciding the optimal number of classes, but from experiences as a student, several conclusions can be reached. First of all, failure to offer enough classes does not seem to be the fault of any of the departments on campus. It appears most all department heads are strong and passionate advocates for funding in their respective areas. Department heads have done the best with the resources provided to them to offer as many classes as possible. Secondly, registration problems cannot be blamed on class size issues. Some are quick to criticize departments for not opening up more slots in their upper division classes. While some classes may be capped at 30 students, the fact of the matter is that most classes are capped at 40 and 50 students. Simply offering more slots in classes that are already oversized will only further the problem. Conducting discussion in a class any larger than 50 students is extremely difficult for even the most skilled professors. Simply increasing the number of students in a class does not get to the root of the problem; rather it only creates another problem. Smaller class sizes are essential to an excellent education on the upper division level. Third, faculty members are already overburdened and cannot be asked to take on additional classes. In many cases, faculty members are teaching three classes, which requires a substantial amount of preparation time. Essentially, the university's professors are teaching as many classes as possible. With little that department heads can do, other than expand class sizes or find other creative ways of offering more classes, one must wonder what is the ultimate cause of the problem. One of the clear-cut concepts that comes to mind is the under-funding of the academic operational budget. Over the past several years, class sizes have escalated due to increasing enrollment in the university. However, the increase in full-time faculty members has not increased by a proportion anywhere near that of the student population. Much of the reason for a stagnant number of professors is unfortunately due to budget cutbacks. With budget cutbacks from the General Assembly, the administration has been forced to raise tuition in order to makeup for cut backs. Clearly something must be done in order to remedy this problem. This semester's registration period proves operational budget reform must become a priority of this administration. With billions of dollars being earmarked to building projects, dollars must also be earmarked to ensure the university functions well. The legislature and the administration have clearly made a commitment to much needed renovations on the physical aspects of the campus. Now the student body asks the same level of commitment be present in the academic operating budget. The budget process may be extremely complicated and beyond the understanding of many administrators, let alone students. However, fundamentally evident is a need to reform or improve this budget process. It is great to have a campus with shiny new buildings. But those buildings do this campus no good if there are no classes to be offered in them, or if there are not enough full-time faculty members to teach in them. Until the budget can be fixed and more faculty members hired so more classes can be offered, this university will be faced with a very difficult dilemma. Should the university increase class sizes so more students can take upper divisional classes, or should the university keep class sizes at the current status quo? Increasing class sizes clearly stunts the level of educational opportunity, yet if it is not done, students will remain locked out of necessary classes. Therefore, increasing class sizes is not an appropriate option at this point in time. Short-term band-aid solutions will not, and cannot, solve a fundamentally flawed process. Instead, long-term reform must be undertaken so that the full-time faculty can be retroactively increased to account for student population growth in respective departments. Underclassmen can take little consolation in the fact of knowing scheduling will get easier as their university career goes on. Registration will become easier as a result of the academic career progressing so students can register earlier in relation to freshmen. One would hope scheduling will also become easier because the university undertakes efforts of budget reform in order to hire more full-time faculty and therefore offer more classes. Unless something is done, the increased inability to get classes will further contribute to the problem of the "overgraduates," as more students will take more than four years to graduate due to the university's budgetary flaws.

Sources: www.studentadmin.uconn.edu