Enrollment down from last year
Natalie Sehn Weber
Posted on: 3/4/10 Section: News
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According to PCC's Interim Dean of Institutional Planning and Research, Crystal Kollross, the student headcount on March 1 was 25,605 versus last spring's 25,252 - a decrease of 2.2 percent.
Kollross pointed out, however, that students are enrolling in more classes.
This semester, students are taking an average of 2.98 classes, an increase of 1.9 percent compared to last spring's average of 2.92.
One possible reason why the campus appears busy is the number of students rushing to add courses to their schedule.
According to Kollross, on Feb 15, one week before the start of classes, 97.9 percent of Spring 2010 class seats were filled, an increase of 9.5 percent compared to last year.
Not only are students filling class seats faster, Kollross said they are filling them sooner.
On Dec. 10, 2009, one week after Spring 2010 registration opened to continuing students, 42.5 percent of class seats were already filled, a staggering 60.9 percent more than last year.
"An exceptionally high number," said Allen Dooley, PCC's Acting Associate Dean of Enrollment Management and Academic Support.
Dooley thought the high pre-enrollment number was likely a result of the class cuts at UC, CSU and other sister community colleges have had to make. "We're getting students we weren't going to get," Dooley said.
In the interim, it's not difficult to locate students on campus still trying to add classes to achieve a full-time course load.
"I've tried to get into my [required] classes and can't find ones open," said art major Amanda Llewellyn, 19.
"You've got to pick classes you don't really need to stay in school and keep your health insurance."
She's been able to find only three open classes this semester.
As a result, it may take three to four years to fulfill her major's requirements, when it should only require two.
Sergio Valdez, 20, currently taking general courses, had some unexpected issues arise when he tried to register for this semester.
"I had complications, so I have to add all my classes. A lot of people are doing that, just trying to add everything. Sometimes, at least 20 people [in the classroom] are trying to add."
Valdez and another general studies student, Louis Herrera, 19, said they haven't been able to get the classes they want.
"We'd rather take [less preferred] classes than none at all," said Herrera.
Valdez found most teachers are sympathetic to the challenges he, Herrera and Llewellyn are facing.
"Teachers want to take [all the students] and they can't," said Valdez.
"For the most part, they do want to add us but they only have a limited amount of those stickers."
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