Priority enrollment should be given to students with the most seniority and who are ready to transfer.
This semester found classes filled wall-to-wall with students attempting to add, totaling more than two and three times the amount of actually enrolled students.
One might think, why didn’t these students just register for classes at their scheduled registration date to avoid not getting into the classes they needed. A lot of them did register early and those courses required to transfer were already filled to capacity.
The reality is, the state’s 112 community colleges offered 5 percent fewer classes this semester than last, according to Chancellor Jack Scott in an August article in the Los Angeles Times.
Scott was also quoted as saying that 670,000 students who would ordinarily have at least one class, would not be accommodated.
Do the math and that’s approximately 6,000 students from Pierce College alone.
And though an estimated 400 students graduated from Pierce College this past summer, immediately following that ceremony, they were replaced.
Who replaced them? More than 400 students from neighboring high schools who were gearing up for their first semester at college joined the campus this fall. This would be great for them, if it were only somewhere else.
Little did they know what they were getting into and where the state of available classes was left after the Los Angeles Community College District’s (LACCD) funding was slashed, again.
Classes necessary to transfer, course times and course availabilities/options were cut.
Pierce College had 948 fewer students enrolled in this semester compared to Fall’s 2010 semester, according to Carol Kozeraci, dean of research and planning.
And while we should be cheering on one another to succeed, existing
Pierce College students can’t help but be competitive as they are fighting for survival (meaning getting the hell out of Pierce and in a position to transfer).
There were 64 fewer classes offered this semester than in Spring 2010, according to Kozeracki.
Instead it puts an insatiable demand for what is ours; and a fear into students hoping to add that last Biology or English class that they need to move on.
Despite heavy cuts to K-12 education over the last decade from the state, students in the Los Angels Unified School District (LAUSD) have raised their Academic Performance Index (API) scores by 19 points over the last year, according to the LAUSD website.
We should be proud and cheer on our fellow students. After all, those students will be replacing us when we graduate and go into the job market – whatever that means.
But the truth is, and it’s sad really . . .,
there is really no room to be supportive when it’s an all out competitive war for classes.
A rise in students passing exit exams leads to one thing: packed classrooms.
Lotteries to add classes are frightening and extinguish any hope of transferring.
We beg of you, our administration, and our leaders: Is there not a way to guarantee placement based upon seniority?
Those here with the intention of getting through this semester as their last, should have first crack at the classes they need to get accepted to the UC/CSU that they dream of attending.
Freshman, you have a minimum of four solid semesters to get your requirements. Some of you, sadly, may be here longer.
So don’t take classes away from those just hanging on for that one last prerequisite.
Seniority should rule!