Professors have to drop students who do not show up the first day of class.
Too many students spend the first two weeks of school shopping for classes, holding seats in classes they don’t even intend to take.
With the existing economic environment this practice must be put to an end.
Students often resort to crashing these classes when they need the units to qualify for financial aid or they will register for courses in default for classes they would prefer.
As a result, core classes are overflowing with students trying to add but can’t due to a full enrollment of students.
Some professors already maintain a policy of dropping students who don’t show up for the first day of class and add as many students as they can handle.
But not enough professors do this and it’s unfair to those students who genuinely want to learn and need the course to transfer, not to mention the time spent looking for the class.
California is in an unprecedented economic crisis resulting in disastrous education budget cuts from all of the public colleges and universities.
It should come as no surprise that next fall’s budget will be even worse, classes will be in short supply, and enrollment fees will increase to $46 a unit.
The time has come to put stringent measures into place to help those who are here to learn.
We were unable to obtain records of student enrollment and this semester’s course drop rates.
Pierce’s policy regarding first-day student absentees is not available online, nor is it readily available anywhere on campus.
Pierce College has to create and enforce a strict policy that if you register for a class you must show up the first day or you will be dropped.
The luxury of shopping for classes is no longer feasible. Too many students can’t get into the classes they need, prolonging the transfer process.
Compounding this problem is the decreased enrollment at California State University Northridge and potential closing of the West Valley Occupational Center.
The perfect storm of too many students, too few classes and rising tuition costs approaches.
In the past, community colleges were the place to go to get your first two years of college and then transfer to a CSUs, UCs, private colleges or universities.
Today community colleges still serve the same function as before but rather than transferring students to universities, they have become stagnant pools of students – there isn’t enough money in the budget to offer enough core classes.
Now is the time for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Directors to mandate a new policy that requires professors to drop absent students on the first day of class. Tough times call for tough measures.
