Hello All,
I'm curious what you are seeing for Spring enrollment #'s.
I adjunct at a few different colleges and #'s are looking dismal.
Articles have been written recently about this downward trend.
I'd like to hear what you are seeing.
Thanks
Teaching at 3 places next semester. All 7 courses are running. Numbers are good.
Admin accepted too many students this academic year. (The thinking: More students = more money. Never mind about it requiring more resources like classroom space.) Enrollments are too high for next semester, as they were for this semester.
Quote from: Liquidambar on December 14, 2022, 06:26:25 AM
Admin accepted too many students this academic year. (The thinking: More students = more money. Never mind about it requiring more resources like classroom space.) Enrollments are too high for next semester, as they were for this semester.
Same here-- they are so proud of their "largest class ever!" but it didn't come with more hiring. Hence, all our classes are waitlisted. I've suggested to the disgruntled students begging me to get off the waitlist that they bring their complaints to the administration.
Quote from: Liquidambar on December 14, 2022, 06:26:25 AM
Admin accepted too many students this academic year. (The thinking: More students = more money. Never mind about it requiring more resources like classroom space.) Enrollments are too high for next semester, as they were for this semester.
Same. And a larger proportion than usual want to be in STEM (steadily increasing for years, but this was a marked jump).
Our Dean wants to know if we can "make them" switch to humanities or arts or business. Nope. But that sort of "we don't want/need all of you" attitude will make many of them drop out and never come back.
We are up about four percent from last spring right now, I anticipate that will go up a bit with late registrations.
Of course last spring we were down 17 percent from covid so while the trend is moving upwards we still are well below the highest enrollment pre-covid.
We're slightly up in enrollment, too. Our biggest problem is that we've accepted students who either can't pay (I'm at a private LAC) or whose high school grades should have been a red flag. I've had several students in my office in various stages of distress because they can't register for the spring due to the fact that they can't pay their fall bill. I'm sympathetic, but I also don't understand how this happens. We're very transparent about the cost and we actually don't tack on extra fees - it's all included in tuition.
I've also never had so many students struggle with basic reading comprehension and I know that they're having problems with basic math, too (which may explain the issues figuring out how much their tuition would cost). Our also want to go into STEM, but are having trouble hacking the math grades.
Our numbers are up, as are our spring transfers thus far, but like others we admitted a huge class to keep trying to fill the financial gap created by the smaller 2020 starting class, and I'm not optimistic that they'll all be back or that the transfers will balance out the class.
We were also allowed to fill some of the lines vacated by Covid retirees, so we have about the same number of classes for our adjuncts. They are telling tales of woe, though, from the other places they work. 20-year adjuncts in good standing are not getting classes at the state university that's 30 miles north of here.
State flagship here. We accepted a ton of extra students in fall to make up for pandemic drops in enrollment, and now we don't have enough classes for all these extra student. Every class is stuffed to the gills.
Quote from: Hegemony on December 15, 2022, 06:23:11 PM
State flagship here. We accepted a ton of extra students in fall to make up for pandemic drops in enrollment, and now we don't have enough classes for all these extra student. Every class is stuffed to the gills.
State flagship as well. We were worried about reduced yield for the 2021 incoming class and over-accepted, enrolling a significantly larger class than I think we intended (involving things like converting lounges to "dorm rooms" for 10 people). We dialed back for the incoming 2022 class and only over enrolled by 10% or so. They are hoping they have a better handle on the math this year, but we shall see.
These increases have been somewhat offset by a larger than expected number of students choosing to graduate early (we have a lot of students who come in with a significant number of college credits. Historically, they really didn't do much with them, preferring to take a few light semesters and graduate with their friends, but right now a lot of them are graduating a semester or a year early.
Someone above seems to have suggested that his school is facing perhaps complaints, lawsuit threats, etc., from irate parents who do not like their kiddoes not getting into the courses they need, similar to the threatened suit by New School parents distraught that the recent strike had ruined this semester for their children. Is this common, and increasing? It would seem to have at least some merit...
I have some friends who are irate over their kids' inability to get the classes they need, while their financial aid is restricted to a limited number of years. If you have four years of financial aid, and it takes the student five years to graduate because classes are not available, that is indeed a problem. And often the students need to take a certain number of classes to qualify as "full-time" and eligible for that aid. So they are stuck taking classes that do them no good, and that they have no interest in, to stay eligible. Dropping out for a semester means they may miss the one essential class they have been able to get into. I hope someone at all these schools is working to prevent problems like this, but I have my doubts.
We are having two separate issues. Students who are trying to graduate on time are not able to take the classes they need. They WANT more credit hours, but there just aren't enough classes or enough seats.
The incoming freshmen DO NOT want to take 16-18 credits. They think 12-14 is enough*. It's going to make the above issues even worse when they all realize as a cohort that they can't take enough credits to graduate on time, even if the seats are available.
*The advising office folks are tearing their hair out over this idea of "start slow". And the parents are the ones pushing this idea! If you don't think your child/student can handle that many credit hours of college, start them at a community college & have them transfer in. It's a HUGE waste of money since it's the same price for 12 credits as 18 (we're a state school). Community college credits are "a la carte" and the ones here are really, really good.
U15 in Canada. Our graduate programs in my area have fewer students than we traditionally have had, but these programs tend to attract health care professionals and many continue to be overwhelmed and overworked as Canadian hospitals are on the verge of collapse. So not surprising we have fewer students. The professional programs seem as popular as ever. These attract students fresh out of undergrad, not working professionals.
Why are Canadian hospitals on the verge of collapse, and what if anything could Canadian universities do to help counteract that problem?
Regional public university here. According to administration, our figures are down about 9 per cent across the board. This secular decline (i.e., was evident several years before the pandemic) has led to a contraction of our teaching staff (full-time and part-time) and the cancellation of sections. This in turn means that are classes are fuller (with more students per section) and many students cannot get into the classes they need, which means more students are transferring out of the university, which means lower enrollment, which means.... The end result is that we have fewer students and overcrowding.
Might we be at the same institution, @jerseyjay? We have the same situation.
We went from being a flourishing, truly excellent, doctoral, research-high, regional public a few years ago (after surviving the cuts in the recession of 2007-2009 ish), to worrying that our graduate programs might have to turn out the lights within the coming few years, largely due to budget cuts that follow declining undergraduate enrollments, coupled with our red legislature cutting support for graduate student funding.
Quote from: kaysixteen on December 22, 2022, 01:10:21 AM
Why are Canadian hospitals on the verge of collapse, and what if anything could Canadian universities do to help counteract that problem?
Tripledemic of COVID, flu, RSV, and years of underfunding by conservative provincial governments. Mask mandates removed. Burned out staff leaving health care for other opportunities. Long COVID affecting some staff. Even mild COVID infections resulting in increased negative sequelae, like strokes, heart attacks, and type 1 diabetes, therefore more people in emergency rooms and more being admitted. Due to the negative effect COVID has on the immune system, making people more vulnerable to other infections, more people with serious infections needing to be admitted.
Implement mask mandates, as some universities that listen to their knowledgeable faculty members have already done. Keep online as an option for staff, students, and faculty members who are at higher risk. Be flexible with attendance (don't require sick students to come to class). Don't require doctor's notes (don't want positive students infecting others just to get a note).