Fall 2023 Enrollments

[downer]

I'm teaching at two places this fall. At one place my classes are full. At the other, a CC, enrollment is low and I already have had one class cancelled. CC students often wait until late in the summer or even the first week of the semester to enroll but I suspect that another class may get cancelled before then.

I'm curious what the patterns are around the US.

[lightning]

Mid-June is way too early to cancel a class, unless your admincritters want only courses with guaranteed maxed out enrollments, solving any problems with long waitlists by raising caps.

[Ahania]

I don't teach at a CC, but my 4 year also has students who wait until the very last moment to register.  We usually don't decide to cancel until 1 -2 weeks before the semester starts.

[downer]

Mid-June is way too early to cancel a class, unless your admincritters want only courses with guaranteed maxed out enrollments, solving any problems with long waitlists by raising caps.

My guess is that they looked at the scheduled classes and the projected enrollments and decided that they had too many classes, so they cancelled some... or maybe just mine!

[Parasaurolophus]

Not the US, but we're over-full for the fall. Our department is hiring someone part-time to help with the overflow.

As a result of the current staff strike, however, enrollments may well plummet.

[mythbuster]

Our lower level courses always see a huge wave of last minute enrollment. Unfortunately, we can predict with better than fair accuracy how the students will perform in the class based on how late they enroll.

[eigen]

We're strongly up in incoming first year enrollment for a second year in a row, which is great because our COVID enrollments were super low.

[lightning]

Enrollment at my place looks about the same as last year. We have always had relatively stable enrollments, even during the pandemic. However, last year, we did have a slight dip for the first time and the admincritters freaked out and took out an axe to sharpen. This year, they will probably use the axe, even though in the long view and compared with most places, we are not really doing that badly, in terms of enrollments. However, like last year, I anticipate pre-mature course cancellations in late June/early July, when the faculty are not paying attention.

[billtsherman]

Our lower level courses always see a huge wave of last minute enrollment. Unfortunately, we can predict with better than fair accuracy how the students will perform in the class based on how late they enroll.

My current school - a regional HBCU - allows students to enroll up to the third week of classes, even in five week summer classes.  You can guess how well that works out.  As you might imagine, faculty are blamed for not "meeting the students where they are" when they inevitably fail.

I'm moving to a different school in the Fall, and one of the things I'm looking forward to most is not having to deal with this issue.

[Puget]

The administration here has been admitting larger classes each year the last few years, no doubt for financial reasons, but then seems surprised and unprepared when students are upset that they can't get the housing and classes they want because of course supply of those hasn't increased. Faculty are left fielding pleas from students to let them into already full courses. In my department we have agreed not to do this-- let the students go complain to the administration about it, and our answer will be that they need to give us new hires to meet the demand if they want that problem solved.

[MarathonRunner]

In Canada. On Reddit there are first year (incoming) students who are panicking because there are no openings in their required courses. I advise them to check with their program advisors (professional advisors, not faculty members doing a secondary duty) but if Reddit is indicative (it may not be, but I know some courses filled quickly even when I logged in right at course selection opening) we will be adding more sections for first year required courses in the sciences.

[Cheerful]

Faculty are left fielding pleas from students to let them into already full courses. In my department we have agreed not to do this-- let the students go complain to the administration about it, and our answer will be that they need to give us new hires to meet the demand if they want that problem solved.

Good to know that, in some places, there is some collective faculty push-back toward admin. on such matters.

[hester]

I'm seeing enrollment drops in new England at the CC level.

[waterboy]

At our program at an R1, we're about 50% over what we planned for.

[lightning]

At our program at an R1, we're about 50% over what we planned for.

Good news in that it bucks the reigning narrative.

Bad news is that it is more than likely that the unexpected students will not be supported other than with your hide, and the net proceeds from you working extra to support the unexpected students will probably not be used to support your unit in the future--actually might be used as justification to cut your state allocation even further because you have proven that you can be more tuition-driven.

Anyone that thrives in the face of austerity, will be rewarded and punished appropriately.