A record number of students enrolled as freshmen for the 2008-09 school year is prompting University administrators to look at how to accommodate this influx students in all the University’s departments.
According to a recent University press release, the University expects 400 more students to enroll as freshmen for next year than last year. The 2008-09 enrollment estimation sits at approximately 3,800 freshmen compared with last year’s 3,398 students.
There is still some discrepancy among the departments about what the exact number will be; however, several of the departments said they were told there will be as many as 600 more freshmen enrolled next fall.
One of the main concerns, said Vice President for Student Affairs Robin Holmes, is to ensure that the students will have access to all the classes they need to have in their first year.
“We have made more money available to (the University departments) to make sure the freshmen get the classes they need,” said Holmes. With this money, Holmes said the departments will hire additional faculty and offer more sections in the traditional freshman classes.
As next year’s freshman class moves through the University during the next few years, Holmes said the administration and respective departments will continue to monitor the class size to ensure that these students will be able to get the classes they need to graduate. The concern is that it will be more difficult for students in this class to enroll in the courses that are required for graduation.
“It will be a problem if they move through (the University),” said Wendy Larson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We will have to add classes at every level.”
Before the University can turn its attention to the future, Holmes said it has to focus on this year.
“I prefer to think of this as a controlled chaos,” said Holmes.
Larson said that the College of Arts and Sciences has responded to the anticipated class crunch by adding 3,000 extra seats in first-year classes across the college’s three divisions.
Leonardo Garcia-Pabon, interim department head of romance languages, is anticipating that his department will be hit hard by the large enrollment of freshmen, especially in first- and second-year Spanish.
Garcia-Pabon said the department is already struggling to accommodate the current student enrollment requirements because of funding.
“The enrollment is going to have a major impact on us because of Spanish,” said Garcia-Pabon. “Spanish is so popular and important here. There are so many people who speak Spanish and more people wanting to speak Spanish.”
To meet the anticipated demand for Spanish classes, the department will be hiring additional faculty and offering more sections in the 100- and 200-level courses.
These new faculty members will be hired both on a temporary and part-time basis, said Garcia-Pabon.
“The number of Spanish majors goes up and up each year anyway,” said Garcia-Pabon. “The increase in majors is not going to be as high as the increase in students going into first and second year language courses, but in a couple years we’ll probably need to hire more people to teach upper level language courses.”
Other departments and schools are reacting to the flood of freshmen.
Lars Skalnes, the department head of political science, said his department is offering an additional course on state and local government and will increase the enrollment cap for other courses.
The Lundquist College of Business has also added an additional pre-business course, said Jeanne Coe, assistant director of undergraduate programs at the College of Business.
Several departments are taking some immediate action that will help the incoming freshman class register for fall classes before they fill by releasing seats in the popular first-year classes incrementally over the summer instead of all at once, which would mean that freshmen who go to register last would find the classes full, said history Department Head John McCole.
The predicted number of students who will be entering the University as freshmen next fall has been steadily increasing, said Larson. The initial count was 200 more students than the previous year, then 400, and now 600, said Larson.
Brian Henley, interim director of admissions, said the Office of Admissions was pushing to enroll 200 more students next year because the number of graduating high school seniors this year is much higher than in previous years, and the average graduating high school class is anticipated to drop quite a bit over the next few years. Henley said that the University needs to enroll more students this year in order to keep overall student enrollment steady.
“This really is a good news story for the University,” said Holmes. “No one could have predicted this, and overall it is really good news for the UO and Oregon.”
Holmes said more students means more money for the University. The University can then turn around and use this money to accommodate those students.
“Next year is going to be a similar year,” said Holmes. “But then the next eight years are going to be much smaller freshman classes.”
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Academics readies for influx of freshmen
Daily Emerald
May 26, 2008
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