On December 16, 2009, bleary-eyed and tired, sophomore Caitlin Corbett, a business major, reached over and shut her alarm clock off. It was 8 a.m. –time to register for classes. As she sat at her desk in front of her laptop, she scrolled through class options. Happy that she had a few sections to choose from, she began to fill her shopping cart, only to be stopped by big red X’s as she tried to complete the transaction—spots that seemed open were instead held for transfer students.
Classes held for transfer students are just one representation of the larger issue of class shortages at the school. This year, the undergraduate student body increased by 695 students, yet the number of seats available per section of classes went down. Less seats means less options, tighter schedules, and left out, unhappy students.
Rick Gatteau, the director of the Academic and Pre-Professional Advising Center at Stony Brook University said the advising center is working to fix the problem. “In my eight years that I’ve been at Stony Brook, this spring enrollment has been the tightest,” he said. Gatteau also said the total number of credits students took from spring 2009 to spring 2010, has dropped slightly.
Corbett can attest to that. “I only took four courses this semester instead of five,” she said. “My ideal schedule would have been going to school Monday through Thursday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Instead, I have to take night classes because of my major.” Corbett also added that because of her night classes and a three-hour break on Monday and Wednesday, she was unable to sign up for day classes on Tuesday or Thursday. “I’m a commuter, I need to work,” she said. “I can’t make a schedule that doesn’t allow me to work at all.”
Gatteau said that students who register for classes on time shouldn’t have an issue finding classes. In order to combat registration problems, the university has bumped up fall semester scheduling by a week. It will start right after spring break. This will help the advising center see what classes need additional sections added or removed.
Last semester the advising center implemented a credit limit when registering for classes. Students were originally only allowed to sign up for 16 credits, then 17, and then finally 19 and 23 when the semester started. Gatteau added, “students may need to include summer and winter classes in plans to graduate on time.”
Overall, Gatteau doesn’t believe that the cutting of class sections and seat availability will affect a student’s plans to graduate on time. Students must take the initiative to register for classes on time, take courses in the correct sequence and check in with the advisement office.
“We have an obligation as an administration to provide classes to get students to graduate in a timely manner but it is a mutual responsibility in that students need to do their part as well,” Gatteau said.
