The parking lots, lunch lines and the classrooms are more packed than ever. Bakersfield College faculty and students are used to having crowded conditions in their classes and the bookstore during the first few weeks. This year, they can see the enrollment increases everywhere.
According to the Admissions and Records Office, through Aug. 30 the number of students enrolled at BC and its extensions was 14,635. That’s 1,646 more or 12.67 percent more than this same time last year.
Sue Vaughn, director of the Admissions and Records office, said that the number is up now but as the last day to drop without a grade and the last day to receive a withdraw approaches, the number of students enrolled will decrease.
“Our lines have been much busier,” she said. “I knew that the academic people were adding more sections wherever they could, because we expected growth.”
Vaughn said that teachers as well as other staff on campus have made adjustments to allow a large number of students to add classes, enroll late and make changes to their schedules.
“I’ve been a little bit surprised that it’s stayed this high because we only have `x’ number of seats,” she said. “You can’t go beyond that. I think that faculty is being pretty generous about (enrollment).”
Students on campus have mixed emotions about the packed conditions.
“It seems more crowded than it was last year,” Lewis Conger, 19, said. “A lot of people came to add but hardly any of my instructors let anyone add. It’s a good thing for a lot of people to go but they need to plan out things better.”
Conger said that parking is a huge problem, just adding to the stress.
“Parking sucks,” he said. “It’s worse than last year. I used to be able to get here at 7:30 in the morning for an 8 o’clock class, park right up in front and I’d be fine. Now I get here and park way in the back.”
First-timers and transfers are awestruck not by the number of people so much as the crowded conditions.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Megan Carroll, 20, who transferred from Fresno State University. “In my econ class, there’s 109 people and it’s a small room.”
Carroll said that parking is also a big problem but the school should focus on adding more teachers.
At Fresno State, while there are more students, she says there are more classes and professors, something that BC should try to improve upon.
“It wasn’t as crowded as it is here,” Carroll said. “If they had more classes and professors it would be a lot easier.”
Faculty also noticed the change; counselors and advisers in the counseling and career center have kept a watchful eye on the surge.
“One of the things that we have is certainly the increase in students,” said Mike Gutierrez, chair of the Counseling Department. “We’ve tried to keep track of (increases) in the last four or five years.”
People having a tough time adding classes or just finding them among the droves of students often turn to the counseling center.
“Students are waiting in the center during peak times,” he said. “We’ve also run our (video) tapes of how to build their schedule, how to enroll. We try to educate our students so that way they have that information.”
Gutierrez said that the centers have made adjustments to try and help out more people as well.
“Because of our increase in enrollment over the years and not being able to increase our (number of) counselors, we actually have gone more to a drop-in.”
He explained that this is a mixed bag because some students need to make appointments and can’t just wait around for an hour.
“That benefited the students who kind of wait until the last minute to do things. But we took away from our students who plan ahead.”
The influx of people may confound and annoy students, but Vaughn said that that year’s increase was not much of a surprise.
“I think that the population is growing,” Vaughn said. “With the economy tighter, more people that may have thought they’d go to a four-year (university) would rather save the money and come and get a very good experience here.”
She also said that there’s been an increase in the number of returning students who are older, probably a result of the weakening economy.
“People (are) looking to upgrade their job skills because they see the writing on the wall,” she said.
Students notice the difference as well.
“I’ve seen quite a few older students,” Conger said. “Like parents, people coming back to school after having a job.”
Vaughn said she expects the same cramped spaces in January.
“Used to be that the spring dropped off, but that hasn’t been happening,” she said. “One year the spring was actually higher than the fall.”
The important number for state funding is the full-time equivalent (FTE), the measure used by the state to determine college budgets. State officials take the total units by all students and divide by a set number determined by the state to be a full-time load. So far, that percentage is at 15.85, a larger increase over the past fall semesters.
“When a student pays $11 per unit, that’s 10 percent of the cost (for the class),” Vaughn said. “The rest of the money comes from the state. Our actual FTE was about 10,500. It’s going up. Our target for next year is 11,100.”