With a larger-than-expected freshman class materializing for this fall and hundreds of students still left to register for classes in the University of Iowa’s largest College of Liberal Arts and Sciences — where many begin their higher ed pursuits — only under 10 seats across its rhetoric courses were available as of Thursday.
The college also had few available seats in its interpretation of literature courses, diversity and inclusion courses and world language sections at the basic proficiency level — making it difficult for some first-year students to begin to fulfill, for example, the college’s “communication and literacy” general education mandate.
UI officials told The Gazette members of the campus’ academic advising team have been connecting multiple times a day with their collegiate partners to communicate about student needs.
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“Over the past few weeks, we have added capacity in more than 50 introductory courses and created 10 to 20 new course sections,“ UI spokesman Steve Schmadeke said. ”Through strategic evaluation and teamwork, we are able to add spots to a class, shift instructor assignments, or release registration holds that are no longer needed.“
Read also: Facing housing crunch, UI to reopen dorm to house larger than expected freshman class
Emails obtained by The Gazette indicate the enrollment process this summer has been more challenging than others — and potentially more problematic for students aiming to complete degree requirements and graduate in four years.
Last week — as the college’s academic advisers continued to report “tough student situations,” including some students leaving advising appointments without a full or advantageous schedule — Academic Advising Center Director Maureen Schafer highlighted the potential consequences.
“The idea of a student not getting into any classes is surely something you have thought about and wonder what you would do,” Schafer wrote in a July 6 email obtained by The Gazette. “If nothing happened at all with adding new seats, we would definitely be headed there. Given our constant communication with (the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) and their efforts to open seats as needed, my hope is we avoid that situation.”
In that email, Schafer — among those tasked with coordinating a solution to a problem they didn’t create — laid out “what went wrong and who and/or what is to blame for the situation we are in.”
“It is a complex system and our troubles right now cannot be explained by pointing to one thing,” Schafer wrote. “There is no doubt that doing more proactive planning and predictions in the future will help.”
In an email to The Gazette on Thursday, Schafer said advisers never stop working to ensure student schedules are set before the start of classes and only rarely do students leave advising appointments without a full schedule.
“Advisors will follow up with students in the coming weeks if they need to adjust their schedules,” she said.
The college also had few available seats in its interpretation of literature courses, diversity and inclusion courses and world language sections at the basic proficiency level — making it difficult for some first-year students to begin to fulfill, for example, the college’s “communication and literacy” general education mandate.
UI officials told The Gazette members of the campus’ academic advising team have been connecting multiple times a day with their collegiate partners to communicate about student needs.
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“Over the past few weeks, we have added capacity in more than 50 introductory courses and created 10 to 20 new course sections,“ UI spokesman Steve Schmadeke said. ”Through strategic evaluation and teamwork, we are able to add spots to a class, shift instructor assignments, or release registration holds that are no longer needed.“
Read also: Facing housing crunch, UI to reopen dorm to house larger than expected freshman class
Emails obtained by The Gazette indicate the enrollment process this summer has been more challenging than others — and potentially more problematic for students aiming to complete degree requirements and graduate in four years.
Last week — as the college’s academic advisers continued to report “tough student situations,” including some students leaving advising appointments without a full or advantageous schedule — Academic Advising Center Director Maureen Schafer highlighted the potential consequences.
“The idea of a student not getting into any classes is surely something you have thought about and wonder what you would do,” Schafer wrote in a July 6 email obtained by The Gazette. “If nothing happened at all with adding new seats, we would definitely be headed there. Given our constant communication with (the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) and their efforts to open seats as needed, my hope is we avoid that situation.”
In that email, Schafer — among those tasked with coordinating a solution to a problem they didn’t create — laid out “what went wrong and who and/or what is to blame for the situation we are in.”
- In fall 2020 — with COVID-19 hindering enrollment — the liberal arts college “overextended” and offered classes it didn’t fill, “causing them to lose money.” The college since has been conservative with its offerings, ensuring it can fill its courses.
- A larger-than-expected incoming class for fall “was not evident through the admissions cycle,” meaning the college “could not prepare accordingly.”
- Some departments are suffering “significant staff shortages,” meaning too few people to teach.
- And in other situations, funding is the issue, with people willing to teach but no money to pay them.
“It is a complex system and our troubles right now cannot be explained by pointing to one thing,” Schafer wrote. “There is no doubt that doing more proactive planning and predictions in the future will help.”
In an email to The Gazette on Thursday, Schafer said advisers never stop working to ensure student schedules are set before the start of classes and only rarely do students leave advising appointments without a full schedule.
“Advisors will follow up with students in the coming weeks if they need to adjust their schedules,” she said.