By Tristan Weisenbach
Managing Editor
As course enrollment for next semester starts, students are tasked with enrolling in courses before they fill up — a task that can sometimes be challenging. In recent semesters, enrollment caps have gone up and the number of courses being offered has decreased, leading to a greater number of students in each class.
This semester, adjunct professor of mathematics Kellie McKinney is teaching two courses, both of which are more full than usual, she said. McKinney said her classes have typically run between 20 to 30 students in the past, but have 34 this semester.
While McKinney said she has not yet noticed the increased number of students causing any negative impacts on their ability to learn, she believes some may have trouble seeing the front board.
“The only thing that seems to be a little tough in the one classroom is the positioning of the projector screen,” McKinney said in a Feb. 8 email. “It makes it hard for some of the students on the left side of the classroom to see it easily without obstruction from someone else's head or my computer system.”
This semester, a total of 2,115 courses were scheduled across all academic departments — the least number of courses since at least the fall 2021 semester, according to data provided to The Signal by Head Media Relations Officer Luke Sacks. This count is comprised of all course types, ranging from lecture discussions and seminars to independent studies and internships.
Total number of classes scheduled each semester since fall 2021 (Chart courtesy of Tristan Weisenbach).
This may be one contributing factor as to why several courses this semester are overcrowded, in which McKinney’s class is just one example. But what “overcrowded” really means can vary.
The College has at least four maximum capacity numbers for each class. First, the “class capacity” represents the maximum number of students that can enroll in a given course, which is shown in PAWS, and is set based on the course type. Second, the BookIt system lists a “max capacity” number for each room as well.
Records and Registration also sets a “capacity” for each classroom, which takes into consideration things such as furniture and recommendations from deans and academic departments, according to Sacks.
Finally, the “egress” capacity is set by Maggie Greco, the campus architect calculated by allocating capacities to classrooms derived from floor-wide capacity limits in accordance with the New Jersey Construction Code.
Each of these capacity numbers can, and often do, differ from one another. For example, in Social Sciences Room 323 — a classroom that has four classes scheduled in it with enrollments above the Records and Registration “capacity” limit — the “max capacity” in the BookIt system is set at 32, the Records and Registration “capacity” is set at 33 and the “egress” capacity is set at 40.
Across all academic departments, at least 71 classes have been scheduled this semester that have an enrollment above the Records & Registration “capacity” number of their respective classrooms, based on classroom capacity data provided to The Signal. One of McKinney’s classes is two students above this “capacity.”
According to the data, MUS 131-01/MUS 171-01, the Treble Ensemble course, has the greatest number of students above “capacity.” This course has 22 students, but Music Building room 123, where the course is scheduled according to PAWS, only has a “capacity” of 11. However, Heather Mitchell, assistant director of choral activities and the instructor of the course, said in an email that the ensemble meets in both room 123 and room 027 in the Music Building.
Additionally, at least 18 classes have a total enrollment that exceeds the “egress” capacity.
When it comes to scheduling classes each semester, faculty and staff in each department utilize PAWS and BookIt to determine how many students can fit in each classroom without exceeding capacity. Most departments are given “priority rooms,” or classrooms that can be reserved by specific departments to help ensure they can schedule the classes they need and properly accommodate the number of students in each room.
However, some faculty and staff that The Signal spoke with said they found it difficult to keep track of what the maximum occupancy of classrooms is when scheduling classes because there are multiple maximum capacity numbers. In addition, Sacks said that academic department staff do not have access to “egress” capacity numbers.
Karen Dubrule, the program assistant for the department of sociology and anthropology, has multiple “priority rooms” that she schedules classes in. One of these rooms, Social Sciences 323, has a “capacity” of 33. However, she says she regularly schedules classes with an enrollment cap of 34 in this room, because her department has no other rooms available to accommodate the “class capacity” determined by the type of the course.
“My classes are almost 100% full, so we have very few seats,” Dubrule said. “I know it was definitely a scramble for students, even to the very evening of the last day of add/drop [period], just trying to find a class to get into.”
Dubrule and another academic department staff member who requested to remain anonymous stated that within the last few years, there has been an initiative pushed by members of the College’s administration to raise the enrollment caps of many class types.
“I definitely think it's becoming a problem,” Dubrule said. “And I know that on the table of all the changes that they're trying to think of, [one of them] is to raise the caps even further, but I don't actually know that our classrooms would allow for that.”
Diane Steinberg, assistant professor of English, said she feels it may be difficult for the College to continue increasing the enrollment caps of classes, especially if the College wants to maintain the smaller class sizes it’s known for.
“The College in general has a long history of small classes, and so we have a big array of small classrooms,” Steinberg said. “So as the College is starting to think about experimenting with lecture classes, we have to say, ‘But where are they going to meet?’”
Jason Dahling, chair of the department of psychology, told the Signal that one of the challenges his department faces is finding a room for their larger advising courses. He said the department doesn’t have a large enough “priority room” to accommodate these classes, so the department often has to request to use the Mayo Concert Hall or library instead.
Olivia Burton, the program assistant for the department of art and art history, said she thinks there are numerous ways in which the College can go about addressing the issue of overcrowded classes. One solution she shared is the reconfiguration of older academic buildings to better accommodate larger groups of students.
“The facilities of 40 years ago could be adapted and the classrooms reshaped, reconfigured, reimagined or even, you know, a new building put in place,” Burton said. She also suggested that the College continue looking into whether certain courses can be hybridized to incorporate online instruction if classroom capacity would limit students’ ability to register. However, she expressed the importance of this idea being looked at with scrutiny, as she believes it could do more harm than good in some cases depending on the subject area.
“I think it's still important to remember that certain curricula have certain physical standards of safety, and some of that just can't be hybridized and receive the same instruction,” she said.
Dubrule suggested the College re-examine the scheduling grid to open up more time slots to offer a greater number of classes each day. The 12:30 p.m. block on Tuesdays and Fridays is currently reserved for colloquium, or academic conferences and meetings. However, according to Dubrule, it is not well used for this. She also suggested adjusting the start time for 8 a.m. classes.
“Nobody wants to teach the 8 a.m.'s and no one wants to take the 8 a.m.’s, but I think if you started at 8:30, that changes a lot for a lot of people,” Dubrule said.
Dahling said that the current financial situation may make it difficult to prevent overcrowded classes, as increasing class sizes is one potential way to reduce budget deficits.
“What is the best way to close that financial gap while also preserving the quality of education at the college?” Dahling said. “Larger class sizes is one answer to that question, but not necessarily the one we're going to go with.”
Overall, overcrowded classes have shown to be a growing worry for academic faculty. Without implementing a solution, students’ learning experience may be impacted.
“Something’s gonna have to happen,” Dubrule said. “There’s just not enough places to put courses.”
