WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat With more students attending the UA than ever before, the university has offered more classes, both for the fall 2003 and spring 2004 semesters, to accommodate as many of these students' needs as possible.

Despite recent budget cuts, the UA is offering more classes to accommodate a record-breaking number of students on campus this year.

"It is the priority of the university to offer courses and meet students' needs," said David Cox, a senior associate to the provost.

This fall there were 5,598 classes offered, while last fall there were 5,536 classes, said Sharon Kha, spokeswoman for the UA.

The spring enrollment usually drops a little bit, but there are still more classes available for the spring 2004 semester than in spring 2003, Kha said.

There are 5,404 classes available right now for the coming spring semester, an increase of more than 150 classes from last year.

The numbers may fluctuate because of cancellations resulting from unfilled classes, or teacher and classroom availability, Kha said.

Cox said temporary funds have allowed the university to offer more courses.

Some of the temporary funds come from the Provost's office, and some from individual departments.

The Eller College of Business was able to offer more classes this fall and the upcoming spring semester because the college has hired more faculty, said Pam Fick, director of academic support and business services for the college.

The new $500 fee for business students, which began this fall, has also helped expand the teaching resources, Fick said.

The increase in courses offered in the Eller college is a combination of different classes being offered, as well as more sections being added to the classes that were already offered, Fick said.

The psychology department will have two less faculty members for the spring, but is offering the same number of classes as they did this fall, said Linda Edwards, senior office specialist for the psychology department.

In order to accommodate the student demand, the department has asked faculty to add seats to the classes already offered, Edwards said.

Danielle Devoille, a nursing sophomore, said she hopes the increase in classes offered will help her get courses.

"There's never really been enough classes," Devoille said.

She is also in the last group of sophomores to register online, and thinks that will hinder her registration. Sophomores will register after seniors, juniors, and honors students.

Nursing students can speak to advisers in the college if they do not get into the classes they need, Devoille said.

"The nursing college usually lets us come in if it doesn't work out online," she said.

Graduate students do not usually have a problem getting what they need, said Amrita Chugh, an electrical and computer engineering graduate student.

"There are very few grad students and a lot of courses offered," Chugh said.

The only problem with that is sometimes the very specialized courses are dropped due to underenrollment, Chugh said.

Online registration started for undergraduate seniors on Oct. 18. Registration began this past

weekend for juniors and honors students, and continues through Friday.

Sophomores register Nov. 1-7, and freshmen Nov. 8-14. After Nov. 14, WebReg is open for all students.