Departments try to combat cuts in budgets, classes

Editor's Note: This is the first in a three-part series on class registration.

Although class registration is still in progress, many students registered for classes weeks ago with their advisers instead of via WebReg because budget cuts and other factors are forcing departments to regulate registration more closely.

Jerry Hogle, vice provost of instruction, said high-demand departments, such as political science and theatre arts, are manually registering students for their core classes this semester rather than using WebReg.

He said the change came in response to several complaints from students in the past who could not get into classes required for their majors.

"The central administration has not stopped this practice of hand-registering majors first because it helps many students get the classes they need to graduate without excessive competition from non-majors," Hogle said.

Manual registration, used by departments such as journalism, media arts, communications, English, theatre arts and psychology, requires students to schedule an appointment with their advisers, where they sign up for core classes. Courses outside their major must be picked up online via WebReg.

Jeffery Warburton, associate director of the School of Theatre Arts, said in the past, non-majors have signed up for theatre arts classes, thus limiting the number of majors who could get into the course. The in-person registration method ensures students who are majors get into required courses so they may graduate on time, Warburton said.

But while some say in-person registration is needed in a time of class shortages and budget cuts, others believe restricting non-majors will prevent students from gaining a well-rounded education.

Budget woes continue

Doug Weiner, professor and academic adviser for the history department, said departments have to limit non-majors because of the disparity between the increasing number of students and the amount of classes available.

"The reason for that is we are understaffed in terms of majors...there was a point when we had a roster of 35 professors - we currently have 27," Weiner said. "(It's) a consequence of the slow, unrelenting de-funding of the history department."

The journalism department has also seen an increase in enrollment, up 17 percent in the last year, said Paul Johnson, senior academic adviser for journalism.

"Every department I know is struggling to meet student demand," Johnson said. "That's why we have to impose restrictions on our classes...until the university receives more funding, few of the departments have the resources to meet student demand."

Over the summer, UA President Peter Likins announced budget cuts of $6.2 million, which impacted all departments. The 2 percent across-the-board cuts were partly due to an increase in employee health and retirement costs not covered by the state.

Hogle said it is difficult to move instructional dollars to academic areas fast enough to hire qualified faculty to teach high-demand majors, but under the restructured Finance Committee, a group responsible recommending where funds go, the UA is trying to improve the process.

Although the university has faced substantial budget losses since 2001-$46 million in state funds from 2001 to 2003 in addition to this year's $12 million cut-the UA is making an effort to impact non-academic areas as opposed to instructional programs.

Hogle said this means colleges are looking to operational savings, such as decreasing office space and limiting photocopying, to prevent cutting into funds for instruction.

"We want to give students the best and most accessible instructional program we can," Hogle said. "We are doing our very best to do that in the face of unstable state budgets and college-based budgeting."

UA Provost George Davis said despite the budget cuts, he is happy that no classes have been eliminated for next semester because administrators and college deans planned in advance for instructional needs.

"What we're so pleased about is that we've provided a full offering of courses for this fall and we are set up for the spring semester because of planning with college deans to project what the needs would be," Davis said.

But Rami Afshar, a pre-nursing sophomore, said the limited class availability is costing her time and money.

Afshar said she needs three classes in the spring to fulfill requirements before getting into the College of Nursing, but one class only has one section while another is only offered in the fall.

Afshar, who is an out-of-state student whose scholarship only lasts four years, said the class discrepancy is forcing her to take courses at Pima Community College, which will not give her time to work during the week.

"It's really screwing up my whole semester," Afshar said. "It affects everyone in more ways than one; not only classes, but more time, more money, everything."

Stifling 'intellectual curiosity'

William Dixon, head of the political science department, said the new registration method is working reasonably well to ensure majors and minors get the classes they need.

However, in limiting the number of non-majors who can get into courses, Weiner worries that intellectually curious students will be completely closed out.

"Let's look at the intellectual side of the coin," Weiner said. "There we are failing a larger student community."

Although most departments open any remaining seats in a class to general students who meet prerequisites, Weiner said seats usually fill up fast with majors.

Because only a limited number of seats, if any, are open to non-majors in certain classes, Chris Piper, a pre-business freshman, said he feels restricted in the courses he can take.

"I'm stuck with a bunch of classes I'm not really interested in," Piper said.

Lucy Saldana, a public health junior, said she wanted to take an art history course but hasn't been able to get in for years.

"Other students should have access (to those classes)," Saldana said. "A lot of students like to explore and learn something new."

Mark Smith, head of the chemistry department, said his department has not needed to turn to manual registration, and he permits any qualified student to get into the courses they desire.

"It is my firm belief to allow any eligible student who wishes a chemistry course to have access to that course in the semester they want it," Smith said.

But for other departments, the continuing budget cuts have forced them to even close their minor programs, Davis said.

Departments such as journalism, communications and media arts have temporarily suspended entry into their minor programs due to the class shortage. Existing minors will be allowed to complete their required courses.

Insufficiencies in online registration

In-person registration has become more popular not only to give majors priority to their core classes, but also to verify students signing up for certain classes meet the prerequisites, said Diana Leonard, an adjunct lecturer and adviser for the communication department.

Leonard said the current registration system is ineffective as it does not recognize if a student has fulfilled the perquisites to be a in a course since WebReg allows any student to register for almost any course.

"The UA registration system does not work effectively for the needs of the departments," Leonard said.

Brett Bendickson, support systems analyst at the Center for Computing and Information Technology, said WebReg is technically capable of blocking students from classes, but he said prerequisites are more of a policy question, rather than a technology question, and changes could create additional problems.

WebReg, which was launched in January 2001, replaced class registration via telephone, a method used since 1989.

The WebReg system won't be modified because, in some instances, it is acceptable for students to take a course twice or sign up for an upper division outside of their major, Bendickson said.

Another reason WebReg won't be enhanced is because with every new feature added to WebReg, the performance of the system would be slowed down, eventually making the system unusable, Bendickson said.

Amanda Cheromiah, a psychology freshman, said she prefers WebReg to in-person registration because it is quick, easy and accessible from anywhere.

But Larry Evers, head of the English department, said they use in-person registration not due to financial reasons, but because one-on-one advising helps students better understand their options and develop their own "pathways" through the major.

Scott Schatz, a psychology junior who registered for core course through an adviser, said in-person registration is helpful, but the class shortages will continue to be a problem for majors, minors and non-majors.

"The solution is to have more teachers, but it's not really feasible," Schatz said.