The Associated Students held their weekly meeting on Friday to discuss options for improving class availability and ideas that would benefit the students at Sonoma State University.
“Sonoma State University has the most frustrating registration process. I don’t understand why the already existing students are unable to receive the classes they need to graduate, yet the school continues to have one of the highest acceptance rates out of the CSUs,” said James, a senior whose name has been changed at his request.
During the Associated Students meeting, a presentation and discussion were held about the university’s class availability for students. Students are unaware of many of the financial aspects that come into play when accepting new students into the university.
It was said that the enrollment target for next year at Sonoma State University will be 7,720 full-time students. This means that Sonoma State University must come up with an amount of students that they believe will be full-time students the following year; ensuring that they get use out of the school’s budget and do not exceed it.
“This past registration has been one of the most difficult for me to get into classes that are necessary for my major and this is my seventh time registering for classes,” said senior Amber Postler. “I do not even have sufficient units to be a full-time student, which I have to be in order to receive financial aid. However, I hate the idea of adding a random class simply to fulfill the unit requirement because it would quite literally be a waste of time.”
“As of right now, I only have 10 units through the school,” said Elizabeth, a sophomore whose name has been changed at her request.
Elizabeth expressed the concern that she is not the only student to experience such difficulties. There are many who believe the school must lower their acceptance rate to allow the existing students an opportunity to get the classes they need to graduate on time.
“I know a lot of people who have left this school because they can’t get classes,” said Elizabeth. “I even sent out transfer applications last semester.”
During the meeting it was noted that the school actually receives financial benefits for enrolling more students.
“If the campus wanted to take the money from the students, they would push the unit load to only nine units,” said Erik Dickson, who attended the meeting.
Dickson followed up, saying that if the unit cap was only nine units, Sonoma State University would receive the leftover money. However, this is not the case.
“I’m still undeclared because I have been trying to get into the [Kinesiology] department for two different semesters now and they have rejected me,” said Elizabeth.
Admissions and Records stated that some of the most impacted majors at Sonoma State University are nursing, communications, kinesiology, biology, and psychology. Therefore, many students in these majors have a difficult time getting the classes that they need to graduate within four years.
“I can’t even recommend talking to advisors,” said James.
“I’ve already talked to seven advisors,” said Elizabeth.
“I know technically a lot of it is not [the school’s] fault because they don’t have the money or the space for it, but it has been very frustrating because I was hoping to be declared by my sophomore year,” said Elizabeth.
“I try to understand that there are a lot of students and not enough classes but that makes it even more annoying. With the amount that students are paying for a college education, I feel like we should be offered a greater amount of classes; not less,” said Postler.
The Associated Students are going to try their best to show the Sonoma State University student body what goes on behind the scenes regarding class availability and units. They understand that the student body does not get to see the process it takes to make the schedule and the available classes. They are hopeful that if the students have that knowledge, things will begin to look up.
“I just hope registering for my fifth year won’t be so ridiculous and I can get the classes I need so I can graduate next spring,” said Postler.
Another topic that was mentioned in the meeting is that many students prefer taking classes Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The amount of students that go to Sonoma State cannot receive all the classes they need in that time.
There are a variety of classes that are held on Fridays and there are many night classes that are available as well. Students who wish to graduate on time are encouraged to look into the classes that are held on Fridays or at unconventional times.
