As the fall semester comes to an end, registration for the spring semester commenced a few weeks ago. As per usual, students struggled to register for the courses needed to cross the stage in four years. Students who had a late registration time were waitlisted for most of their courses, putting them off track. Sonoma State does not offer an adequate amount of sections for required courses and is changing the four-year college experience to five. Students are forced to register for winter and summer courses, placing them deeper into debt. The four-year college experience has become extremely difficult to obtain and is a rarity in 2019.
When asked about registering for courses, Dance and Communications major Giulie Bermudez said: “I had to stay a fifth year because certain classes were not offered every semester and others I just wasn’t able to get into.” She went on to say, “My times and days have never been the greatest even though I have taken a bunch of units. It doesn’t help that the communications major is extremely impacted.”
Not only are classes extremely impacted, but they are also often not even offered. Some may say this is partially due to funding, but when 8,868 students are paying $7,880 dollars per year it seems that there should be a plethora of classes to register for. Instead, students are forced to beg for enrollment codes starting their junior year due to waitlist placements. Pressure has been placed on Sonoma State and the Office of Registrar to hire more staff and schedule a wider range of sections.
According to a second-year student who wishes to remain anonymous, “The most frustrating thing about Sonoma State University would have to be the budget cuts. Due to the budget cuts the amount of classes offered are limited and there are campus closures and furlough days throughout the semester. This makes it difficult to graduate in 4 years.” They continued to say “The furlough days make classes more challenging because it is up to the students to teach themselves to make up for days off that teachers are forced to take periodically.”
When students ask counselors about the lack of available courses, they are often told that there is nothing to be done or there is no comment. The counselors, however, are not to blame for the lack of courses, but the Office of Registrar who have not been thinking of the 8,698 students who need to graduate on time. Many students have contemplated transferring to private universities in order to earn their degree in four years. Sonoma State has a ways to go if they wish to keep their students around and content.
“The average undergraduate takes between five and six years to complete a degree,” According to The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Though this may be normal, it is costing students and families more, causing more stress, and can even make people feel ashamed for taking longer than some of their peers.
It is understandable that the school has struggled in the past in regards to hiring qualified professors due to budget cuts. However, when students are paying for their tuition they should be able to enroll in the necessary courses to graduate in a reasonable amount of time. The Sonoma State Budget needs to be adjusted in order to accommodate its large population of students who are in school to earn a degree. It is that simple. Sonoma State is lacking when it comes to supporting its students academically and needs to do better.
