The student-teacher ratio at ASU West has soared with the campus' recent surge in enrollment, rising from 22-to-1 in 2001 to 30-to-1 this year - with totals as high as 36-to-1 in some colleges.
That gives ASU West one of the highest student-teacher ratios in the university system, according to preliminary enrollment figures for the semester.
In the past two years, the campus student population ballooned 34 percent, from 4,226 full-time students in 2001 to a preliminary total of 5,675 for fall 2003. The increase coincided with the arrival of freshmen and sophomores but extended across all classes.
At one time, ASU West prided itself on small classes and an intimate feel, but those days also brought delayed graduations and congested classrooms, students said.
"All our classrooms are really crowded," said Love Tate, an elementary education senior. "We had to search other classrooms for chairs and some students didn't have tables."
Global business senior Alfredo Peralta also experienced the chair shortage.
"My marketing class has about 60 people in it already, and the instructor keeps giving overrides so people can get their required classes," he said. "We had to steal chairs or people would have been sitting on the floor."
Professors also noticed the changed environment.
"It's becoming harder to receive the individualized instruction West students have come to expect," said communication studies professor Dianne Gruber. "And because of that, students need to take responsibility for their education, to be proactive and to let the Legislature know that higher education needs more funding."
Another communication studies professor, Jeffrey Kassing, said increased class sizes affect the learning environment.
"Crowding in classes is obvious to students and faculty, but I think the subtle ways in which it affects the learning environment need to be considered," Kassing said.
"During one of my courses, the room temperature reached an unbearable level about 45 minutes into a three-hour evening course. There's not much a professor can do to accommodate for this," he added.
West campus' influx of students also puts the squeeze on class availability as students compete to register for limited upper-division courses, sometimes required classes with only one offering per semester.
"I've had a difficult time scheduling classes," said communication studies senior Brandon Klippel. "One offering of a core class per semester doesn't cater to students who can't pre-register because of work requirements, and if you don't pre-register, you don't get your classes."
Global business junior Emily Sporie said she had to delay her graduation because required courses were full.
"I've had to push back my gradation because I couldn't get a class that was only offered once a week," she said.
For recreation and tourism senior Chris Scheffer, the problem lies in getting lower division lab classes reserved for freshmen and sophomores.
"My adviser told me to take my lower division lab at GCC because freshmen and sophomores get preference, and I wouldn't get in," said Scheffer.
However, relief may be in sight. According to ASU West Provost Elaine Maimon, next year's budget includes funding for 40 new professors, with an additional 40 the following year.
This article was published via an agreement with the West Express, the student publication at ASU West.
