“It’s getting a little crowded over here,” college spokesman Marc S. Posner joked.
As for the new crowd, though there’s no solid statistical data at this point, “I’ve seen a lot of traditional-age freshmen, and a lot of (older) people come in for retraining,” Posner said. “Our requests for financial aid have gone through the roof.”
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Michael Mello
Orange County Register
CYPRESS There’s a little less breathing room and fewer parking spaces as more students than ever are taking classes at Cypress College.
Nearly 16,600 students had enrolled as of early this week. Just this semester, enrollment jumped more than 13 percent from the 2008 fall semester.
“It’s getting a little crowded over here,” college spokesman Marc S. Posner joked.
Thanks to budget cuts at the state level, the college has been forced to offer 100 fewer class sections this semester, despite the increased enrollment.
“It’s hard to get classes,” freshman and Cypress resident Anabell Hernandez said. “They’re pretty crowded.” Hernandez, 19, a human services student, was able to get most of the classes she needed, except for English.
To be fair to the throng of students trying to enroll in the full class, Hernandez said the teacher asked them each to pick a number.
“I didn’t get the number right,” Hernandez said, “so I didn’t get my English class.”
Still, she figures she won’t have a long-term problem getting in her general education classes before transferring to a California State University campus.
As for the new crowd, though there’s no solid statistical data at this point, “I’ve seen a lot of traditional-age freshmen, and a lot of (older) people come in for retraining,” Posner said. “Our requests for financial aid have gone through the roof.”
That sounds right to Michelle Tovey, 45, of Huntington Beach.
“There’s overflow in my classes. There’s unemployment, so people are going back to school,” she said.
Tovey is an established student at the campus, meaning she got priority in her classes, but she’s seen teachers reluctantly turn other students away.
The teachers “told them to hang in there, and see if people start dropping,” Tovey said.
The school has welcomed the students, and staff is doing everything it can to help smooth out admissions and class changes, but they’re doing so with fewer bodies. The school trimmed about 20 teachers to a faculty of 200, but has had to make deeper cuts to staff.
That means more time in lines for services, but Posner said students have been patient.
“Our students seem to really understand the political environment we’re in … the budget cuts, the fee increases. We’ve obviously had lines for admissions, and by and large, people have been understanding,” he said.
That includes finding a parking spot. Since school opened Aug. 17, overflow parking near the baseball field has had to be used, Posner said.
714-704-3796 or mmello@ocregister.com
Illustration
Caption: Packed rooms like this Spanish class seem to be the norm at Cypress College this fall. Nearly 16,600 had enrolled by early this week, the school’s largest student body ever.
Copyright 2009 The Orange County Register