The university has experienced an increase in enrollment from last year reporting that 15,602 students started college this semester as opposed to 15,414 students last fall. While the increase in enrollment only amounts to 188 students, over the past three years, the number of students attending this university has increased. With budgets shrinking, faculty layoffs and the seemingly limited space on this campus, I have to wonder if this trend poses serious threats to Southeastern.
From fiscal year 2008/09 to now, the university’s budget has been cut $39.4 million and the end does not seem in sight. The affect of the cuts has been apparent, resulting in cutbacks.
While I may be the only one drawing this connection right now, with less money, less faculty, less services and more students the potential for larger class sizes, less available parking spots and crowding in the already tight spaces of the university might become a much bigger problem.
I am proud that Southeastern is one of the most affordable university’s in the state, despite all of the monetary difficulties. This fact is why more students are enrolling and credit goes to the professors who now have to teacher larger classes. However, if this trend continues and Southeastern experiences more growth, this situation might not be easy to rectify.
At what point must we stop just making classes larger? At what point can professors and instructors no longer provide the same service to students? I am not sure that I have answers to all these questions, but I know they are some we all need to be thinking about.
More money might not fix the situation and maybe it is too early to even call this a problem. While I may have provided more questions than I did answers, the situation is no less becoming a reality.