Budget limits course choices

After several cuts to UCLA’s budget over the last few
years, some students and staff say the effects are creating
difficulty getting into courses.

The combined effect of decreased staff and courses offered,
along with increased student fees, has left many students wondering
if they can graduate on time.

Janel Munguia, an undergraduate counselor for the English
department, explained that course offerings were reduced when the
department budget for hiring lecturers was cut.

Munguia cited higher student fees as an exacerbating factor in
course unavailability, with students taking more courses each
quarter in order to graduate quicker.

“Besides there being fewer courses, more students are
taking more classes. Those two things together make it more
difficult for students to find classes,” she said.

The English department, among others, tries to persuade
professors to accept graduating students onto a waitlist for
courses they need.

But Munguia said the hardest hit by increasingly impacted
courses are transfer students, who register later than others of
the same class level.

Referring to this quarter, she said, “I’ve seen more
students who had to scramble for a class just to make sure they had
enough units (to meet minimum progress requirements).”

Similar problems occurred in the math department, said Tom
Wigitt, undergraduate vice chairman of the department.

Wigitt said budget cuts forced the math department to schedule
20 fewer lectures than last year, because they did not have the
funds to hire as many new temporary faculty as usual.

“There were students who definitely did not get classes
they wanted. In other years, we would have had the resources to
simply add a lecture of whatever course,” he said.

Though Wigitt did add a few courses late in the summer, he said
it was not to the extent that it had been in the past.

Some departments are not as affected by budget cuts because they
can use summer sessions revenue to make up for shortfalls in
budget.

Political science department manager Bret Nighman explained that
departments get a portion of profits made by the university when
they allow international, out-of-state and students from different
universities to take courses at UCLA during the summer.

For political science, an extremely popular department for
summer courses because of its offerings in law and pre-law courses,
this is a significant source of revenue, Nighman said.

“(Political science) probably makes more money than any
other departments in the college in summer sessions,” he
added.

Nighman said the summer sessions money is now being allocated to
compensate for budget losses, rather than hiring visiting faculty
or offering competitive financial aid packages to attract graduate
students. “For many departments (summer sessions revenue) is
what’s keeping us afloat,” he said.

Nighman said the worst effect of budget cuts was having to cut
staff, because existing staff are then forced to do multiple jobs.
He cited his own joint appointment.

“The staff is the foundation that supports the faculty. If
you cut enough of the staff, the foundation will crumble,” he
said.

Nighman added that some professors had begun leaving the
department for other universities that offered greater salaries and
staff support.

Classes in political science were cut when the department could
not hire the visiting faculty they usually do to replace faculty
who leave on sabbatical or for other reasons, he said.

“Some of the classes during the year have been cut.
Unfortunately that means that many students are having to go to
summer school to get the classes they need,” he said,
explaining that taking summer courses adds significantly to the
cost of education.

Patricia O’Brien, executive dean of the UCLA College, said
she had not heard any reports that budget cuts were affecting
students in a such a negative way.

“It was not the intention of any of the leadership that
this would in any way negatively impact students,” she said.
“I would like to know if that is the case.”

O’Brien said the College was protected from cuts that
could have been worse, and only 3.7 percent of the College’s
budget was cut while the system saw a 6 percent cut.

“I do feel this campus has been able to cushion itself
against hardships that other UCs haven’t been able to protect
themselves from,” she said.

The College has been offsetting cuts with private dollars, and
is hoping for relief during this academic year. The compact made
with the governor and the chancellor’s fundraising efforts
are expected to provide this relief, O’Brien said.

“It is my fervent commitment that these cuts should not
make students’ (abilities) to access curriculum more
difficult,” she said.

O’Brien said if budget cuts are resulting in difficulty
with getting into courses or meeting degree requirements on time,
she urges students to contact her. “I need to know if
that’s happening,” she said.

O’Brien added that the College was dealing with cuts in a
very short time frame, and that it was difficult to know its
effects on students.

Stephanie Ingvaldson, a fourth-year economics and international
developmental studies student, said she was counting on an
economics course to help her fulfill a requirement for both her
majors, but that it was cancelled at the last minute.

“Without it, I’m going to be stuck here another
year. And that’s a lot of money,” she said.

Ingvaldson added there were few course offerings that counted
toward both of her majors, which she needed to not go over her
maximum unit allocation.

While courses are cancelled independently of budgetary reasons,
Ingvaldson said she believed the university should take limited
course offerings into account when considering the unit
maximum.

“They tell you to graduate in four years, but they make it
impossible if they keep on cutting classes,” she said.

Yan Falkinstein, a fourth-year sociology student, said he was
not worried about graduating on time, but that limited course
offerings and impacted courses forced him to take courses he did
not want to take just to fulfill requirements and fill his
schedule.

“It seems like we’re paying more these days for less
education,” he said.

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