Full Classes Push Some Students Out

PALM DESERT – Enrollment at College of the Desert is higher than ever, up nearly 10 percent from last spring. This is a problem for many students when it comes to getting the classes they need.

Students out number desks, but they’re learning to improvise. In one classroom, two students share a desk and another student squats against the wall.

“Classes are full, like 50 people in a class,” says student, Nicole Seward.

Enrollment at College of the Desert is at an all time high and the budget is at an all time low. This semester, the school lost an additional 800 thousand dollars and still gained hundreds of new students.

“That means we are educating students and the state is not funding us for about 800 to 1,000 students,” says John Loera, C.O.D Dean of Enrollment.

Leaders eliminated the winter and summer sessions and cut about 85 classes from the Spring semester. Now, students struggle to get the classes they need. Nicole Seward only got three of the five classes she hoped to take. Now, she’ll wait to take the others in the Fall which delays her graduation plan.

“I just want to get everything done,” says Seward.

Some students say, it’s their own fault they’re not in the classes they need. It’s because they procrastinated. However, the students who registered early are right on track.

“I got on the computer and registered early,” says Skye Davis, student. ” Websites were crashing because there were so many people registering.”

Yet, Skye did get every class he needed.

“It’s first come, first serve,” says Loera.

This is a good reminder to students looking for Fall classes enrollment starts in May.

“It’s probably going to be worse,” says Loera.

So remember the early bird gets the book-worm.