By Leanna Pankratz (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: May 23, 2012
“It’s the biggest problem I’m facing as a student right now, to be frank,” stated Talia Watson, a third-year UFV student pursuing a Business major and a Psychology minor – incidentally, two of the institution’s most densely enrolled departments, due to their widespread application potential. “Our school is growing very fast, and with growth comes, I hope, the obvious necessity to accommodate more students. There are certain classes I need to complete my major, and there have been three in the last two semesters that I haven’t been able to get into. It’s frustrating when the waitlist is as long as the class.”
Tanya Schiffer, a self-described “would-be nursing student” echoed with a similar sentiment. “I need one more credit to get into the nursing program, and one can imagine my disappointment when the professor made himself clear that no waitlisted students would be allowed a seat. It is hit or miss how many, or if any waitlisted students get into the class, I’ve found. As a result, however, my nursing program goals are on hold for however long it takes me to get this credit. One last credit! I was set to start in fall, but it looks like I’ll have to hold off until winter, or later, if the same situation comes up.”
Unfortunately, the cases of these two students are not uncommon, due to the issue of UFV’s disproportionately long waitlists. Sometimes growing as long as 36 people (the maximum occupancy of a class), and left to the professor’s discretion over which students stay and which go, waitlists have been the source of much student frustration, particularly when it comes to a required course.
Delinah Marples, UFV’s Enrolment Services coordinator, has time-tested views on the matter. “Students will get on a waitlist, and in the meantime they could get the other course that they truly need and want but they don’t remove themselves from that waitlist. Halfway through the semester we could look at [last] winter semester now and it would still show students on waitlists because we don’t clear them off,” she stated. “The majority of students don’t seem to worry about the [classes] that they are on a waitlist for that they don’t have any intention of getting registered into. Which leads to sort of an incorrect impression of the waitlist too. I know a lot of departments are concerned about their large waitlists, but yet they aren’t looking at real numbers.”
According to UFV registrar Al Wiseman, as of last fall, UFV is “106 per cent overenrolled,” and yet remains “serious about [the] small class size policy … That’s not changing.”
UFV’s faculty and administration has certainly not turned a blind eye to the problem, however; several strategies have been tossed around, and some even implemented. “Scheduled registration for this fall is ending earlier than normal by a couple weeks, so what we’re hoping is that by having registration ending earlier there will be a better idea sooner what the waitlists look like and what kind of volume there is. This gives departments time to add more sections or hire faculty to meet demand,” Marples explained. “We’re also looking at implementing an automated waitlist process for Winter 2013.”
It is not a secret that UFV has grown beyond its physical capacity, and the institution certainly shows no signs of compromising its policy on small class sizes. These two features of UFV are in direct conflict with each other, and as time goes by it becomes increasingly imperative for the institution to come to a compromise.
However, it’s important to keep in mind, as Marples says, that “many students sitting on a waitlist have no intention of taking the seat.” Perhaps the only tangible solution for a UFV student at this point is to attend that first day of class. Waitlisted students admitted are generally at the professor’s discretion, and that 36 student waitlist may be deceiving; there is still hope of obtaining a seat, and showing up to class is always a good place to start.
