Breathing room: Is PSU getting too crowded?

Many Portland State students can probably relate to stories of running across campus after learning that a class was moved at the last minute, staying up late with their Odin accounts open waiting for a seat to open in a full class, or simply finding a seat in a crowded classroom.

Well, this year, the pinch is getting worse.

Since fall term of the 2007-08 academic year, total enrollment at Portland State has increased by nearly 2,000 students.

While this may come as a surprise to many at students PSU, the administration saw the swell on the horizon months ahead of time—the Office of Institutional Research and Planning actively studies enrollment trends and predicts the number of students set to enroll each year.

“They give us pretty good predictions, so by summertime we know about how many students will show up in September,” Roy W. Koch, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said.

The administration

According to Koch, the administration used the predictions and planned the 2008-09 academic year to accommodate the increase. “Specifically, we scheduled for more University Studies sections, and then we set aside some money to create new sections as demand rose throughout the year,” Koch said.

Koch explained that PSU has really focused on efficiency over the past few years. “We’ve gotten more effective at scheduling appropriate sized classes in appropriate sized classrooms. We use our buildings more efficiently than any other Oregon university,” Koch said.

Although Koch said the physical expansion of a university campus in an urban environment isn’t easy, PSU has been buying and leasing space around campus to move classes into as they renovate older buildings, such as Lincoln Hall, to ultimately increase capacity, he said.

“Over the last few years we’ve acquired a couple of buildings in the neighborhood to deal with the growth,” Koch said, “like the Unitus Building and the Market Square Building.”

The Oregon University System creates long-term enrollment projections and tracks enrollment trends for use in budgetary planning and other accommodations, using the following factors to determine future enrollment: -Term-to-term and year-to-year retention rates -Anticipated enrollment changes from academic program and admission policy changes -Historical patterns of enrollment of transfer and returning students -Final fall enrollment figures -Applications and admissions for the coming fall term -Oregon high school graduation figures, K-12 enrollment as well as K-12 demographics -This information can be found at www.ous.edu/factreport/enroll

 

What students think

Some students on campus, however, have noticed the crowdedness, primarily in the classroom.

“The classes definitely seem more crowded this year,” Nick Durighello, sophomore, said, “but just walking around I haven’t noticed that much of a difference.”

Kinsey Keller, a second-year graduate student, had a similar perspective. “I’ve definitely had some full classes this year, and one class I have didn’t even have enough computers or chairs for the people registered,” Keller said.

Durighello and Keller also related stories of students who had trouble registering this term because many classes filled up quickly.

“I didn’t have any trouble registering, but a know that a lot of people that registered late couldn’t get in,” Kinsey said.

“They did away with the yellow waiting list forms this term, and so like eight of us couldn’t join this class that we needed,” Nick Durighello, a sophomore, said.

The future

The Oregon University System does long-term enrollment projections, and according to their Web site, PSU will only enroll an additional 1,000 students between now and 2013.

“Demographically, the long-term prediction doesn’t expect extreme growth over the next few years,” Koch said.

Koch explained that the jump in enrollment could be related to the global economic situation.

“Historically when the economy is bad more people choose to go back to school,” he said, “As it became clear that the economy wasn’t doing as well as before, our enrollment went up.”

As the economic situation worsens and a fog of uncertainty envelops the markets, the administration is developing an enrollment management plan to deal with the possibility of more growth.

“When it’s difficult to find jobs people use it as an opportunity to change direction and change skills,” Koch said.

Even as more students apply and are accepted to PSU, Koch said he believes that the university has the capacity to accommodate the increase.

“We would like to provide a university education to every qualified student,” Koch concluded.