Utah Valley Community College officials say that things are getting to be pretty general these days.
Or at least in the type of classes students want to take.School officials say the demand for general education classes for fall semester is nearly double what it was for fall quarter 1989. In fact requests for general-education classes are so great that many classes are full and officials are scrambling to find alternative ways of meeting the student demand.
Nancy Smith, director of institutional research and strategic planning, reports that 1,923 students indicated on fall applications that their intended major at UVCC is general studies. In fall 1989, only 1,063 students applied as general-studies students. Smith said the nature of UVCC is changing, and every year more students are majoring in general studies.
"I think the days of having more vocational-technical students than generalstudies students are over," Smith said.
Registration for fall semester has been sluggish and officials are concerned that the number of general-education classes already full may be causing the slow registration. With school starting Aug. 29, only about 5,000 students have registered and school officials are expecting about 8,000 students.
Six American heritage and 28 English classes are filled. For those American heritage classes, 1,165 students requested enrollment and 184 were accepted. In the English classes, 1,932 requests for enrollment were made and 648 were accepted. Most of the full classes are held between 8 a.m. and noon.
"There's a good 3,000 students yet to register and these sections are already full," UVCC President Kerry Romesburg said. "We don't know how many students are getting frustrated that we are losing in this process."
Students are also registering for fewer classes as indicated by the decrease in the full-time student equivalent, a figure that measures the number of credit hours taken by students as compared to full-time status. The full-time equivalent for fall quarter 1989 was 5,067. It is currently at about 3,600 for the upcoming semester.
Romesburg said if the decrease in the number of credit hours continues, the school will lose needed tuition revenue and future state funding.
"When we turn away students because we don't have access, we're also reducing funding and it could keep steamrolling," he said.
Romesburg said one reason the full-time equivalent is down is because more BrighamYoung University students are taking one or two general-education classes at UVCC while attending BYU. He said this is putting added pressure on the demand for general-education classes and may be discouraging many of UVCC's degree-seeking students from registering.
In an attempt to meet the general-education demand and to ensure that students are not being turned away from UVCC, Romesburg said measures will be taken to provide more classes. New sections in English and other general-education areas have been opened. These sections are not listed in the catalog, and students can find out when and where the classes are held by calling the registration help line.
Also for the first time, the Provo campus is being used for general-education purposes and students can take a full general-education schedule without coming to Orem. Romesburg said class sizes will be increased and classes overbooked with the expectation that many students will drop classes when they later shuffle their schedule.
Many afternoon and evening classes are available and Romesburg said students need to take classes through the entire day. He said officials are considering offering a tuition reduction in the future for students taking afternoon classes.
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(Chart)
Shift in studies
Vocational-technical and general studies enrollemtn comparison fall quaters
Vocational/Technical General Studies
1985 67% 33%
1986 63% 37%
1987 57% 43%
1988 54% 46%
1989 50% 50%
Summer
1990 47% 53%