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.