A ‘magic number’ for enrollment does not exist, according to Lupardus.
By: Sam Roy
Asst. News Editor
“From the moment students begin to register, we begin to look at [the number of] enrollments, but no decision is made,” Provost Carol Lupardus said.
From the very beginning, STLCC staff and faculty are monitoring which students are enrolling in what courses.
“There is no magic number,” Lupardus said.
Enrollment Services does not look at numbers as a sole determinator of which courses are dropped. However, there are some criteria that is considered during the decision making process
“We make sure there are plenty of students in the class and that they have a good interaction and we’re watching the rosters if the student needs that course for graduation purposes,” Acting Business and Communications Dean Julie Fickas said.
There are special cases when a course is considered being dropped.
“If there are multiple sections with multiple seats, then one section may be dropped,” Lupardus said.
These are important factors that are considered when the decision day comes.
“The past few semesters it has been the Wednesday before the day classes begin when final decisions are made,” Lupardus said.
Recently, students and instructors have been informed of their class’ status at most a week in advance.
“Students have days in advance to rework their schedules,” Fickas said.
When a course is dropped, Enrollment Services does everything they can to assist that student.
“We want our students to be able meet the requirements they need to meet for transfer purposes or for their graduation purposes, and we are looking for other courses that would meet that same need,” Fickas said.
The enrollment offices attempt to make any compromise for those students with dropped classes.
“A student is welcome to attend a class at any of the campuses, they are not restricted to finding a class here and it is up to whatever their schedule allows them to take,” Lupardus said.
Fickas also added onto that thought.
“If that course is canceled, is there a similar course, or the same course offered at a different time or location? This is what we try to find,” Fickas said.
The offices try to contact students by email when a course from their schedule is dropped.
“Students are automatically emailed when that course has been dropped and they need to be checking their STLCC email account, not their personal [account],” Fickas said.
The offices also try to reach students by telephone. “Departments are going to be
calling that student and offering them some other suggestions and trying to help to figure out where they should go next,” Fickas said.
Lupardus said the ultimate goal is to help students achieve.
“Our number one goal is to help the student as much as possible and meet that requirement, and our faculty and advisors want to help those students find the right classes,” Lupardus said.
Fickas explained what students need to do in order to ease their rescheduling process.
“Three things that will definitely help a student are [to] make sure Banner account is updated, that they are watching their STLCC email, and they need to talk to someone.”
Lupardus and Fickas said the last outcome the enrollment office wants is to turn away a student or leave them behind.
“Don’t be discouraged — because we’re gonna help you find a course that meets your requirements,” said Lupardus.
