Put a cap on unit shopping

Having trouble registering for next semester’s classes? You’re not alone. President Linda Lacey has proposed a new plan that would cap the amount of units a student could sign up for at one time. This plan, with some minor changes, would have a positive impact on registering for classes by allowing more students to sign up for the classes they need.

Along with enrollment increasing and the number of classes being offered decreasing, there is another obstacle forcing many students into crashing the classes they need. The problem is students that hoard classes by signing up for more units than they plan on taking and then eventually dropping the classes they feel are going to be too hard, time consuming or simply inconvenient.  

These hoarders take up spots in classes they will not stay in, forcing the class availability to close and those seeking to enroll to join the waitlist and crash the class at the beginning of the semester.

Lacey’s plan to cap the number of units one could sign up for during registration would be a vast leap forward in helping those with later registration times sign up for classes they need.

As of now, the details of the proposal are still in development, but the general idea is that students will have an initial registration time in which they can sign up for up to 16 units and then must wait to sign up for any more units.

While incomplete, this idea is a good start. The best way to go about this process would be to continue to delegate registration time by seniority and participation in certain programs, but keep the cap at 15 or even 12 units.

Allow students one to two weeks from their registration date to sign up for these units in an initial round of registration. Once all current students have registered for their first set of classes, fully open the registration to everyone again, along with new students, to sign up for the remaining units they desire.

This will prevent the hoarding of classes by those with earlier registration times and allow those with later registration times to sign up for classes they need as well.  It will also keep the current priority system for program members and in-season athletes.

To all you hoarders out there, your days are numbered, hopefully. Do your research on which professors you want to take, which classes fit your schedule, and which courses you need rather than want.  You will no longer be able to cheat the system, and the rest us by greedily signing up for six classes, staying in three and dropping the other three two months into the semester.

 

2 comments

Joseph M.

Mon Jan 4 2010 16:55

A unit cap would be a detriment to the Science majors at Cerritos College. As a Chemistry major, I consistently take a large load of classes, but I do not drop out. I am a sophomore who has completed 53 units, and I have not dropped out of any classes so far. This editorial seems to be written against all students who take a large amount of classes, when the major problem students are the students who sign up for a class with no intent to complete it, or the students who drop out at the first sign of a low grade. What Cerritos needs is some sort of algorithm to decide how likely a student is to drop out, and based on this, award units. There shouldn't be a punishment for taking many units and persevering. There needs to be some consequence to dropping out, besides a "W".

Eli B

Mon Dec 28 2009 10:49

I think that this might be a little extreme. Yes there are students who do the above mentioned, but there are also students that only take units they need and actually complete all the classes they sign up for. I, for one, take only classes i need to transfer out and i am also not one to waste time. Therefore I take more units to reach my goal faster. This system as mentioned cripples the students who strive to reach the university quickly. If this type of system is put into effect there must also be a type of waiver associated with it where students, like myself, can take as many classes as they can handle and at the same time sign a document of accountability. If the student takes on a bigger load than the system you mention allows by using the waiver and does not complete all the coursework, they should be penalized the following semester by receiving a late registration date regardless of seniority.

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