Growing up in Sweden, journalism major Kim Nordlund always dreamt of living in Los Angeles. As a member of the Cal State Long Beach’s University Study at the Beach program, Nordlund got her chance this year, but the struggle to find classes may force her to return home earlier than planned.
International students who attend CSULB through the University Study at the Beach (USB) Program are barred from preregistering for classes, according to the program’s website.
Instead, they are required to go to classes on the first day and hope to find open seats. In order to retain their F-1 international student status, international students are required to register for a minimum of 12 units.
However, between the shortage of classes and severe cuts to the school’s budget, finding the classes Nordlund needs has not been an easy task.
“We were told the program could not assure us that we would get all the classes we wanted, so I was pretty clear about that,” Nordlund said. “But the problem has been getting any classes.”
According to David Dowell, vice provost for planning and budgets and director of strategic planning, the overall number of students on campus has increased by 1,500 this semester.
“We accepted more students because we will be closed to spring admissions and because of the fee revenue that additional students bring,” Dowell said.
According to Dowell, adding students in such a situation a few years ago may have posed an issue, but with recent cuts to state funding, revenues from student registration fees actually help avoid extreme measures, including layoffs.
Dowell said that while this year’s waitlists for classes have been no longer than usual, there have been classes in such departments as biology, physics, chemistry, math and family and consumer sciences that have had waitlists of 50 or more students.
Jinam Park, a senior community health education major and international student from South Korea, said though he is not part of the USB Program, he saw signs of the student increase first-hand in his health science 301 class.
“There were over 20 people lined up trying to add the class,” Park said.
Maryam Abdulahi, a freshman anthropology major, said she was also concerned by the number of people waiting to add classes.
“I was lucky because I got all the classes that I wanted,” Abdulahi said, “but when I saw the number of [students trying to add], I thought, ‘That might be me next semester or next year,’ and that got me kind of scared.”
According to Dowell, Abdulahi’s concerns are not unwarranted. The university may face severe shortage of classes in the future if Proposition 30 does not pass, Dowell said.
Prop. 30 includes Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative, which maintains funding to California school systems. If the initiative doesn’t pass, the CSU would take a $250 million trigger cut to its budget.