Increased enrollment puts stress on classes, dorms
By AMANDA GRECO
News Writer
When University President Father Edward Malloy addressed the Faculty Senate last month, he cited improved financial aid as the reason rising enrollment rates have been difficult to gauge.
"There is no deliberate effort to increase the undergrad student body," Malloy said. "We are trying to hold the line as much as possible."
However, that line is wavering and the effects are being felt throughout the University.
James Riley, undergraduate admissions counselor, explained the process the University uses to determine the number of students it will accept and how many of those accepted are expected to attend each year. All figures are based on data collected from the previous years' admission statistics.
"In the last 5 years, approximately 33 to 34 percent of all applicants were accepted. On average — and this has been consistent over the last 15 years — 55 to 56 percent of those accepted have confirmed," Riley said. "But that figure rose one or two percentage points one year ago." As more students have been financially able to attend in recent years, the figures from the past years have become less and less accurate.
This rise in actual number of confirmed attendees has resulted in difficulties with housing, maintaining small class sizes, keeping the student/faculty ratio low and each college's ability to offer enough sections of required seminars.
One of the smallest ripples caused by this increase concerns the housing of students. "Some dorms have had to turn study lounges into rooms for a semester or so," Riley said. "But for the most part, it isn't too large a problem. Notre Dame has the country's highest percentage of students studying abroad at 38 percent; really it doesn't matter how many we over-admit because so many are overseas," Riley concluded.
Within the colleges, though, the numbers are starting to rise.
According to Eileen Kolman, dean of First Year of Studies, though the number of students in each class is within one percent of the target, the excess does place a strain on planning. "There are limits to the curriculum and classes, and I don't want to see us continue the upward trend that has been seen over the last several years," Kolman said.
Kolman commended her office's ability to steady the number of students in certain courses. "I am pleased that we have been able to maintain a small class size," Kolman said. According to Kolman, all writing and seminar courses have been kept at 19 students per class.
"I feel the University is serious about trying to keep a lid on it [enrollment]," Kolman added.
Riley also praised the efforts of the First Year of Studies office as they have dealt with rising numbers. "The office of the First Year of Studies frown upon us in admissions," he said. "They have to manage larger English classes and other required courses. But they have made a fine effort in keeping the maximum number of of students at 19 for English courses and 24 for foreign languages," Riley added.
The College of Arts and Letters seems to have been hit the hardest by this increase in the student body. Mark Roche, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, admits that the College is "definitely feeling the pressure of larger enrollment."
"The College has been trying to address this issue and that of the larger class sizes independent of the increasing number of students," Roche said. "It has been a challenge."
Within the College of Arts and Letters, great strides have been made to assure that classes are being taught by Teaching and Research professors. According to Roche, 100 percent of all University seminars are taught by so-called "T&R" professors.
"The real strain is on Core," Roche said, referring to the Ideas,Values and Images course required of all sophomore Arts and Letters majors.
The College is aiming to have 50 percent of all Core classes be taught by T&R professors by next year.
Though the student/faculty ratio remains at 12:1 by the admissions office's estimates, it is uncertain how long this will remain so low.
As the class sizes increase, the average faculty teaching load by college is being decreased. Malloy pointed to this decrease in course load per professor as one of the greatest variables in managing the increased enrollment. The administration is trying to combat this offset, however.
"In accordance with the colloquy document, the faculty has been increasing by 10 to 15 members every year," Malloy said. "It is projected to continue to grow from here."
The College of Arts and Letters has received most of the benefits of a larger faculty to aid in their attempts at lowering the number of courses taught by adjuncts.
"In the fall of `97, 18 percent of classes were taught by adjuncts." Roche said. "That is too high for a school of Notre Dame's standing."
By the fall of `98, that percentage was reduced to nine and continued to drop over the following years. At the start of this academic year, only seven percent of classes were headed by adjuncts. However, with the necessary increase in the number of classes offered, the task at hand is still difficult, Roche added.
Roche is hopeful that these problems will soon level out. He advocates "enrollment management," a call to all departments to have a minimal number of students enrolled in higher level courses. Roche feels that urging the faculty to justify the numbers of enrollment in higher level courses will assure the availability of more professors to teach at the lower level.
Meanwhile, in an effort to curb the rising rate of enrollment, the University is trying to develop "more precise figures," according to Malloy. "We're trying to push in the dynamic between the administration, financial aid and the registrar to tighten up the numbers within each class," he added.
Malloy does not feel, however, that this problem is specific to Notre Dame.
"Every university is struggling with the same reality of an increase in the number of people wanting to attend college," Malloy said. "We've done well compared to our peer institutions in paying attention to the undergraduate learning environment and keeping manageable class sizes a high priority," he concluded.
There has been no talk of significantly increasing the size of the undergraduate student body. However, Riley does expect that the number of applicants will continue to rise over the coming years, as will the SAT and ACT scores of those applying. "We will continue to try to pick the best of the best," he said.
All News Stories for Monday, November 20, 2000
