This semester, low enrollment canceled more than a sixth of all classes. Of the more than one thousand classes offered at Palo Alto, 225 were no longer offered or were “killed”.

Melody Heathcock, a Communications major, described her frustration with a killed class in the past, “I had to wait for, like, the next semester to [take the class].... It really pissed me off.”

Alamo Community College District set the overall target average class size for Palo Alto at 23 in fiscal year 2009. The class size minimum of each program or department varies, with the lowest at six and highest at 23. Low enrollment of below 12 accounted for 21 percent of classes offered, with 4 percent or 56 of those classes saved. When each class within the subject is added to the total for its department, it is hoped that the target average class size assigned to it is made.

Many subjects had a significant reduction in their offerings because of being killed. In Agriculture, only six classes were available and four were killed. Music had the most killed classes, with 50 out of 111 classes zapped, most of which were instrument courses. Administrative Computer Technology had more than half of its courses canceled. Accounting, Arts, Communications, Dance, Economics, Geology, Government and History all had around 30 percent of their courses killed. Of those subjects, History had the highest percentage of classes killed at 37 percent (or 28 out of 76).

The chair of each department cancels classes if they see they are not filling up. They also can go to their dean and ask for a class to be spared. The vice president of Academic Affairs ultimately decides and negotiates keeping low-enrolled classes with deans, chairs and professors.

Dr. Stacey Johnson, vice president of Academic Affairs, said of some of the killed classes, “It could be that they’re elective level or maybe more of the sophomore level, rather than the core curriculum.”

She said it is possible for some core classes to be canceled because of low enrollment, especially those scheduled after 2:00 p.m.

Some professors attempt to pre-empt potential cancellation, Communications Instructor Gregory Pasztor said, “I’ve tried all sorts of combinations.” He describes it as a “vicious circle” where canceled classes mean fewer students sign up in a subject because of fewer classes offered, resulting in low enrollment.

Killed classes can also affect students who need to be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours in order to keep financial aid. If classes they signed up for are canceled, they have to find a replacement course to meet that 12-hour requirement. Some students take classes for pure interest over more basic classes that fill the same credit. Business Major Joseph Garza said he signed up for a Digital Photography course because he thought it would be more interesting than a basic art course and would fulfill the same credit.

Specialized classes for some majors get canceled rather than basic classes. Dance major Eric Flores said, “I guess there weren’t enough people who were interested in joining the [dance] class, so it was canceled. I’ve never had like a basic class [canceled].”

Lillian Ross, a work-study student working in the Welcome Enrollment Center, said she hasn’t seen as many students with killed classes trying to reschedule as last semester. “[S]ome certain classes had been dropped. Either it was a night class, a weekend class, or a class that didn’t get full and they got dropped,” she said. She then had to help students find similar courses to fill their schedules.

Johnson said that average class size progress was being made.

<“Our institutional average at [an earlier] time was 19....The last one that I looked at we were on par. The work that we had done last fall had got us to where we needed to be,” she said./p>

For those students who would like to avoid canceled classes, early registration is encouraged.

Online registration for Maymester, Summer I and Summer II starts April 16, and online Fall registration starts April 20. Online registration may be accessed either through your PALS account or through the ACCD website at www.accd.edu. Palo Alto staff in the Welcome Enrollment Center, temporarily located on the second floor in the Applied Technology Building, will help with any questions you may have.