Fanshawe gaining more students and revenue, but at what cost?

With the new school year, Fanshawe has seen an ever-growing increase in student population.

According to Krista Prokopick, Fanshawe's business intelligence analyst of institutional research, as of the first 10 days of classes this semester, the overall full-time secondary enrolment has gone up by 5.8 per cent over from last year. There has been a 6.1 per cent increase in new students, and 5.3 per cent of returning students.

The numbers broken down even further show an increase of 1.9 per cent in domestic students and 34 per cent in international students.

With this being said, there comes the question of how many students are too many students to have on campus?

Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) president, Carlie Forsythe voiced some concerns over this increased rate.

“We have a lot of students being accepted and being enrolled into programs. We have about 239 full-time programs with an addition of 10 new programs,” Forsythe said.

Forsythe said there has been an increase in international students, with the school now having more than 2,400, 1,000 just in first year.

With all of these numbers, Forsythe said scheduling is becoming a problem.

“With scheduling on any given day it's pretty close to being jammed pack full. [Campus is the] most full from 12-1 p.m. with 95.15 per cent at capacity.”

Forsythe said there are a lot of problems stemming from the increase in students, including international students, who are coming here for specific programs that are overcapacity and therefore they are forced to switch programs.

Some programs, such as prehealth, are fully booked, causing some students to have to sit on the stairs during class, eventually causing them to stop coming.

“Attrition [is coming] from the wrong avenue,” Forsythe said. “People aren't getting seats and they want to be in class.

“[The question becomes] are we offering quantity of education or quality of education… and we can tell by just how hard it is to schedule,” Forsythe said.

Forsythe is on a scheduling committee with members across the school, and there are a number of issues that are arising when schedules are being made.

The committee is using a bullseye method where the busiest time is in the centre of the week, and it spreads out.

According to Forsythe, the group is seeing longer gaps throughout the day, a 94.15 utilization rate and not enough space to accommodate everyone.

There are plans for next year to perhaps make the days run longer, with classes beginning at 7 a.m. and most ending at 9 p.m. Having some classes run on Saturdays might be an option as well.

Another concern Forsythe brought up was too many programs offered on campus.

“[We] keep creating new programs, but not cancelling old programs that aren't effective anymore or don't have a place in the workforce anymore. It's tough, we keep introducing new programs, but we don't have space for them, so people are suffering,” Forsythe said.

Forsythe said she understands the school wants to recruit more and bring in revenue, but it's creating a huge space issue and nothing is being done about it.

Tracy Gedies, director of Centre of Academic Excellence and Lisa Dennis, co-ordinator of the Centre of Academic Excellence are also on the timetable and scheduling facilities committee with Forsythe.

According to Gedies, the committee receives information from a diverse group of people across campus and tries to make schedules from there.

“[We're] looking at the pieces that impact how students' schedules are put together and how students end up in class,' Gedies said,

Dennis said the original policy stemmed from a focus group in 2010-2011 year and in creating the policy, they were able to see what students were looking for in a schedule and give a “parameter” of a quality timetable.

The policy focused on students as the priority, but Gedies has said that focus has shifted on making sure the students, staff and physical space are the three important considerations when it comes to scheduling.

Gedies said the focus for schedules is future-focused and it's a complex message.

“The reality is that we have grown and we are never going to make everyone or anyone happy. We've come to accept that,” Gedies said.

The committee is looking at ways to improve for the coming years ahead.