New cap on unit enrollment proposed

By Krista Daly
March 30th, 2010
Section: News

Dr. Cynthia Rawitch, Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Studies, speaks before the A.S. senate about the upcoming unit cap that the university will be implementing for the fall semester, during Tuesday’s Meeting. Students registering for classes will do so in two stages, the first time being limited to 13 units unless they are a graduating senior or first time freshmen. Afterwards they can register for additional classes up to 17 units. (Christianna Triolo / Staff Photographer)

A new plan that will cap students at 13 units during their registration appointment for next semester was presented at Tuesday’s A.S. meeting.
Dr. Cynthia Rawitch, associate vice president for undergraduate studies, presented the plan.

“The most important message is that students really need to think out what are the 13 units they really need,” Rawitch said. “They need to plan a little bit more than what they usually do.”

Rawitch said the director of admissions and records came up with the idea to divide registration into two parts.

Students who have already registered will be able to go back into their portal July 19 and register for up to 17 units, Rawitch said. Students who want more than 17 units can fill out an extra unit authorization form that will allow them to add 19 units total, she added.

“I think it’s probably one of the better ideas the university has come up with,” said Conor Lansdale, A.S. vice president. “I like the idea because it’s not a fee increase.”

Students cannot really afford a fee increase, but what they can manage is their time and making their work schedules fit their school schedules, Lansdale added.

“I think it’s a very unfortunate situation to be in,” said A.S. President Abel Pacheco. “The university is trying to figure out the fairest way for students (to get in the right) classes.”

Pacheco said it was not ideal and it’s not perfect, but it’s a fair and balanced way for students to get into at least some of the classes they’ll need. Students who want to take more classes will still have the opportunity to do so, Pacheco added.

On one hand there are students trying to take as many classes as possible. On the other hand, there are the students who are just trying to get into a class that will count for credit, Pacheco said.

“It’s a matter of equality and it’s a matter of fairness,” Rawitch said. “There are more students than classes available and for the first round everyone gets a shot at 13 units.”

Students often register for 19 units because they like to shop around and then end up dropping classes at the last moment leaving those spots unavailable for other students, Rawitch said.

“It’s not fair for students to shop around then drop,” Lansdale said. “It gives everyone the same choices and it makes students make choices that they will stick behind.”

The two groups of people exempted from the policy will be graduating seniors and first time freshman, Rawitch said.

“We don’t want graduating seniors to have to fight for classes their last semester,” Rawitch said.

It’s a different impact for graduating seniors and incoming freshman, Lansdale said. There is still a cap, but at least they will be able to take an extra course or a lab if they want to.

Many CSU campuses have their students register in the same format, though everyone is a little bit different in terms of caps, Rawitch said.

She said she expects it to work out well because schools like Cal Poly Pomona and San Francisco State have been pleased with it on their campuses.

“I don’t know if it will be needed for spring, but my guess is that we’ll do it again,” Rawitch said.

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  • CSUNisPATHETIC

    My choice to attend CSUN has been one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

  • Angry CSUN student

    Well, I hope Dr. Rawitch, Abel Pacheco, and Conor Lansdale are happy.

    The 13-unit cap is official. It will be a miracle if anyone can register for more then 13 units, as classes will be filled.

    Now, nobody can graduate in four years. Classes will be busier and fuller than ever.

    Thanks a lot. You’ll never get any donations from me once I graduate.

  • Kati Zook

    Actually, I am a prospective student of CSUN and Cal State San Marcos down by where I live in the San Diego area already implemented this cap of 13 units last fall (starting in 2009) and there is no way that that cap will be lifted. I fear it is the same for CSUN. For Cal State San Marcos, the students that I knew that went there, were not able to take more than 13 units.

  • David W

    Ms. Raaen articulately said everything I want to say about this article.

    This plan is a de facto way of limiting students to 13 units of enrollment; with the class shortages we have now, there is NO WAY a student will be able to go back and get the addition class he or she needs to have a full load of 14, 15, or 16 units. This plan will only increase the time it take for ALL students to graduate. This plan is akin to taking 99.99% of a country to pay for .01% of the population.

    I strongly urge CSUN to scrap this plan. A cap of 13 units is ridiculously low–if you must cap, try 16 units.

  • Clarissa Raaen

    After reading in the Sundial on April Fool’s Day that it has been proposed that student’s registering in the fall should be limited to 13 units, it was tempting to dismiss it as an April Fool’s joke. Students are to be guaranteed only 13 units each semester? Seriously? Sure, they can go back at a later date and try to add another class, but what if they can’t find an open class to add? The normal load for a full time student attending a school using the semester system is 15 units. Unless they transferred to CSUN from community college with the maximum 70 units allowed, or they plan to take courses at a community college in the summer, they will not graduate on time. It is as simple as that.

    Students complain that they can’t find enough open classes to register for by the time their registration appointment comes up. My husband faced the same problem when he transferred to CSUN from community college in 1981. It took him 4 years to complete the 2 years of upper division classes he needed to earn his degree at CSUN because many of the classes he needed were already closed by the time he was allowed to register. The cause of this problem is the same in 2010 as it was in 1981- CSUN accepts more students than it has room for causing overcrowding and a lack of availability of open classes.

    The solution to this problem is not to limit students to 13 units during their initial appointment, it is to cut back on the number of students admitted to CSUN in the future, and to encourage those who are already here to finish as quickly as possible. More students in high school should be encouraged to take their first 70 units at community college and then transfer to CSUN using a TAG agreement, as my daughter did. This would allow more upper division courses to be offered, and transfer students could all finish in just 4 semesters at CSUN. Guaranteeing students fewer units per semester than they need to graduate, possibly forcing them to return for an extra semester, is counterproductive.

    Clarissa Raaen
    CSUN parent