Attention CSU Students!

[Gallivant]

How are the budget cuts affecting you? Is it so severe to the point where classes are impossible to acquire and you are in danger of graduating late? How are the budget cuts affecting the research opportunities? Thank you!

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[ShadowHuskey]

I am very interested in this myself. Can anyone answer the question?

 

[jevo]

For those that don't know, OP is referring to CSU as in California State Universities (ie CSFullerton, CSLongBeach, CSDominguezHills, etc...). I'm not at a CSU op, but I have friends that are and they say it is getting a lot harder to get certain classes since they aren't being offered as frequently as they were in previous sessions. Good luck though. Are you already there or transferring?

 

[lobo.solo]

Yes, this is very real. It's always a nightmare at the beginning of each semester. The majority of people I know has had trouble getting their classes including myself.

 

[hellanutella]

Yes, the CSU budget cuts have made for an utterly harrowing experience. I go to a particularly large CSU (>35K students) which has only exacerbated the enrollment problems. However, they're going to restrict much of the transferring in order to preserve what classes/funds the school has.

My CSU capped maximum course load at 15 units, making it impossible for me to receive academic credit for my research while still retaining my 15 units. However, I was extremely fortunate to get those 15 units -- most people I knew were scrambling just to scrounge up 12, the minimum for full-time enrollment. To make matters worse, those unable to achieve full-time status were ineligible to receive their financial aid.

I'm currently a sophomore with almost 90 units, so I hope be graduating on time... but only because I matriculated with a year's worth of CC/AP credits and maxed out on courses (18 units) each semester prior to the enrollment cap. It's not unheard of for diligent students to take 5 years to graduate. They usually spend their 5th year enrolled part-time, working in a lab, and fine-tuning their professional/grad school apps. It's not an awful situation. Students that have swapped majors or need to retake courses may be forced to settle for a 6-7 year plan.

Research funding depends entirely upon the professor. Many are receiving fairly good NIH funding, though there are no paid research positions for either undergraduate OR graduate students at my institution. I left one lab since their funding was running out, but I was soon offered a spot by a professor that has received quite a good chunk of money... so the situation isn't exactly dire. The CSU, however, does not have the money to upkeep the university lab equipment which can hamper some research projects. (The NMR machine has been on the fritz for the past few months, which has been restricting my lab's work significantly.)

This coming (fall 2012) semester looks awful. While I'm taking mainly upper-division sciences, which shouldn't be the most popular courses at the university, it is near impossible for me to get my entry-level GEs due to the registration preferences they give freshmen. Since I need to retake my AP credits for professional school prerequisites, I am forced to go into these classes as a repeat student (ie: crashing the course). Usually I've been able to avoid this by explaining the situation to the department, but with more and more students clamouring for courses they are getting a bit more stringent with handing out permission numbers.

I don't know how other people across the CSUs are faring, but despite all the cuts and restrictions CSU students are still receiving a sound education without being driven into an oblivion of loans. If anyone has any other stories/opinions/tips, they would be very much welcomed!

tl;dr
Research hasn't been fully compromised
Class registration is a nightmare
Even with tuition hikes, CSU is still unbelievably cheap

 

[Gallivant]

Yes, the CSU budget cuts have made for an utterly harrowing experience. I go to a particularly large CSU (>35K students) which has only exacerbated the enrollment problems. However, they're going to restrict much of the transferring in order to preserve what classes/funds the school has.

My CSU capped maximum course load at 15 units, making it impossible for me to receive academic credit for my research while still retaining my 15 units. However, I was extremely fortunate to get those 15 units -- most people I knew were scrambling just to scrounge up 12, the minimum for full-time enrollment. To make matters worse, those unable to achieve full-time status were ineligible to receive their financial aid.

I'm currently a sophomore with almost 90 units, so I hope be graduating on time... but only because I matriculated with a year's worth of CC/AP credits and maxed out on courses (18 units) each semester prior to the enrollment cap. It's not unheard of for diligent students to take 5 years to graduate. They usually spend their 5th year enrolled part-time, working in a lab, and fine-tuning their professional/grad school apps. It's not an awful situation. Students that have swapped majors or need to retake courses may be forced to settle for a 6-7 year plan.

Research funding depends entirely upon the professor. Many are receiving fairly good NIH funding, though there are no paid research positions for either undergraduate OR graduate students at my institution. I left one lab since their funding was running out, but I was soon offered a spot by a professor that has received quite a good chunk of money... so the situation isn't exactly dire. The CSU, however, does not have the money to upkeep the university lab equipment which can hamper some research projects. (The NMR machine has been on the fritz for the past few months, which has been restricting my lab's work significantly.)

This coming (fall 2012) semester looks awful. While I'm taking mainly upper-division sciences, which shouldn't be the most popular courses at the university, it is near impossible for me to get my entry-level GEs due to the registration preferences they give freshmen. Since I need to retake my AP credits for professional school prerequisites, I am forced to go into these classes as a repeat student (ie: crashing the course). Usually I've been able to avoid this by explaining the situation to the department, but with more and more students clamouring for courses they are getting a bit more stringent with handing out permission numbers.

I don't know how other people across the CSUs are faring, but despite all the cuts and restrictions CSU students are still receiving a sound education without being driven into an oblivion of loans. If anyone has any other stories/opinions/tips, they would be very much welcomed!

tl;dr
Research hasn't been fully compromised
Class registration is a nightmare
Even with tuition hikes, CSU is still unbelievably cheap

Thank you for your very elaborate answer. I just have a few questions. What kind of classes are difficult to get? Is it mainly the GE classes or does it involve other classes like calculus and biology courses? Since i'm majoring in Biology do you think I will be less effected by this because most people major in business, communication,etc. Also is there a way to gain some type of priority registration? Thank you so much. You are really helping a lot.

 

[hellanutella]

No worries! From my experience it is difficult to get introductory classes, regardless of major (ex: gen chem, intro bio, physics). Upper division bio classes like immunology or animal histology are fairly easy to enroll in, as are any upper division liberal arts ones. We're talking junior-level courses and above.

However, it has been a scramble this past year for organic chemistry (there were about 50 people on the waiting list). It's becoming more and more commonplace for the university to offer only one or two lecture sessions per course.

For example, next year my CSU will only be offering two Physics A courses (one of which will be a night course). The maximum enrollment will be 50 students per course, leaving a lot of people empty-handed. To put that in perspective, over a thousand freshmen will be embarking on the science/math route next semester, leading to a pretty nasty bottleneck.

You can get priority registration by joining the honours college, which is what I did upon matriculation. It was a lifesaver. The program stipulates that you must take some designated honours courses, but it was a small price to pay for an early pick at courses. Also, if you're on a university athletics team you receive probably the best registration appointments. However, I've even been feeling the pinch despite my priority registration since my uni only allows me to enroll up to 13 units upon my registration appointment. If I want any other classes beyond my 13, I have to wait until nonrestrictive registration... which is essentially a mad dash to claim any remaining seats.


Again, this just n=1 anecdotal evidence from my large, overpopulated university (San Diego, Fullerton, Long Beach, etc). I'm assuming the situation is a lot less restricting if you're talking about one of the smaller CSUs (Channel Islands, Monterey Bay, Sonoma, etc).

Are you transferring in or are you looking to come in as a first time freshman?

 

[ShadowHuskey]

No worries! From my experience it is difficult to get introductory classes, regardless of major (ex: gen chem, intro bio, physics). Upper division bio classes like immunology or animal histology are fairly easy to enroll in, as are any upper division liberal arts ones. We're talking junior-level courses and above.

However, it has been a scramble this past year for organic chemistry (there were about 50 people on the waiting list). It's becoming more and more commonplace for the university to offer only one or two lecture sessions per course.

For example, next year my CSU will only be offering two Physics A courses (one of which will be a night course). The maximum enrollment will be 50 students per course, leaving a lot of people empty-handed. To put that in perspective, over a thousand freshmen will be embarking on the science/math route next semester, leading to a pretty nasty bottleneck.

You can get priority registration by joining the honours college, which is what I did upon matriculation. It was a lifesaver. The program stipulates that you must take some designated honours courses, but it was a small price to pay for an early pick at courses. Also, if you're on a university athletics team you receive probably the best registration appointments. However, I've even been feeling the pinch despite my priority registration since my uni only allows me to enroll up to 13 units upon my registration appointment. If I want any other classes beyond my 13, I have to wait until nonrestrictive registration... which is essentially a mad dash to claim any remaining seats.


Again, this just n=1 anecdotal evidence from my large, overpopulated university (San Diego, Fullerton, Long Beach, etc). I'm assuming the situation is a lot less restricting if you're talking about one of the smaller CSUs (Channel Islands, Monterey Bay, Sonoma, etc).

Are you transferring in or are you looking to come in as a first time freshman?

I would be an incoming freshman. I should be able to get into the honors program hopefully. I was wondering you said the honors program was a lifesaver, can you elaborate on this more. And also do you think this whole situation will get worse before it gets better or do you think it probably won't change much over the next 5 years or so. Once again thanks a lot for your time.

 

[nadaba]

I would be an incoming freshman. I should be able to get into the honors program hopefully. I was wondering you said the honors program was a lifesaver, can you elaborate on this more. And also do you think this whole situation will get worse before it gets better or do you think it probably won't change much over the next 5 years or so. Once again thanks a lot for your time.

I never had a problem getting classes. My sister, on the other hand, had a really hard time with her major classes (communications). This was at one of the large CSU campuses.

The situation will get worse before (if) it gets better. California is fundamentally stupid with its money, and I really don't see that changing any time soon. Maybe you can graduate before the state goes bankrupt, though!

 

[kautionwirez]

Good luck to you guys.

California budget management sucks.

 

[ScribeDavid]

I'm graduating from the honors program at a CSU this year. At least for our program, we get priority registration which is a lifesaver for the first and second years when you can have the greatest difficulty getting into classes. Right now, due to the budget cuts, our school has an initial 16unit cap for registration which then gets bumped up to the normal 21/22 unit cap a few weeks before the semester starts, though they may change this, I'm not sure.

Over the past few years I've certainly felt the budget issues with regards to classes and sections being cut. It's very easy to get into upper division biology courses, but if there's only a few in the class, it's at risk for being cut. This happened to me when I tried to take a summer chemistry course that had 11 students, but we needed 15 to not be cut.

In regards to research, at least at my institution cuts haven't really effected the research programs in the sciences since they're still receiving grants. I know when I was doing research a few years back paid-positions were still available, though it may have changed.

Personally, I enjoyed my time at my school, largely because of the honors program and only the latter part of my education was effected by the budget cuts. But, if Brown's tax plan doesn't pass and large cuts are made again this year, I think more dramatic changes may be made. Even if the economy and the California budget issues do get better though, I don't think the CSU system will ever be quite the bargain it used to be, but as mentioned earlier, it's still one of the cheapest options to get a decent education.

Also, this wasn't asked but if you're wondering if going into a CSU might harm you as a premed, as long as you try hard and make use of the opportunities that are available, in the end a CSU grad can be just as competitive as grads from almost any other university.

 

[hellanutella]

I would be an incoming freshman. I should be able to get into the honors program hopefully. I was wondering you said the honors program was a lifesaver, can you elaborate on this more. And also do you think this whole situation will get worse before it gets better or do you think it probably won't change much over the next 5 years or so. Once again thanks a lot for your time.

The honours program (called GE Honours at my CSU) is very straightforward and relatively easy to get into. It can be a useless accolade to put on your resume if you skip the coursework and mentoring, but if you put some time into the program you can reap some phenomenal rewards. It was a lifesaver in that it afforded me some of opportunities that many students in a large university can overlook or miss out on. I believe honour colleges all across the country function just like the one I joined... CSU, UC, private, or not. They're pretty much ubiquitous.

In addition to priority registration, I also got partnered with an "honours mentor" -- a professor that you meet up with throughout the year to discuss your academics/career goals. My mentor helped me get into a research lab and has been a wealth of knowledge thus far. Besides, it really helps out to have a faculty member know you for the entirety of your undergraduate education... especially if you'll be needing some sound LORs down the road.

The required honours courses (aka: souped-up GEs) can be a bit of a haggle, but they're great ways to get to know other professors since the classes are at most 15 students. One of my composition profs encouraged me to publish one of my essays in a literary journal, which is something I don't think I ever would have pursued had I not taken the class.

As nabada and ScribeDavid said, the system is suffering right now. Hopefully, if the right legislature is passed, the CSUs can bounce back in some years to come. It's going to be a long and rocky road to recovery, but the whole of Californian public education is just in a miserable way at the moment.

In a nutshell: Securing seats in certain classes can be downright stressful, but it's totally doable to graduate within 4 years. Just keep planning ahead (as you are now) and you'll navigate the CSU system much more smoothly. Kudos to you for looking into this so soon! Best wishes on your studies!

 

[pappadiddy]

I'm glad I graduated in 2009 from a CSU, before all this mess happened. Wish you all the best of luck. Unfortunately there weren't many applicants from the CSU system when I was interviewing in January and February (5 interviews at California schools) . Mostly just UC's or Private Universities

 

[romanjetfighter]

at csulb we have a 13 unit cap
they cut a lot of lecturers, which is sort of good because a lot were bad
1-2 years ago they had furlough days. if the teacher was gone on a day of a lab, all the labs were delayed a week so all labs were synced. end result, had 3-4 labs for physics/chem/bio when normally there is 6 or more.
im in student government, and there is actually a lot of money for student acitivities, we have excess money to blow but it's not that much compared to the budget cuts. like mere thousands in excess.

buildings arent being renovated. thank god our science buildings were renovated with bond money.
tuition increases is the biggest thing.
2007, my tuition was like 1490 a semester. now it's 3200 in 2012?
funniest thing freshman tours... the tour guide was saying "our tuition is very low.. only 2600 a semester" then i was like "ITS 3200!!!"

GE programs were made less stringent. science labs were cut from them.


don't get a bio major here. group of 70-80 students going from upper div bio class to upper div bio class trying to get any class to fill electives. degree requirements are allowing a wider range of electives cuz students will be around an extra 1-2 years just to get the class they need.

 

[Gallivant]

I will be attending specifically CSU Northridge. Does anyone have any input for this CSU in particular?

 

[TBMcGee]

I am a CSU student. Budget cuts are absolutely horrible. We now have a unit cap, as in you can't take more than 13 units during first registration. Second registration (in other words, when classes are all packed up) allows you to add 3 more units for a total of 16 units. However, tuition is going up and class availability is going down. Classes are extremely hard to get into as a sophomore and junior, as you have no priority registration. Clubs and activities that offer priority registration still have late registrations. Athletes usually get the best dates. I would not recommend coming into the CSUs unless you want to graduate in a minimum of five years.

 

[TBMcGee]

Sounds like CSU Northridge, from what I've heard about that school, it's awful and not many are going because of the cut in classes and tuition hikes. That's scary.

 

[ShadowHuskey]

I am a CSU student. Budget cuts are absolutely horrible. We now have a unit cap, as in you can't take more than 13 units during first registration. Second registration (in other words, when classes are all packed up) allows you to add 3 more units for a total of 16 units. However, tuition is going up and class availability is going down. Classes are extremely hard to get into as a sophomore and junior, as you have no priority registration. Clubs and activities that offer priority registration still have late registrations. Athletes usually get the best dates. I would not recommend coming into the CSUs unless you want to graduate in a minimum of five years.

Are you in any honors program?

 

[TBMcGee]

Oh dang, hellanutella! This stuff is interesting. So are you taking upper division courses right now or are you still in the intros? Our CSU is the same with intro classes, they pack up very quickly. I am taking my introduction classes now. I can't believe undergrads don't get paid to do research at your institution. Some do at our school, but they normally are the top-notch scientist children of the school lol. What does your research lab do?

 

[TBMcGee]

Yes, I am. If you had a 3.5 or higher in high school, you should be okay.

 

[DISCOSTEW]

I will be attending specifically CSU Northridge. Does anyone have any input for this CSU in particular?

The science classes are not too hard to get into at CSUN. it's the GEs, but if you have a good counselor, there are MANY options that you can do to fulfill the requirements for graduation. you just have to do a lot of the catalog hunting with your advisor. I recommend using APs (i know you might need to retake some for grad school), but for something like AP us history, it got me out of 2-3 GE classes b/c it counted for more than one class. the premed advisor at csun is great

 

[hellanutella]

Oh dang, hellanutella! This stuff is interesting. So are you taking upper division courses right now or are you still in the intros? Our CSU is the same with intro classes, they pack up very quickly. I am taking my introduction classes now. I can't believe undergrads don't get paid to do research at your institution. Some do at our school, but they normally are the top-notch scientist children of the school lol. What does your research lab do?

Right now I'm in the upper divisions. Some of these courses will can go unfilled, but ones that are mandated by any of the bio majors (ie: genetics, biochem) are sometimes a squeeze. The biology elective ones (ie: recombinant genetics, microbial phys) will be offered sporadically, but they're rather easy to get and classes will have typically 15 students in them.

Ahaha, well I'm no top-notch scientist child, so I see no research cash in my future. I'm currently in an organometallics lab so I can only speak for the chemistry department at my school. The graduate students mostly receive academic credit for their research, so most pursue TA duties (as only grad students can TA for science courses at my CSU). Some paid opportunities crop up over the summer, but they are solely for grads and usually call for only about a month or so of work. With the amount of work the grad students put out, I was surprised they weren't compensated further!

But I suppose money is the great equalizer when it comes to the California public schools. Since the CSUs have comparatively low tuitions, the scholarships and stipends offered appear to be consistently lower than many of the UC schools.

TBMcGee, are you going to be heading into research once you finish your intros? How has your experience been thus far?

 

[Gallivant]

After posting this thread I fell into a dilemma. I've gotten accepted into UCSC, UCSB, and CSUN. I was initially planning to matriculate to CSUN for the following reasons:

1) Smaller class sizes allow more individualized attention which will lead to better relationships with professors and ultimately lead to better letters of recommendation.

2) the tuition is significantly less especially when you include living expenses(although this is not a large factor for me)

3) less competition among students allow it to be easier to stand out and acquire positions in laboratories for research

4) 15 minutes from my home as a opposed to the UC's which will force me to move out of my home and into a dorm

5) I already volunteer in two different hospitals in which I've acquired numerous relationships with doctors and nurses whom are willing to allow me to shadow. Also if I continue to volunteer there, I heard continuous volunteering looks good especially since I've been doing it since 10th grade.

As you can see I was planning on attending CSUN but now it seems that with this budget crisis acquiring classes will be a nightmare and I might even be in danger of graduating after 5 years. So i'm not really sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[DISCOSTEW]

After posting this thread I fell into a dilemma. I've gotten accepted into UCSC, UCSB, and CSUN. I was initially planning to matriculate to CSUN for the following reasons:

1) Smaller class sizes allow more individualized attention which will lead to better relationships with professors and ultimately lead to better letters of recommendation.

2) the tuition is significantly less especially when you include living expenses(although this is not a large factor for me)

3) less competition among students allow it to be easier to stand out and acquire positions in laboratories for research

4) 15 minutes from my home as a opposed to the UC's which will force me to move out of my home and into a dorm

5) I already volunteer in two different hospitals in which I've acquired numerous relationships with doctors and nurses whom are willing to allow me to shadow. Also if I continue to volunteer there, I heard continuous volunteering looks good especially since I've been doing it since 10th grade.

As you can see I was planning on attending CSUN but now it seems that with this budget crisis acquiring classes will be a nightmare and I might even be in danger of graduating after 5 years. So i'm not really sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

i agree with the bolded statements at CSUN. If you can supplement summers and winters with community college classes like i did, you can get a head and graduate in 4. and use your APs. ucs are just a ton of money

 

[TBMcGee]

the bolded statements are exactly why I chose the CSUs too, but don't underestimate CSUs. Classes are just as difficult, students are just as smart, tuition is cheap.

 

[Gallivant]

i agree with the bolded statements at CSUN. If you can supplement summers and winters with community college classes like i did, you can get a head and graduate in 4. and use your APs. ucs are just a ton of money

I thought it looks bad when you take classes at a community college when you are already in a 4 year university?

 

[hellanutella]

This is spot on.

I was accepted to some of the UCs.... and while all the schools were extremely alluring (and I longed to move out of my parents') I stuck with my local, less glamourous CSU. I have a three hour commute every day, but in the end I'll be graduating debt and loan free. This would not have been the case had I opted or UCLA or SD, especially with the UCs 8% annual tuition increases. For me, money was the deciding factor.

Don't underestimate the classes! Some can be quite demanding, but they are all completely doable. Thus far they seem utterly comparable to the work my friends at Cal and LA are doing. Some classes will be harder, others easier. I have had professors that staunchly refused to hand out more than a single A per course, so I have had my work more than cut out for me.

Excel in your courses (especially the ones with outrageously difficult professors) and they'll seek you out to give you some truly great opportunities! This is where the benefits of smaller classes kick in.

 

[DISCOSTEW]

I thought it looks bad when you take classes at a community college when you are already in a 4 year university?

no adcoms ever mentioned it to me. and i took a couple science classes at a cc. obviously if you take every single physics, chem, anatomy, and blah blah at a cc thats different.

but if you can do your coms, english, stats, or other classes that are difficult to find, then do it. Even online classes for your GEs at cc have worked. I did 3 online classes from 3 different ccs to fulfill my prereqs for graduation and premed.

off of above's post. taking ochem and upper level sciences classes at a csu with smaller classes was great for me. My classes were graded straight up, no curve. Awesome 1 on 1 time with profs

 

[jevo]

This is spot on.

I was accepted to some of the UCs.... and while all the schools were extremely alluring (and I longed to move out of my parents') I stuck with my local, less glamourous CSU. I have a three hour commute every day, but in the end I'll be graduating debt and loan free. This would not have been the case had I opted or UCLA or SD, especially with the UCs 8% annual tuition increases. For me, money was the deciding factor.

Don't underestimate the classes! Some can be quite demanding, but they are all completely doable. Thus far they seem utterly comparable to the work my friends at Cal and LA are doing. Some classes will be harder, others easier. I have had professors that staunchly refused to hand out more than a single A per course, so I have had my work more than cut out for me.

Excel in your courses (especially the ones with outrageously difficult professors) and they'll seek you out to give you some truly great opportunities! This is where the benefits of smaller classes kick in.

Not sure if this is a typo. I'd rather take out loans than commute 3hrs daily to college. I couldn't even fathom doing that.

 

[k12123]

After posting this thread I fell into a dilemma. I've gotten accepted into UCSC, UCSB, and CSUN. I was initially planning to matriculate to CSUN for the following reasons:

1) Smaller class sizes allow more individualized attention which will lead to better relationships with professors and ultimately lead to better letters of recommendation.

2) the tuition is significantly less especially when you include living expenses(although this is not a large factor for me)

3) less competition among students allow it to be easier to stand out and acquire positions in laboratories for research

4) 15 minutes from my home as a opposed to the UC's which will force me to move out of my home and into a dorm

5) I already volunteer in two different hospitals in which I've acquired numerous relationships with doctors and nurses whom are willing to allow me to shadow. Also if I continue to volunteer there, I heard continuous volunteering looks good especially since I've been doing it since 10th grade.

As you can see I was planning on attending CSUN but now it seems that with this budget crisis acquiring classes will be a nightmare and I might even be in danger of graduating after 5 years. So i'm not really sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello,

I will be a sophomore at CSUN in the fall. So far, getting gen chem and bio 1 werent as difficult. I looked into the next semester and there are numerous gen chem 2 and evol bio classes being offered. However, be prepared to take saturday classes as sometimes, those courses are the only ones that will be left. As for the smaller class sizes, you can definitely count on that, however some classes like my gen bio class has about 120 students. As you get into upper division, classes of course get a lot smaller. As far as research i can't give you my personal insight because i will not finish the gen bio series until after the summer session. Lastly, you can definitely finish in four years. I came in without any AP credit, however, i spoke with the premed counselor, and it is possible to finish on time. It depends a lot on your major. I was a cell and molecular bio major but i switched to BA Biology because there's less units involved, while still retaining essential classes for the MCAT such as genetics, cell biology, and human anatomy and physiology. Again, be prepared to take summer courses. Over the summer i am taking gen physics 1 and gen bio 2 and paid $2700, thats $295 per unit plus the $320 campus fee. I think it's worth the time im going to save so i went for it. Also, our acceptance rate to a US MD Program is 62% as posted in the pre health office, much higher than most UCs!

 

[jevo]

Hello,.... Also, our acceptance rate to a US MD Program is 75% as posted in the pre health office, much higher than most UCs!

Ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves...

 

[k12123]

Ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves...

Oh sorry, 73% US Med Program, so both MD and DO. Sorry!