The New York Times had a troubling
article last week about how the city's community colleges are overloaded with applications, so much so that all but one school had to turn away students for the first time ever.
New York City has six community colleges within its City University of New York (CUNY) network, and these schools usually accept applications until one week before the classes begin. This fall, however, the overwhelming number of applications caused most of the colleges to close admissions much earlier—the Borough of Manhattan Community College set the earliest new deadline, when it stopped taking applications for the fall of 2009 in late June.
The president of LaGuardia Community College, whose student body has increased by nearly 50 percent over the last ten years, called this year's application surge "a tidal wave."
We can attribute this increase to two factors. First, the
opportunity cost of college—how much money students could be earning outside of school—is very low, given the high unemployment rate. And second, more and more students have been
turning to cheaper colleges, including community colleges, to pursue an education in these tough times.
And for the CUNY network, times might get even tougher. Governor Paterson recently proposed budget cuts for a number of New York institutions, which could take millions of dollars from CUNY. The Times quoted CUNY's chancellor as saying that administrators are dealing with a "moral dilemma," as they are forced to choose between CUNY's open-door admissions policy and its quality of education, since more students means a greater strain on resources.
Do you know anyone who has been affected by the admissions increase, in New York or elsewhere? What should CUNY do about its "moral dilemma"?
Comments (9)
I'm in one of the CUNY's just not community college. It's really unfair that they have to squeeze even more money out of us, we're already all on really tight budgets.
my sisters go to a CUNY communty college (queensboro) and before recently i really didnt think I wanted to go to CUNY but i want to go to one now because its much cheaper...and I'm hearing the same things from a lot of my classmates...it doesn't suprise me the least bit.
wonder how SUNY is doing.
@dopegalore@xanga - the NYT article did mention that SUNY applications are up. i think pretty much all community college applications are up across the country, but the article focused on the CUNY system.
I am speaking from the point of view as a student of a Community College in Long Island, NY and who also has many friends who go to LaGuardia: I am hearing that my school is already almost full when it comes to admissions, and I heard this before it was midway through the semester. It had been open for 2 weeks for admissions and I HEARD that there were already 1700 submissions. I do feel, however, that it is the correct thing to do to turn away students when it gets to the maximum number because I do not think it's fair to take away the amount of resources we are PAYING for! It's just how I feel. Maybe you will get lucky next year, or maybe you should be the first in line. And I am saying this as someone who hasn't applied for the next semester yet because I don't have my money ready for another month, so I may not even make it in myself for next semester. Just sayin.
my bf who lived in NY before told me that many kids go to community college first.
it will be great if the author posted the link to the nyt article that he is citing/using.
I know admissions are up at CCP.I'm going to a 4 year college,though, in the Fall.
I'm a CUNY (not community) college freshman student, and i think it's outrageous. I had to reject many privates schools because I couldn't afford the tuition despite the scholarships, and now this? this is bull.