Students who want to get through college fast might get priority when they register for classes, according to a new suggestion.

Popular classes fill up fast and not everyone is eligible to start registering at the same time. People who have attended City College for a long time and have many units currently get priority over those who want to go through City College in two or three years. This concerns Keith McLellan, dean for educational programs.  

“Today the students with most units go first,” McLellan said. “That is not equitable, it’s not fair.”

Instead he wants to see a system where those who want classes for their major and want to transfer fast would get the first choice of classes.

“The more effort students make to achieve their goals, the more rewarding it should be.”

This is a suggestion that has been brought up by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, a committee who gives advices to the legislators in Sacramento. They have started the discussion all over California, and McLellan welcomes the debate.

“We value our consulting process,” McLellan said. “We want to make sure people understand the issues, bring people together for consensus.”

The way the new suggestion would work is that every student would state their educational goal and major when they first apply to City College. It can then be changed during the time here, by changing ones settings in Pipeline. This can already be done, but in the future McLellan hopes it will have a better prominence in the registration process.

“At one point you have to ask yourself, what am I here for?”

One part of the suggestion is that people who have fewer than 90 units should get priority in registering. Currently there are 899 students at City College with more than 90 units.

“We have some students who aimlessly wander around through the curriculum,” McLellan said. “We need to differentiate people who are taking courses randomly or are on a path.”

He acknowledged that some students might have a problem deciding their major, and should get time to explore what they are interested in.

“How long should it be okay to explore?” McLellan said. “Students should have a general educational goal and we can help students develop a plan.”

The City College student with the most units is currently at 317. This is an extreme case, but when students are taking an abundance of classes it creates another problem. There is a pattern that the more classes a student takes, the more they fail.

Only half of the students who have attempted more than 90 units complete them and only one-third manage to complete their classes once they have over 150 units.

“When the ratio of completed courses is 3 to 1 for attempted/completed, this is a concern for faculty,” McLellan said.

“Now we have to be concerned, is there a problem with having over 90 units?”

Along with Alison Curtis, director for admissions & records, he now wants to start the discussion all over campus. They have brought it up with the Academic Senate, and hope to speak with the Student Senate soon.

Not having discussed the idea with them in person yet, Student Senate President Ruby Limon welcomes the discussion.

“I agree with the whole major thing,” she said.

But when it comes to the number of units, she is not sure.

“It is a tough question,” she said. “The main problem is that classes are being cut.”

She has another suggestion. She thinks it’s hard for freshmen to get the classes they want.

“It’s not fair,” Limon said. “A majority of those classes are the most important ones.

So I think new students should be taken into consideration too.”

For people who have problems getting the classes they want, she has one suggestion.

“I register as soon as I can,” Limon said. “I leave everything for the last minute, but not this.”

This is a pattern that has been more common in the last year. Alison Curtis has seen a trend over the last two semesters.

“Since summer and fall 2010 students are registering earlier,” Curtis said. “More people want to be sure to enroll on the date they are able to.”

She welcomes the discussion about the changes.

“City College should be a part of the discussion, “Curtis said. “We should not have decisions made for us.”

The final decision will be made by City College. State law only requires priority for disabled students and veterans, and the rest is up to each institution. Since the discussion is just in a start-up phase, the suggestion will probably not be implemented over the next year.

McLellan thinks the reason why students stay for so long at City College is the positive experience of being here.

“If you want to go to the best place of choices, we are it”, McLellan said. “It’s a deluxe smorgasbord of choices. It’s a great menu and everybody seems to like it.”