Columbia Basin College: 'We Need More Classes'

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By Sade Malloy

Summary

They've got more students and they've got new problems. It's only the first week of school and CBC classes are already at a 90% fill rate.

Story Published: Sep 23, 2009 at 5:36 PM PST

COLUMBIA BASIN COLLEGE -- They've got more students and they've got new problems. It's only the first week of school and CBC classes are already at a 90% fill rate.

It's a tight squeeze for the students at Columbia Basin College.

"My first class has 6 people but my second class has 40. So I'm thinking general education classes are getting packed," says Brian Williams, CBC student.

The student population just keeps growing. CBC has 300 more students than last year bringing the number of full time students to around 5,000.

But more students don't equal more money. Your tuition only covers 35% of the college's cost. The state covers the rest.

The state pays for more than half of the education costs for each student at CBC. To make matters worse, they don't have enough money to teach more classes. Washington's bad economy cut more than $3 million from the college's budget that forced them to let 9 faculty members go.

"We are maxed out grading, giving feedback, students coming back and returning second drafts of paper," says Dr. Debjani Chakrabarti, CBC teacher.

"Taking on more students means a lot more work outside the classroom. There's not a lot of room here to add more students," says Frank Murray, Columbia Basin College.

Students that can't fit into the class have to get permission to attend from the teacher. It's a request that some just can't swing.

"I had to just refuse them because my class already has 45 students," says Chakrabarti.

CBC officials don't see the situation letting up anytime soon. Community college enrollment booms when the economy is bad.