Impacted prerequisite courses delay graduation

By Yara Del Rio-Dominguez |Staff Writer|

Students are currently denied access to the prerequisite classes required to graduate in the estimated four to six years.
CSU officials state that due to the lack of professors, lab space availability, students who fail and retake the course along with registered students taking classes just to maintain financial aid requirements eliminate the course availability.
CSUSB student Eduardo Escobedo blames his indecisiveness when it came to deciding on what he wanted to major in, resulting in an additional year of schooling.
On the other hand, student David Ogunnubi explained, “I blame the Cal State system; our campus is impacted with certain popular majors and it overpopulates our campus.
“That’s why there aren’t enough spots open in classes that are in high demand.”
Referred to as “bottleneck courses” that include remedial math courses, biology, political science, and many other prerequisite courses you must take before advancing into the upper division classes in your major.
“Budget cuts are making it harder for campuses to hire more professors and due to the lack of professors I feel we as students are being punished having to wait until the following quarter or sometimes even the following year to get the class we need,” said Ogunnubi.
“Personally, I’ve had to be placed on a waiting list to take a class and wasn’t able to take the class until two quarters later,” said Ogunnubi.
CSU officials have debated whether or not to have more online classes available for these bottleneck courses.
It would be more time consuming, but they would not put a cap to open enrollment.
Many students believe they are being cheated of their education by taking online courses, not only are they being cheated of their education but also cheated out of their money, because many of them will be doing work from home and not in an educational institute.
Referring to online courses Escobedo mentioned that, “Students are struggling as it is with the teacher being available in class and after class so they will struggle a lot more being on their own.”
“I find myself engaged and listening while sitting in class, it helps memorize and at least recall what was discussed during lecture when I’m taking my quiz, midterm, or final,” said Escobedo.
CSUSB has found its own remedy to prevent students from retaking a class to maintain their financial aid or increase their GPA, students are not permitted to retake a class if they received a C grade or better, and can not take a class over three times.