Issue Date: 2/8/10
Less funding, higher enrollment causes overfilled classes 
Students forced to crash
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"I had to crash my math class," Palomar student Marya Pallais said. "There were like 15 crashers, but I talked to the teacher before class, so I lucked out. Only five crashers got in."
There are a number of reasons that students have to crash this semester, according to the administration and the faculty.
The vice president of Instructional Services Berta Cuaron said, three and a half percent less funding from the government is one reason, as well as enrollment is up and there were about 270 classes cancelled between the spring and intersession semesters.
Some teachers do let students crash, but others will turn away students that are on the wait-list if there are not enough seats in the room.
"My classes top at 42 (students), but I have always taken my wait list which is usually a maximum of five. That puts me at 47 (students), so I add to 50," said Chris Johnson, Department Chair of the economics, history, and political science department. "A lot of people don't want us to do that, but I have a hard time saying no."
Each department caps their classes at a certain amount of students. It becomes a negotiation issue when classes are too large, and the quality of education can be a concern, Johnson said.
But when a teacher continuously adds students to their class, the faculty assumes that the teacher is able to have more students in their class and raises the cap, he said. This results in less teacher-to-student interaction, which may lead to a lower average grade in the class.
All of the teachers in Johnson's department do their best to accommodate students as much as possible because the subjects he oversees are core classes that must be taken for any associates degree and general education, Johnson said.
Another reason that some teachers do not take any crashers is because of money. Teachers at Palomar do not get paid for the students that they add, which would result in more work for the teacher.
"They (teachers) get paid the same. They are paid for the class, not how many students are in it," Cuaron said.
This is an incentive for teachers to keep their class size small, but not all teachers think that it's worth it.
"In my mind the only thing is accommodating students. It's a compliment that they wanted your class, but you do have to draw the line somewhere," Johnson said.
Some departments leave it up to the individual teachers of whether or not to take crashers, while other departments have a strict no-crasher policy for all of their classes.
The future semesters will probably be no different than they are now, as adding students is an on-going debate, according to Johnson.
If students are trying to get into the general education required classes they must register as soon as allowed, or hope that by the good graces of the teacher they will be let in to the class.
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