Cypress College enrollment rate is up 105 percent from last Spring

Cypress College has 15,762 students enrolled as of this spring, this is a 5.3 percent increase compared to last spring.

This increase is surprising seeing as budget cuts have caused 4,000 less seats. The college is offering 92 fewer course sections because of the budget cuts. Are students feeling the squeeze?

Nursing student Jon Vera said, "It seems like more students were petitioning this semester. I thought it was because of the budget cuts you know? But I didn't know more students enrolled this year, that's crazy."

Jon may be right on the petition increase because the only way to have an enrollment increase is if classes are over enrolled. This was verified by President Michael J. Kasler.

Some students have noticed parking is worse than usual. English major Jordan Scott said "Parking is a pain in the butt unless you have an early class. It's always been an issue but more so this year."

The college's fill rate also exceeds 100 percent for the second consecutive semester so parking has been bad all year.

Students have also seen class rooms take more students in. Eric Lee said "I don't even sit at a desk in one of my classes. I have to sit on just a chair. The class is small but there are also a lot of students in the room," while talking about his English class this semester.

This rate of 105 percent enrollment is 13 points higher than the number of 92 percent the college has a year ago. It measures the total number of seats taken by students compared to the number offered by the college, while the college is also dealing with the over enrollments with fewer employees than prior years.