Overcrowding or overreacting?
Roya Wolverson, Sarada Peri, Lisa Thompson and Katie Connolly
Issue date: 2/21/07 Section: KSG News
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963 full-time students enrolled at KSG this year, a record high that's making the school feel more crowded.
"I love that we have common areas like the Forum where there are always people," says Kavita Sridhar (MPP2). "But you don't want to be there during peak hours anymore. It's more stressful than it is relaxing."
Matriculation up, course offerings down
Each year administrators rely on a model to predict the admissions 'yield' for the following year (the number of admitted students who decide to enroll). KSG typically accepts more students than the expected yield to account for some level of attrition or 'melt'.
But this year, "We were thirty five over," says Dean Joseph McCarthy, Director of Degree Programs. The higher yield can partly be attributed to the greater number of students who enrolled from developing countries. Both the incoming Mason class (72 students) and MPA/ID class (76 students) were the largest ever. These numbers surprised administrators since the World Bank, a major funding source for those students, was forced to cut down scholarship support for Mason and MPA/ID fellows due to budget constraints.
But class size ebbs and flows from year to year, says McCarthy. Over the last decade, the most dramatic change came when the MPP class size decreased from 479 to 324 from 1998 to 2000 to accommodate for the new the MPA/ID program. After that, MPA/ID and MPP classes were gradually brought into balance.
One reason students may feel overcrowded this year is that more classes are being "bracketed", say McCarthy and Assistant Dean Kathleen Fox.
"Bracketed" courses are those not offered during a particular semester due to professor absences. Despite the many courses still available, bracketed courses make up a large part of the limited course offerings needed to satisfy graduation requirements.
For example, MPA students must complete a quantitative methods course and a strategic or non-profit management course, but 23 percent of courses listed under "API" and "STM" codes were not available this semester. And while both the MPP and MPA programs have leadership requirements, this semester 42 percent of PAL courses weren't offered.
"I love that we have common areas like the Forum where there are always people," says Kavita Sridhar (MPP2). "But you don't want to be there during peak hours anymore. It's more stressful than it is relaxing."
Matriculation up, course offerings down
Each year administrators rely on a model to predict the admissions 'yield' for the following year (the number of admitted students who decide to enroll). KSG typically accepts more students than the expected yield to account for some level of attrition or 'melt'.
But this year, "We were thirty five over," says Dean Joseph McCarthy, Director of Degree Programs. The higher yield can partly be attributed to the greater number of students who enrolled from developing countries. Both the incoming Mason class (72 students) and MPA/ID class (76 students) were the largest ever. These numbers surprised administrators since the World Bank, a major funding source for those students, was forced to cut down scholarship support for Mason and MPA/ID fellows due to budget constraints.
But class size ebbs and flows from year to year, says McCarthy. Over the last decade, the most dramatic change came when the MPP class size decreased from 479 to 324 from 1998 to 2000 to accommodate for the new the MPA/ID program. After that, MPA/ID and MPP classes were gradually brought into balance.
One reason students may feel overcrowded this year is that more classes are being "bracketed", say McCarthy and Assistant Dean Kathleen Fox.
"Bracketed" courses are those not offered during a particular semester due to professor absences. Despite the many courses still available, bracketed courses make up a large part of the limited course offerings needed to satisfy graduation requirements.
For example, MPA students must complete a quantitative methods course and a strategic or non-profit management course, but 23 percent of courses listed under "API" and "STM" codes were not available this semester. And while both the MPP and MPA programs have leadership requirements, this semester 42 percent of PAL courses weren't offered.
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