Enrollment boom may lead to class-size overcrowding
South Loop development may hamstring property purchases
By Randy J. Klodz
Staff Writer

Like crowded suburban high schools, Columbia—with its gradual increase in student admissions over the last several years—may soon have to deal with the negative aspects of being a popular institution.

According to the Office of Institutional Research, the total enrollment for fall 2002 was 9,803, a 4 percent increase from 2001’s total. The average enrollment increase of 4 percent has been consistent over the past several years, and there are many reasons attributed to the consistent and potentially booming popularity of Columbia’s programs.

Murphy Monroe, director of admissions for Columbia, attributes the student population growth to increased out-of-state recruitment efforts, the emergence of successful alumni and the fact that “Columbia is the main game in town for film,” for example.

Though Columbia’s increase in admissions has remained steady at 4 percent each year, school officials are not concerned about a sudden surge in admissions, though tentative plans are being made to accommodate an expected admissions boom in a few years.

Columbia’s Executive Vice President Bert Gall said that there’s nothing unusual about Columbia’s growth, and the pattern has been steady for the last 30 years, but that a problem could arise in five years. Similar to the case of crowded high schools, Columbia is faced with a choice between creating more space by either adding on to current buildings, or making plans geared toward relocation.

“At least over the next couple of years, we actually have space we aren’t presently occupying, so we will be able to build out that space over the next two or three years to respond to short-term space needs,” Gall said.

Gall also said that there is currently between 80,000 to 100,000 square feet that have not yet been built into classroom space, but “once that occurs, we will have indeed maxed ourselves out in terms of growth potential, and we are moving forward with the explorations that are appropriate to try to position it so that we can move along for the next several years.”

With the rebuilding of the South Loop, purchasing an unoccupied building and making classrooms out of it, might not be as smooth a process as it once was.

“There’s less available than there was 10 years ago, but it’s not yet saturated,” Gall said. “In fact there’s at least eight properties at the moment that I’m currently exploring.”

Columbia’s traditional process of purchasing space relied on the turn over of office buildings, and then converting the office space into classrooms. Buying property requires knowledge in real-estate management.

“It’s true that there is less choice, but it’s not yet true that there aren’t any choices. There certainly are some possibilities,” Gall said.

Steven Kapelke, provost and vice president of affairs for Columbia, wants to make it clear that college officials will not sacrifice what makes Columbia popular to many students.

“We remain committed to small class sizes and one-on-one instruction. It’s embedded in the traditions and history of the college and that’s not going to change,“ Kapelke said. “We are not going to become like a lot of universities with a lot of class sizes that expand into as large as two or three hundred students. We aren’t going to do that.”

Kapelke said that, instead of increasing class size, sections of classes can be added, or smaller classes can remain small, by combining classes. The combinations may not be simple, but Kapelke admitted that Columbia, like most schools over the years, has had difficulties in scheduling classes.

In order to combat this, and still keep the traditions of the school, Kapelke and his team have been devising options.

“One of the things that we are trying to do is having maybe four sections of a class with 10 students in it. If the department feels that the appropriate class size is 20, maybe instead of having four sections with 10, what we would rather do is have two sections with 20,” Kapelke said.