L&S guidance on "low enrollment" course sections

Low Enrollment Courses and Cancellation of Classes due to Low Enrollment

Enrollment in all courses should be monitored carefully throughout the registration period since any course or section cancellations must be made early enough for affected students to make necessary adjustments to their schedules. Since graduate students are often particularly slow to register, some departments have found it useful to email their graduate students to let them know that a particular course may be canceled if enrollments do not materialize.

College policy is that departments must contact their academic Associate Dean (or Associate Dean Shirin Malekpour for TA sections) to discuss enrollment and options in courses or sections falling under the following standard minimum enrollment levels:

•  Courses numbered below 300 with fewer than 15 students;  
•  Courses numbered 300 to 699 with fewer than 12 students;  
•  Courses numbered 700 and above with fewer than 8 students.  

Please note: L&S Departments may confer with their Academic Associate Dean to define departmental strategies to balance assignment of large and small courses.  Workload proposals deviating from these minima (but which nevertheless meet the unit's teaching and other obligations) will be considered, and will be used to inform the deans' understanding of effective practice vis-a-vis "low" and "very low" enrollment courses. For more information, please refer to the February 17, 2014 Plenary Session Presentation.

Class Cancellation Deadline

The "Cancel Class Deadline" exists to encourage students - and, in particular, graduate students - to register in a timely fashion so departments and deans' offices can identify low-enrollment classes, make cancellation decisions, and reallocate resources. The Cancel Class Deadline for each coming semester will be the last day of classes of the term in progress.  For this reason, students should be encouraged to enroll as early as possible to avoid the risk of having a desired class canceled due to low enrollment, and both the Schedule of Classes and the Invitation to Enroll communicate this deadline to students. 

Other considerations regarding class limits

There are no contractual limits on teaching assistant section sizes. Pedagogical considerations are the important criterion when determining appropriate section sizes. The number of students in a section and factors such as the type of instruction must be carefully considered, however, in determining the duties and time requirements of the teaching assistant. Departments should not plan major changes from previous section size patterns without consulting Shirin Malekpour.

The College recognizes that there are a number of valid reasons for class size limits and restrictions on course enrollments. These have evolved over time, in consultation with the Dean's Office. Some are physical (e.g., the size of the room or the number of lab stations); some are pedagogical (the need for small classes in Comm B, creative writing or foreign language courses); some are budgetary (the College may be unable to fund an additional section of the course regardless of the demand).