I went to an overcrowded high school. It was built for 1800 students; there were nearly 2300 of us. Classes were held in converted faculty lounges and the larger storage closets. Some higher level classes couldn’t be offered because there were too few of us to occupy the valuable room. Universities are cutting classes available and upping class sizes to compensate, leaving students to question the quality of education they’re paying for.

No Adult Left Behind
I’ve taught overcrowded classes. While one would hope that a college setting would eliminate the behavioral issues that go with large class sizes (chatting and whatnot), the fact remains that large classes let students of all ages slip through the cracks.

A little bit of apathy goes a long way in a lecture hall filled with hundreds of students. Students today aren’t as willing to be just another head, this is Generation Me, after all. In today’s laptop bespeckled classrooms, it’s obvious that not everyone is paying attention. This is definitely the fault of the student, not the university, but a great school eliminates these issues and motivates students to learn and achieve.

And What About the Workload?
More students means more papers to grade. With funding being cut across the board, I can only imagine that there won’t be money for extra teacher’s assistants to grade these papers. Will professors be inundated, or will the assignments become fewer and easier to grade? This can only negatively effect the quality of education, but don’t worry, you can avoid the issue altogether by going online for your degree.