Some teachers and students at Concordia University are blaming over enrolment for making it difficult for students to get into courses and graduate on time.
A source at Concordia who wished not to be named for fear of reprisals, told CJAD 800 News via yourstory@cjad.com that the complaints have been going on for years at least in the psychology department: filled-to-capacity courses and waiting lists; increased expenses for students to finish their degree on time and delay career plans; academic advisers allegedly telling students to take a reduced course load as if that were the norm to deflect from the course waiting lists.
Paolo Drago, spokesman for the Concordia Psychology Association said students feel blindsided after following the recommendations of the academic advisors but then not being able to take courses because they're full and not being able to finish their degree on time.
"Some courses are only offered once a year, by a particular professor, so you can imagine people who want to take a specialization class that really caters to what they want to research or study, they might not be able to get into that class for a whole year because the class is full, it's usually a class of 60 so they start lagging behind on the classes they want to take," said Drago.
Drago some students aren't able to get into law or medical programs because they weren't taking full course loads.
"People are kind of blindsided when they start applying and they don't get accepted, 'Well, I did everything the academic advisor told me to do and it's not paying dividends,' " said Drago.
Sources tell CJAD 800 news the psychology department plans to increase the minimum entry requirement for CEGEP grades for new students.
Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota said they don't have a chronic over enrolment issue. Mota acknowledges"there are a few programs where opening extra sections of a course is a challenge." Mota said the psychology department has overflowing courses due to their popularity so they'll be adding larger classes to accomodate.