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Summer Break Ends As USF Students Head Back To Class

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

With enrollment at USF campuses at an all-time high, it's time to increase the ratio of advisers to students, Provost Ralph Wilcox says.

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 25, 2008

Updated: 08/25/2008 01:20 pm

TAMPA - Summer is over for more than 45,000 students at the University of South Florida today, and their numbers continue to crowd the Tampa campus.

The start of fall classes began with a traditional scene in Tampa: a line of traffic that stretched from the main library to Fowler Avenue.

A new parking garage eased congestion for most commuters, however, and a new student union rising four stories offered respite – and about 10 new eateries – from the humid conditions, prompting junior Renelle Whyte to say she was "blown away."

Classrooms remain filled to capacity.

Enrollment at all of USF's campuses is at an all-time high, Provost Ralph Wilcox said, and most of that growth is at the university's regional campuses.

The number of students at the Tampa campus stayed flat this year, and enrollment at USF St. Petersburg, for instance, increased 5 percent to about 4,700, according to the university's unofficial figures.

The number of freshmen at St. Petersburg alone increased 45 percent this year to 362 students, and the number of freshmen in Tampa was flat.

The reason: There's little room, or money, for growth at the university's Tampa campus. Administrators recently suffered a $35.6 million loss of state money thanks to a souring economy that eliminated 170 vacant faculty positions.

There was plenty of room in St. Petersburg, Lakeland and Sarasota, however. Many students who would have qualified for admission into the Tampa campus in years past instead were offered a spot in St. Petersburg.

Now administrators are turning their attention to offering relief at the student advising line.

Wilcox said today that he plans to add eight academic advisers to the university's various colleges.

Though typical for the first day of classes, students crowded advising offices all morning to find ways to juggle schedules and engineer attempts to enter filled-up classes.

A new adviser for the College of Business is sorely needed, said Jackie Nelson, the college's director of undergraduate advising. Currently, Nelson can provide one adviser per 900 students. The recommended ratio is 1 to 400.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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