Students return to Gavilan College for fall semester
Gilroy – The Gavilan College campus is showing signs of academic life as students returned to Gilroy, Hollister and Morgan Hill campuses after summer break this week – all 4,389 of them.
Signs welcoming students decorated classroom buildings. Book sales doubled Aug. 8 at the school store. The Associated Student Body had set up a tent where students were stopping by to chat.
“Papers are already assigned,” said student Barbara Graham.
She sat at a picnic table in the sun, with her Intermediate Algebra textbook cracked. Her notepad was already filled with pencil scratchings.
“It’s still the first chapter,” she said.
Graham has been attending Gavilan since she enrolled in a night class two years ago. A re-entry student, she returned to school to attain her Associates in Arts after working at Hewlett Packard for a number of years.
“I was only able to go so far,” she explained. “It always bothered me that I didn’t have my degree.”
The 48-year-old is cramming three of her general education requirements this semester so she can finish studies in Digital Media next semester.
“I just want to get it done,” she said.
Most students have continued to adhere to the traditional method of signing up in person for classes, rather than registering via telephone. Lines at the admissions office were 12 people deep during lunchtime Wednesday.
According to Gavilan’s Director of Admissions Joy Parker, enrollment is flat from last year – however, students can register through Sunday by telephone.
The average age of Gavilan students is 29, and the campuses remain majority female, at 63 percent.
Cost per credit unit is holding steady at $26, meaning one three-unit course costs 78 and a full load of five classes will cost $390.
English and math classes were the first to fill up, followed by courses in the Allied Health, Nursing and Cosmetology departments.
Officials were pleasantly surprised by student enrollment in one class.
“Elementary Japanese has been enormously popular,” Parker said. “Who knew?”
While students may have missed out on learning Japanese, there are still plenty of departments with courses with openings including physical education, social sciences, theater and music, Parker said.
For first-year student Jonathan McRae strolled through campus Wednesday afternoon on his way to class. He has been going strong since about 9am, has biology lab until after 5pm, and is enrolled in 17 units – from English to theater and music.
But you won’t hear this 18-year-old complaining.
“They’re all fun,” he said. “This summer was kind of boring so this is a nice change.”
To register via phone through Sunday, call 846-3729.
