Over 60% of students in the spring 2023 semester were enrolled in online classes a campus official said.

Associate Vice President of Administration Michael Lawlor said about 29% of students were enrolled in in-person classes and 11% were enrolled in hybrid classes. Lawlor said they have seen the demand for in-person courses increase since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We expect that demand for in-person classes will continue to increase, but we probably won’t return to the same mix of in-person/online classes that we had prior to the pandemic,” Lawlor said. “We don’t know exactly where we will land, but we will likely offer a significantly higher percentage of online classes than we did pre-pandemic.”

Lawlor defined a successful enrollment as a student earning a grade of an A, B, C, or P in the course. He said that the success rate for the spring 2023 semester for both online and in-person courses was similar, being nearly 70% for both.

Lawlor said in an email statement that the unduplicated headcount, which is the approximate number of students enrolled, was 13,000 for the spring 2023 semester and the unduplicated headcount in the spring 2019 semester was 14,500 students.

“We’ve made up a good portion of the students that we lost during the pandemic,” Lawlor said. “But as you can see, we still have lower enrollments than pre-pandemic.”

Thirty-year-old undeclared major Ben Ly said he preferred in-person classes because it’s easier to make friends there than in online classes. He also said he doesn’t like the pace of online classes.

“Most online classes are very fast-paced and I can’t work like that,” Ly said. “I do get distracted very easily on my own.”

Twenty-year-old computer science major Mohammad Arif-Hasiby said he feels more comfortable in in-person classes.

“I am not a fan of online classes at all, I will not take them and I do not recommend other people to take them,” Arif-Hasiby said.
Arif-Hasiby said he felt that he could make better connections with people in in-person classes rather than in online classes.

“I prefer in-person classes to make friends and I could form study groups together,” Arif-Hasiby said. “It helps create good memories.”

Dean Wilde, a 24-year-old early childhood education major, said in-person classes are good to form study groups.

“In-person classes are very much preferred by me,” Wilde said. “Good to form study groups, make friends and exchange phone numbers.”

Wilde said that he would not recommend online courses to his friends, family, or beginning college students because they don’t get the extra support they get in in-person classes.

“For example, better communication from professors and peers, a better understanding of the material being discussed,” Wilde said. “Just a better study environment rather than staying home and trying to study with so many outside distractions surrounding you.”