By The fall 2024 semester brought a record 41,000 students to Long Beach State, each with different perspectives on the campus environment.
The influx of students is a notable difference to Vincent Ya, a second-year aerospace engineering student, as he said this change made getting to classes more difficult. On his first day, Ya said it took him an hour to find a parking spot.
“Even last year, it was pretty packed, but now, it’s getting a little crazy,” Ya said. “Maybe they should stop handing out admissions– they should be more considerate of the people who are already here.”
However, the campus crowds that Ya commented on are a positive development in the eyes of third-year transfer student and cinematic arts major Bryan Viteri, as he said, “I don’t mind the crowding, it tells me it’s a good thing.”
Viteri said that the crowds symbolize the institution is a place where people want to be, and the struggle to park is a Californian reality that can never be solved.
Viteri’s perspective on the increase of students being a positive difference is mirrored in second-year technical theatre and film major Saul Perez’s perspective.
Perez said that he wanted to be in a place where he could practice music surrounded by people his age.
Saul Perez (he/him), sophomore, B.A. in Theatre Arts/Technical Theatre, gives his opinions on campus issues as Long Beach State reaches new enrollment records. Photo credit: Justin Enriquez
Perez, however, noted that this year’s 3.5% increase in parking fees to $259 a semester was a detriment. Since Perez has to bring his guitar and equipment to practice on campus, he said that it is important that he has his own transportation to avoid being on the bus with his guitar.
“I would say there are more students outside right now, but with them putting the parking permit up, I guess they don’t want people being here too,” Perez said.
Beyond having a direct impact on just students, second-year biochemistry major and psychology minor Catherine Palm said that the influx has affected professors.
Within her STEM classes, Palm said her professors have complained that they’ve been under more stress for grading due to having too many students.
“They physically can’t handle it when [class sizes] keep on increasing every single year,” Palm said. “If you’re going to have more students, you need to have more teachers instead of just piling on more work for the teachers.”
Despite the record number of students admitted this 2024-2025 academic year, CSULB had a lower number of 34 onboarded faculty in comparison to the 55 newly hired faculty in the previous 2023-2024 academic year.
