BMCC administrators claim they will be able to offer students the same access to coursework despite these cuts
That seems unlikely. Instructors are already at capacity or going above and beyond, many of them serve as adjunct instructors to other departments to provide the comprehensive and robust coursework currently available at BMCC. This is necessary as the student to full-time faculty ratio is currently 75 to 1 (on the high end of average across the community colleges in-state). More course sections need to be offered to maintain an in-class ratio of 20 students to one instructor, which is often dictated by class size and seating capacity.
If these cuts are made the student ratio will jump to 104:1, dropping BMCC from an “average” state standing to the second-lowest in the state. By reducing the instructor pool by ⅓, there is no way the college can offer the same number of courses or a variety of modalities. This means students will have a harder time registering for the courses they actually need and the time to completion will increase.
An estimation of the number of classes that will NOT be on the schedule (as they are currently offered by faculty identified by these cuts) suggests over 200 courses will not have the staff required (or expertise) to run. Leaving a potential 2000 seats unfilled by students. That’s 2000 students who won't have the classes they wanted or needed for their program.
