Modern Languages & Literatures Department - College Based Fees - Letter 2013-14

College Based Fees Letter to Students 2013-14

April 25, 2014

Dear MLL Students and Families,

Greetings from the department chair! I hope you are doing well, and that those new to Cal Poly have now fully adjusted to the pace of the quarter system. I want to take this opportunity to review the notion of College Based Fees (CBF) and to report on the progress for this academic year 2013-14.

CBF is a special fee that Cal Poly students voted to impose on themselves starting in 2002. The amount of the fee varies from college to college. These fees are sent directly to the departments, and, in consultation with a student committee, recommendations are made on how to spend the funds. In the last four years, we have spent the majority of the funds available to us to secure seats for majors in courses where we have determined there is a special need.

This year, the MLL department had two majors continuing their service on the committee: Nicole Beaudoin, and Danny Brosnahan. If any of you are interested in serving on next year’s committee, please let us know! This year, seats were reserved in high-demand courses in the primary language (Spanish) and in our most frequently chosen secondary language (French), as well as in the capstone MLL 360 course. This Spring, we also gave our majors the opportunity to count an advanced cross-listed Spanish/Theater class as part of their upper-division required coursework and made sure that there were enough spaces reserved for them there. The following table gives a breakdown of what preferential course enrollment opportunities were offered in Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters 2013-14. Please remember that not all majors are looking to take a particular course at the same time. Beyond this special CBF reserve system, we always give preference to our own majors during enrollment in our MLL courses.

	COURSE ENROLLMENT CAP	MLL RESERVED SEATS
FALL
FR 101-5	28	5
FR 201-3	24	5
SPAN 201-1	24	10
SPAN 203-1	24	10
SPAN 233-1	32	10
SPAN 305-1	30	10
WINTER
SPAN 102-1	28	5
SPAN 102-5	28	5
MLL 360-1	24	5
SPAN 233-1	32	10
SPAN 402-1	30	10
SPRING
FR 101-1	28	5
FR 103-3	30	5
FR 233-1	30	5
SPAN 103-7	30	5
SPAN 410-1	32	5
TH 300-1	30	5

Courses in which reserve seats were designated remained closed to all but MLL majors so long as seats were available. Once alpha rotation (priority) was complete, or the reserved seats had been used by MLL majors, any remaining seats were released to the general student population and anyone meeting pre-requisites could then sign up for these classes. In this way, students had some certainty that there would be at least some seats available to them no matter when they registered. This system helps insure that MLL students have the best opportunity to complete their degrees on time and in a way that gives them the freedom to create a curriculum best suited to their needs.

I want to assure you that you are welcome to drop by and request to see information on how we have used the funds. It is important to understand that although these funds are now part of our regular allocation for teaching, students have a direct impact and access to information as to how the finds are used and how much of these funds are used in any one quarter.

Again, I wish you the best for the rest of the academic year. Know that the student committee and I seek to keep all MLL students and their families informed of our activities. I look forward to working with the committee throughout the rest of the academic year and to strive in our effort to secure the best education possible in MLL.

Yours truly,

John Thompson

Professor and Chair

Modern Languages and Literatures Department

College Based Fees Plan 2013-14

CBF EXPENDITURE SUMMARY 2013-14

TOTAL MLL		64			0.36	0.45	0.32	0.27
QUARTER	COURSE	COURSE UNITS	COURSE  CAP	SPACES RESERVED	AY AVG	FTEF  FALL	FTEF WINTER	FTEF  SPRING
FALL
	FR 101-05	4	28	5	0.02	0.05
	FR 210-03	4	24	5	0.02	0.06
	SPAN 201-01	4	24	10	0.04	0.11
	SPAN 203-01	4	24	10	0.04	0.11
	SPAN 233-01	4	32	10	0.03	0.08
	SPAN 305-01	4	30	10	0.03	0.09
WINTER
	SPAN 102-01	4	28	5	0.0159		0.05
	SPAN 102-05	4	28	5	0.0159		0.05
	MLL 360-01	4	24	5	0.0185		0.06
	SPAN 233-01	4	32	10	0.0278		0.08
	SPAN 402-01	4	30	10	0.0296		0.09
SPRING
	FR 101-01	4	28	5	0.0159			0.05
	FR 101-03	4	30	5	0.0148			0.04
	FR 233-01	4	30	5	0.0148			0.04
	SPAN 103-07	4	30	5	0.0148			0.04
	SPAN 410-01	4	32	5	0.0139			0.04
	TH 300-01	4	30	5	0.0148			0.04