Both smaller class sizes and fewer courses offered this semester is a change to students who have been attending El Camino in recent years, and they are both of low enrollment numbers for the spring semester.

Yes, some could say that smaller classes are a good thing, providing one-on-one instruction that’s helpful to many, but the reason classes are emptier this semester is because enrollment is lower than any other in recent years.

One reason for this? Winter session being cut.

Last year was the first year winter session had been cut at El Camino after years of going back and forth about its future. It’s clear already that winter session needs to be brought back. We’re losing students because we don’t have it anymore. And we’ll continue to lose students if it stays gone.

At last month’s board of trustees meeting, President Tom Fallo said that this semester, 70 sections were cut at El Camino. He said 64 were cut at the Compton Center.

Certainly several factors weigh in to this, but two of the main ones have to be the economy continuing to improve and the fact that other local colleges offer winter session. Those are the schools that former El Camino students are attending. They’re going to them for winter session, then because the winter sessions and our spring session overlaps, students stay at that school.

Of the five community colleges closest to El Camino in distance — L.A. Southwest, the Compton Center, L.A. Harbor, West L.A. and L.A. Trade Tech — three offer winter session.

The ones that don’t are Harbor and the Compton Center. It’s worth noting that the Compton Center is in a different district than El Camino, but shares the same superintendent and board of trustees and therefore usually has a similar schedule to ours.

“The Union” acknowledges that bringing back winter session costs money — with paying teachers and all that goes into getting classrooms ready and able to use and running during a time when not many people are around — but it’s worth it. The institution is losing plenty of money with students taking their tuition funds elsewhere.

On the other hand, if classes don’t have fewer students than they usually do, they’re overcrowded with two of the same course being combined into one section. This forces one teacher to lose a class and, at times, students to alter their schedules. Still, in week five, there are students in classes who don’t have a desk to sit at. They sit in the back or sides of the room and use a folder as their desk.

Some students had classes they needed for a requirement cut. The cutting of those classes could impact their course load, sometimes having them lose full-time status. This could affect their financial aid, insurance costs and transfer plans.

Without winter session, students are leaving and will continue to leave. If students choose to stay, they have to face the consequences of their peers leaving. It’s not the students’ fault that El Camino cut winter session, so why should they pay with not getting the classes they need or not having a desk to write on?