WGU Layoffs

[sacredrain]

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You work there yet don't know how many students are enrolled? The meeting to lay them off took place at 10 am. There were 2 mandatory meetings at 10am. One told them they were gone and the other told the mentors who were staying that they still had a job. Then there was the 3pm meeting notifying Student Services what happened. It's clear that you don't seem to have an issue what how this was handled and that's probably because the school gives you a paycheck. You're not looking at this from a student's standpoint at all. 

When you layoff 160 people you need to have a plan BEFORE you lay them off! WGU decides 3 days ago to lay these people off. They CLEARLY did not have a plan. There was no announcement made to students who suddenly could not contact their mentors nor was there one made to Student Services so that they could help reassure students that there was a plan in place. Students still don't have a mentor and can't access classes. That's not a plan. That's a disaster. Mind you these students are PAYING for this service!
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I am saying that basically the enrollment numbers are "rolling." It could include the number they expect to enroll for this month, but there is no real way of knowing because of the rolling nature of WGU. It changes every month. 

So saying you have 135,000 students could mean students who are in the middle of terms, students who have graduated that month, and students who have committed to the upcoming term, and new students who have completed the enrollment process. This is why I am saying they may not have the 135,000 strong number, due to how they count students. Most universities only count students who are actually there and have enrolled say 10 days after a term starts.

So say someone doesnt complete orientation within 5 days they are dropped and it does happen, but they count in the numbers because they went through the enrollment process but they will not count for the August numbers as they are gone, so its hard to say there is no hard set enrollment figure and it changes as I mentioned.

As for the layoffs, the meetings were not college wide, they were team wide. Teams vary from college to college, plus HR had to contact each person who was laid off and then the managers had to as well. As for layoffs these happen all the time so not sure why anyone is surprised. As I stated in a previous post, I used to work at Kaplan University (now Purdue University Global), they laid off 1000 of us 2 weeks before Christmas in 2012, students were also left in a lurch as some faculty who were at the end of courses were dismissed and students went a few days without a university instructor until they had figured out who remained and who stayed and reassigned the students. Keep in mind that Kaplan had 4 terms that started a month back then (one each week) so students who were due to start the next week had no one to talk to either.  It sucks I agree, but it happens. I am not saying its right, I am saying it does happen.

As from a student standpoint, once again do not make baseless claims you do not know me so you do not know how I feel about it at all, nor do you know my experiences as a student. I know how the students feel because my course load just went from 200 students in the course I teach at WGU, to almost 400 due to some of the layoffs. Plus I have been an online student as well as a traditional one. I know how it is to be a student on a campus and you have to wait an entire year to graduate, because you are waiting for a course you need, that you cannot transfer in and only one professor teaches it and that professor will not let you do independent study. I also know how it is to have faculty on your disstertation committee come and go rapidly because they are part time and contractors so this sets you back, as well as having academic counselors who are here today and gone tomorrow. Lastly if I did not care about students I would not be doing all I can to help out at University of the People, where lets face it, the honorarium is not enough to get a Starbucks when you divide it up by how many students I have. So do not insult me by saying I am only doing what I do for the paycheck, get your facts straight first.