When enrolling in psychology classes, UC Santa Cruz students wait in anticipation. Multiple alarms are set for their enrollment appointments. They hover over their computers hours before their assigned time. They have to be on high alert to make sure their required classes don’t fill up, and be ready to change course if they do.
“It [all] happens very fast,” said third-year Emily Candela, who is a combined major in general psychology and Latin American and Latino studies. “It’s like fighting all of your peers at the same time for enrollment.”
This is how enrollment goes for many undergraduates in the department. Psychology at UCSC is considered an impacted major, meaning the demand is higher than the amount of space available for students to take it. As a result, many students end up not being able to enroll in the classes they need, when they need them.
This happened to Candela last year.
“Last quarter, it seemed like I wasn’t going to graduate on time because the psych advising was like, ‘You should have taken this [class] last year, you needed to do this,’” Candela said. “But it wasn’t possible.”
Waitlisted
“The only time that I’ve actually gotten into classes first try is now that I’m senior standing,” said Josephine Sidney, a third-year cognitive science and film double major. “The main problem with the major is that it was just so hard to get into classes.”
Cognitive science is a major under the psychology department, which requires students to take psychology courses to graduate with the degree.
Over the past four years, the number of declared psychology students has increased from 1,458 students in 2020-21 to 1,949 students in 2024-25 — a total increase of 33.67 percent. Undergraduate enrollment at UCSC has increased by 10.54 percent in the same time period. 
Source: UCSC Institutional Research, Analytics, and Planning Support (IRAPS) and UCSC IRAPS Common Data Set 2024-2025
As such, waitlists for required courses are a common hurdle both faculty and students alike have to face.
In Bryan Holbrook’s case, a lecturer in the psychology department, the number of waitlisted students in one of his 180-person classes can range from 20-40 students — although he added that he’s previously had more.
“I do regularly have students who have to delay a quarter or take summer courses to graduate on time,” said Holbrook in an email to City on a Hill Press. “In my non-seminar courses, I try to admit students off the waitlist over capacity when possible to alleviate this.”
The process of possibly obtaining a permission code or getting off a waitlist in the psychology department is a tedious one.
“It’s kind of like a battle to get into psych classes,” Candela said. “You have to beg the psych advising department for the waitlist application, because you have to apply to be on the waitlist and you have to apply for permission codes.”
In many departments, students can directly email their advisors or the professor to request a permission code. However, for psychology majors, results through this method are not guaranteed.
City on a Hill Press obtained a March 10 email from psychology advising to juniors and seniors. It stated that declared psychology and cognitive science majors with junior or senior standing by the end of winter 2025 could request permission codes via a Google Form for spring quarter enrollment.
To be eligible for a permission code, psychology majors must fulfill all of the prerequisites for a class. When all discussion sections are full, students are advised to not even try to get on a waitlist. If a student is not declared prior, they “may still submit a request, but will have lowest priority.”
According to a presentation made by the psychology department, “How to Perform Your Own Grad Check,” psychology majors with junior standing who weren’t able to enroll in any undergraduate psychology courses could request one permission code.
Those with senior standing who couldn’t enroll in any psychology courses could request up to two permission codes. Seniors who weren’t able to enroll in one psychology course they needed to graduate could request up to one permission code.
“Note that permission codes are NOT guaranteed,” the advising email stated in a highlighted bold underline.
Once students apply, they await an email response that informs them of whether or not they got the classes they asked for. If an email reveals that they didn’t get the class, they’re out of luck.
“The worst part is everybody in the psych major goes through this,” said Sidney. “It’s not unique to me at all, and it’s just normalized in this way that’s really frustrating because I’m just trying to earn my degree.”
The Student to Faculty Ratio
The senate faculty, meaning professors and assistant professors, in the psychology department make up roughly 5 percent of all senate faculty at UCSC. Declared psychology majors make up 15 percent of all declared majors at UCSC.
In total, that’s 32 faculty members and 5 lecturers teaching almost 2,500 students.
“The ratio of declared majors to faculty is substantially higher than any other department on campus,” wrote Benjamin Storm, psychology department chair, in an email to City on a Hill Press. “We put in a request every year to hire more faculty, and we will continue to do so.”
Katharyne Mitchell, the dean of social sciences, is in charge of writing and requesting funding for new full time employee (FTE) faculty positions from campus provost and executive vice chancellor (CP/EVC) Lori Kletzer in the form of a “divisional request.”
“Every year I ask for more faculty for psychology than we are authorized to hire,” Mitchell wrote. “This is primarily because of broader financial constraints on the campus as a whole, but it reflects decisions made by central campus on where they think the resources are best allocated.”
Senate faculty payroll has only seen a 27 percent increase in the last three fiscal years, whereas senior management payroll has increased by 45 percent over the same period.
Ever since the $111 million structural budget deficit was announced on Aug. 20, 2024, departments and divisions across campus have been working under tight budgets. In response, the Fresh Academic Instructional Resources (AIR) Model was enacted and centralized budget control into the hands of higher administration rather than department deans.
Prior to the model, departments held control over their own general funds and money saved from previous years. Now, senior management, rather than department deans, make decisions about where money should be spent.
“My own feeling is that social sciences in general, including psychology and other departments, do not receive as many resources, including faculty FTE, as we should get, given how many undergraduate students we graduate,” Mitchell wrote.
Through email, City on a Hill Press asked assistant vice chancellor of communications and marketing Scott Hernandez-Jason and CP/EVC Kletzer how they address the needs of academic divisions in the midst of a budget deficit.
We also asked them to explain the decision-making process of how funds are allocated, specifically in the impacted psychology department, in such a trying financial period for the university.
To both questions, Hernandez-Jason replied:
“We strive to use our limited financial resources to best support and advance the teaching and research mission of UC Santa Cruz. We work collaboratively with deans and other campus leaders to understand needs and priorities and make decisions that are in the best interest of students, faculty, and staff.”
CP/EVC Kletzer replied three days after Hernandez-Jason following an additional request. She directed us to Hernandez-Jason’s response, writing “his statement summarizes our goals and process in the allocation of campus resources.”
The Real Consequence: A Student’s Story By Maya Becker
One of City on a Hill Press’ reporters, Maya Becker, has been affected by the disproportional student-to-faculty ratio as an undergraduate in the psychology department. Her experience is unique to her, but many of her feelings are shared by others within impacted majors. Here is her story:
When I first opened the email confirming my acceptance to UCSC in 2020, I was filled with pride — and my time here has certainly not disappointed me. But in between the wonderful friendships I have made, and surreal natural landscapes I’ve been lucky enough to inhabit, my years at UCSC have been marked by a constant fight to experience what I thought I would be paying for when I was accepted.
The intensive psychology route is designed for those who intend on going to graduate school. It requires additional coursework and a two-quarter field study or research experience. I’ve known since my acceptance I wanted to pursue higher education in psych, and my advisors encouraged me to take the intensive route.
Being in the impacted major of psychology is a constant balance between appreciation for the teachers and programming, and overwhelming frustration at the lack of course availability, shifting academic plans and stressful enrollment dates filled with uncertainty.
When I went to enroll in the final psychology course I needed to complete my degree and graduate this spring, the years of frustration compounded. I wasn’t initially too worried when I saw that the course I needed was full — many psychology courses are during first-pass enrollment.
I figured I’d try the waitlist or reach out to ask for permission codes. I couldn’t fathom not being able to graduate in intensive psychology due to a single course offering being full.
But an email from psych advising made my heart drop; permission codes weren’t available for me. My options were to stay another quarter, or change my major just months away from graduation from the intensive psychology concentration to the general major.
As an out of state student, paying for another quarter wasn’t a viable option, so the only possibility — the worst and never-expected outcome — became reality. My strongly worded attempts to solve the issue proved futile.
I had to accept that there was no other option. So I made the switch.
The biggest betrayal came from recognizing that had I switched into general psychology earlier, I could’ve graduated the previous year. My family had effectively paid for another year of tuition and housing for nothing.
As I get ready to walk across the graduation stage, I hope the disappointment of not receiving my intended degree dissipates and I can access the pride I felt when first opening the email that marked my acceptance to UCSC.
At the same time, I hope continuing students will remain angry and aware. I hope their frustration fuels their fight to demand the education they paid for, the education they deserve, and the education they signed up to receive when they decided to go to a UC.
