With an increased number of students in each class, professors have to use additional tools, such as WebAssign and interactive clickers, in the classroom to get everyone involved, according to Jim Martin, faculty senate chair and chemistry professor.

Due to budget cuts, he said, the money for these items must come out of students’ pocket.

“One of the important things to recognize is that professors have a limited fund for supplies,” he said. “There was a budget cut this year, but enrollment is up.”

Funding decreases have made it difficult for professors to purchase the necessary materials for class, Martin said.

While no regulation has been established concerning what professors can require, he said no one requires materials that are unreasonable.

“It’s similar to elementary schools,” Martin said. “I was provided my pencils when I was there. Now parents are required to purchase these things for their children.”

Martin said that larger class sizes require the use of these tools.

“If the classes were smaller, [professors] could actually grade homework,” he said. “But with classes of 200 to 300 people, it’s much more difficult and we have to use tools such as WebAssign.”

He also said these tools are making it easier for students to learn the material because they all get a chance to interact with the professor in some form.

Meghan Radford, a sophomore in biomedical engineering, feels that instructors don’t receive enough money to do their job properly.

“I’ve always felt that teachers should get a bigger budget,” Radford said. “They teach some of the brightest people in our society who go one to do great things: like doctors, lawyers, politicians and other teachers. If professors get a low budget, they can’t buy the materials they need to teach with.”

Jackie Varner, a sophomore in food science and nutrition science, said that she wished there were more professors so that class sizes could be smaller.

“I understand that large classes require some of these materials, but I wish that they could hire more professors,” she said. “That way, students could interact with their instructor, and we wouldn’t have to purchase things like WebAssign or CPS Clickers.”

Less professor interaction made Varner’s transition to college more difficult, she said.

“I’ve always liked being able to interact with my teachers in high school, but it’s so much harder to do in college,” Varner said. “I have to work harder to learn the material because I don’t always get a chance to talk with my professor.”

Psychology instructor T.J. Whelan, who’s been teaching for four years, said most of his classes are small, but that he has had some larger classes.

“Usually I have forty people in a class. It’s very different having a class of 100,” he said.

The course material has to stay the same, he said, so the way it’s taught must be changed.

Martin said that this is a problem that needs to be brought to the attention of decision-makers.

“Legislators and administrators need to know that,” he said. “In order to teach all of the students we have coming in, we need more teachers.”