Article

Gambling on registration

Before this academic year, course registration seemed a little like a game of roulette. A student would sit down at the table, pick some numbers, place a bet, and watch the wheel spin. Sometimes the student could win big, like getting every single course requested – and with Fridays off. Other times the student could come up empty. Like landing a Monday 8:30 discussion or getting shut out of an intro history class.

Or maybe it’s more like Russian Roulette.

So the big shots in the Registrar’s office decided to change the system. Instead of submitting course requests and finding out the actual outcome more than two weeks down the road, they gave us instant placement.

Students can now sit down during their course selection periods and confidently walk away knowing exactly what classes they’ll be taking and when. They can plan their extracurriculars. They can schedule their work hours at Mickey D’s. They have plenty of time to talk to professors or academic departments to get help with registration issues. Using either the BUSI system or the course registration website, students can find out whether they got into a class as soon as they type it in. If they don’t get their first choices, they can substitute alternatives on the spot.

Some students raise an important objection to the new system. Sure, it would make registration a quicker process, but it throws the practice of granting priority for classes to majors right out the window. In the first come first serve system, the computer can’t differentiate between majors and non-majors, and so an English major could get shut out of an essential course by a biology major looking for any filler course that doesn’t meet on Fridays. And this is a problem.

Before, the system had some human influence – professors and departments had more leverage to admit or block certain students from attending their classes. Now, the number of credits a student has is the only thing that matters.

When a second semester freshman gets priority to register over someone who has been here a full year, there’s something very wrong with the system. For example, students can enter college with a full year of college credit under their belt in the form of Advanced Placement tests. And in a state secondary school system with such wide educational disparity, only certain privileged students have these credits available to them. The advantage that these students have over the others becomes amplified by the new credit-based system.

The main problem may have little to do with how registration is conducted. If students are getting shut out of courses they need for their degrees, the University must not be offering enough sections of important classes. As Binghamton University enrollment has climbed in past years, the amount of faculty and availability of classroom space has failed to keep tempo.

It’s important that University offices work actively to improve the college experience as enrollment goes up, and the Registrar’s office is right to try new things to make the process easier for students. But it’s time for the University administration to take a serious look at how students’ educational needs are being met in the face of chaotic growth.