Twice a year, students at Binghamton University enroll in new courses and sections. Many succeed in getting the classes they want or need in order to graduate, but for many others, the enrollment process only yields heartache and unsatisfactory compromises.
Shaina Youssefzadeh, a junior majoring in psychology, has had many difficulties with enrolling in classes this semester.
“My biggest problem is getting closed out of the classes I want or need by the time my registration date rolls around,” Youssefzadeh said. “I think the major issue is that Binghamton University does not provide enough seats in classes for their students. It is entirely unfair that I, as well as everyone else, pay tuition and am still unable to register for classes of my choice.”
She said she was behind on the usual track for completing the psychology major’s requirements because of enrollment issues, and that she believed it’s possible her graduation date would be delayed as a result.
“Because I am getting closed out of psychology classes, I may have to spend an additional year, possibly even two years, here in Binghamton,” Youssefzadeh said.
This fall is not the first semester Youssefzadeh has had trouble enrolling in her desired classes. She said she is currently trying to petition into a psychology course, the third time she has done so at BU.
In the interim, Youssefzadeh is enrolled in two courses that neither count toward her major nor fulfill general educational requirements, for the purpose of retaining her status as a full-time student.
“It is highly inconvenient to take courses that do not go toward my major,” Youssefzadeh said. “They are a waste of my time and I should be taking classes I need.”
According to Youssefzadeh, she was first on the wait-list for “PSYC 473: Family and Marital Psychology,” and she was one of two students to obtain a signed add form from the professor, Albert Lichtenstein.
The psychology department still did not allow her to enroll in the class.
“To deal with this problem, I went to the psychology department, who sent me to the Registrar, who sent me to Course Building and Academic Space Management, who sent me back to the psychology department,” Youssefzadeh said.
The issue was never resolved, and Youssefzadeh is unable to register for the class.
Rebecca Bandler, a junior majoring in psychology and also a student in the Decker School of Nursing, was shut out of a senior psychology seminar in which she was trying to enroll this semester.
“I was shut out of the psych seminars I need,” Bandler said. “Now I will be forced to take a senior psych seminar at the same time as my nursing clinicals.”
She said she believed class space is limited in psychology courses because the subject is a very popular major.
“I think it’s ridiculous that one of the most popular Harpur majors fails to have enough spots in classes required to fill a major,” Bandler said.
Sophia Andeskie, a sophomore double-majoring in geology and environmental science, said she initially experienced difficulty this semester getting into a course she needed to take for her geology major. But she said she was able to enroll after she emailed the professor and requested to be added to a wait-list. The professor responded by asking the Registrar’s Office to add five more seats to the class.
“I’ve had to petition into other classes in the past,” Andeskie said. “I just try to be very nice and professional in how I word my request to the professor. Then the situation usually pans out.”
Kate Flatley, the Student Association vice president for academic affairs, however, called registration a “nightmare.”
“The issue is that because we are a state school, we have limited resources,” Flatley said. “The University cannot open up new sections of courses just because students deserve them.”
Flatley said she has personally experienced the same enrollment problems that she thinks most students face, including taking undesired classes and taking heavier-than-desired course loads.
“However, I have not had the nightmares of many [human development] students or students of other schools [within BU] where they are forced to delay graduation for a semester, or even a year because of advising or registration issues,” she said.
Flatley suggested that enrollment problems are aggravated by incompetent academic advisers within BU’s College of Community and Public Affairs.
“I know many students share my hypothesis, and I am hoping that this year we can send a [College of Community and Public Affairs]-wide survey to get some concrete numbers on this and show administration what the real problem is,” she added.
Flatley said she believed a representative sample of student opinion showing problems with academic advising might sway the University to take corrective actions.
“I know that the Registrar, the administration, the SA and various other departments within the University are working very hard to make the process at least a bit better,” Flatley said.
The Registrar’s Office and Jean-Pierre Mileur, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at BU, did not respond to requests for comment.