When it comes to registering for classes each semester, students are faced with various choices: numerous courses to choose from, different time slots that fits a student’s schedule, the ability to add/ drop a course if needed. But although registering is another step closer to graduating, registration can easily turn into frustration.
Registration for seniors opened two weeks ago at 6 a.m. on the SCSU website, but not every SCSU student, like Erica Gammon, agrees that registering at such an early hour guarantees easy access.
“First of all, I’d like to say that this is not the first time I’ve had trouble with registering for classes,” said Gammon, a biology major. “I was put a semester behind because I could not register in time last year because of a technical difficulty. I am a biology major and there are many classes that I absolutely need to graduate. This year it took me about 35 minutes to get into BannerWeb.”
According to SCSU’s Office of Information Technology, the reason for the delay in registration was due to the heavy overload of students trying to log on to Banner at the same time and suggested that students call the Help Desk for those who were having problems with their username and password.
Jennifer Anderson, sociology major, said she is unsatisfied with Southern’s registration delays and said there should be a way to prevent it from happening to future students.
“I find it appalling that for as long as I have been here, and I’m sure before that, the same problem has occurred at every registration and no steps have been taken to resolve it,” said Anderson.
“Other schools do not have this problem. Southern should be making the effort to communicate with these other schools and find out what changes can be made.”
According to the Arkansas Traveler Newspaper, it is a common thing for delays in class registration in many campuses across the country, and although it can become frustrating, knowing which classes students have to take and having a few backups in case those classes are full is always a good idea.
“That’s when everyone registers! I still don’t understand why people wake up so early just to get themselves all upset because the system is down due to overload of students trying to do the same thing. I have always known never to do that because I know I will never get any classes that way. I get more sleep and get the classes I want. It’s a win-win for me.”
Though Gammon said she found it hard to register for classes, she thinks Southern’s technology office will eventually find a way to make student’s life easier during registration time.
“My tip for the technology department is that there should be a few IT people working on the mornings of registration,” said Gammon. “But I know that they are aware of the problems and I am sure they have been taking action to try to solve some of the technical difficulties.
