Why is it always incredibly difficult to get the classes students need?
It is the same issue every semester. The process is difficult and, in my opinion, unnecessarily stressful.
Why can’t something be done to make the process go smoother? We sit in front of our computer days before our registration date and spend hours trying to figure out a way to get classes that fit our schedule.
This is worthless if every time our registration time comes, half of the classes we picked are gone. We need to rush and try to figure something out fast, and that leads us to pick classes we are not interested on.
Why do students have to struggle during the registration process every semester?
As we matriculate at CSUN, it becomes important to take specific classes necessary for us to graduate. You would think that as we start taking advanced classes, we would have an easier time registering for the classes we need.
That is not the case at all. In fact, it is the exact opposite.
Upper division students are supposed to have priority registration, but those words are meaningless if the process doesn’t help students get the classes they need. It could be a game of numbers — maybe there are simply too many people with priority registration for the concept to work effectively.
In a group of 15 students I interviewed, seven received priority registration. Of these seven, only three people said they could actually get the classes they needed.
Yes, this is a small sample, but it does illustrate that people with priority registration have difficulties to find the classes needed to graduate.
Nick Dunn, a senior, was one of the three people with priority access who couldn’t get the classes he needs for next semester.
“It is frustrating that even for senior priority there is not enough classes,”Dunn said. “The entire system is mishandled. It desperately needs to change.”
People with priority registration are the first ones to register and if they can’t access the classes they need, then the system is definitely flawed.
How does this even happen? Are there too many people with priority registration? How can we solve this problem?
Perhaps we need to examine who has priority registration because cheating the system is immoral and unfair to other students.
I understand the concept of creating a hierarchy to help seniors get the classes they need first. However, the way the system currently stands is creating a huge deficit for students in lower classes.
In most cases, juniors, sophomores and freshmen are left to pick up classes that are out of the bounds of their major — which do not help them earn their degrees — just to be a full-time student and not lose their financial aid.
This leaves students to get the classes they can and hope to get the ones they need the following semester. If students pick classes they are not interested in, the chances of being disengaged and failing the course increase. This can raise the dropout rates.
Getting classes at CSUN is like finding your clothes size on Black Friday. This makes everyone wonder if CSUN even has enough faculty for the number of students they have.
It is time to take action. Administration needs to do something. Students need to be heard. Every counselor and teacher is aware of this issue. It is no secret.
Twenty students standing at a teacher’s door the first day of school, begging to be put on the role should not be the norm. We need to start opening more classes for our students. We need to look at the priority registration system and get the people who don’t need it out. We can’t have people taking unfair advantage of the system, and we can definitely not keep having seniors who can’t get the classes they need to graduate.
– Paola Di Brienza, 19, communication major at CSUN.
