As we embark upon the final month of the academic year, it’s about that time of year again — registration for the fall semester. On the surface, one would not consider this a particularly stressful time for students as they shift their focus towards finals. However, a closer look into the registration process raises a repetitive issue that encumbers thousands of students.
While the Enrollment Wizard on MyPack Portal for registration has been open since March 9, students can only browse, plan and organize courses until mid-April. While March 9 may seem to be an aptly early date to start organizing class schedules for the next semester, students can not actually do so until their assigned date and time. And here lies the main issue with many students being assigned extremely late dates, especially underclassmen with a low number of credits.
On one hand, the registration system is organized by class level based on completed credit hours. Typically seniors register first, then juniors, sophomores and lastly freshman. This registration order is for good reason — the urgency is much greater for seniors to enroll in their necessary courses than freshmen who have many more semesters ahead of them.
On the other hand, it’s apparent that within the freshman class some students are assigned enrollment dates weeks earlier than others. Official registration for most undergraduate students begins on April 7 this year, but many are unable to enroll until as late as April 15. This consequently leads to issues of space in classes that are already full to capacity by the week of April 15.
This clear registration disadvantage results in stressful and frustrating circumstances for thousands of students who now, once again, have to rearrange their schedule and push back required courses to later semesters and often face the lingering inability to pick necessary prerequisites in order to advance with their major. Some of the more common courses that typically get snatched due to such perpetual credit deficit are social sciences, statistics, economics, English, fitness classes and many other GEPs.
The system which gives priority to certain students and not others is based on the number of credits one has as an incoming freshman. This is a recurring disadvantage to those who come from high schools that did not offer AP classes or other sources of credit while teaching on the same or higher level. Students from such schools have no way to accumulate credits before entering college or ever catching up with this deficit that follows them again and again every semester. In essence, those fortunate enough to enter college with more credits to begin with will always be able to register first at any given year, perpetuating that disadvantage for the rest of the students.
One simple solution NC State can opt for is a more randomized system, applied within grade levels to select and assign the registration day and time slots. This system would still prioritize seniors, but allows for students within each grade level to have an equal chance to get an earlier registration slot. Such policy change would even the field for students with different backgrounds as well since out-of-state and international students, who come from completely different school systems that often do not award them any credits but their matriculation certificate.
A lottery system that determines time slots for registration is more equitable, fair and does not give an early pass to students throughout their entire degree. While all students aspire to reach the same spot in four years, it does not make sense to penalize certain segments of this student body.
