With class registration right around the corner, many students are logging into their registration portals and finding that what is supposed to be a simple task is more akin to a complex mess.
SVSU registration is incredibly flawed and is creating more problems than solutions for students. The biggest factor in this problem is the lack of communication between academic departments. For example, take the Biology and Chemistry departments. As a biochemistry major, I am supposed to take a chemistry class and a biology class next year; however, the two departments have scheduled their classes so that they overlap with each other and there is no way for me to take both courses within a single year.
This kind of issue arises due to the negligence of the academic departments and disregard for the students who are caught between areas of study. The Biology department schedules classes as if they only teach biology majors, and the same goes for the Chemistry department and their majors. Even though many science-oriented majors will be taking chemistry alongside biology, the two offices share no coordinated attempts to satisfy the students.
Additionally, class scheduling opens for student viewing less than a month before registration begins. This hardly provides enough time for students to begin scheduling classes, recognize an issue and schedule advising to get it addressed. When I realized that my three required classes for next semester would overlap with each other, I decided to schedule an academic advising appointment; by the time I did, there were no in-person appointment times left and the earliest date I could schedule an appointment was April 2.
I reoriented my schedule by pushing back one of those required classes and can only hope that it does not affect me in the future. This uncertainty has become a source of stress which I can imagine is harbored by many other students in similar situations.
While SVSU prides itself on small class sizes and a personal teaching environment, this idea is somewhat unrealistic and poorly executed. Offering classes with a maximum of twenty-four seats and only two sections has the potential to make or break someone’s schedule; the difference of an hour on registration day could be the difference between graduating on time or significantly later.
Considering that almost every single student attending this campus pays to be here, you would think that the departments in charge of ensuring the efficiency of our education would be more collected. Students should not be forced into a bind that spans several semesters due to the lack of communication between academic factions.
It could be argued that students experiencing scheduling troubles should be able to recognize these issues quickly and that their failure to do so is due to their own incompetence. However, to blame the students for the errors that arise in scheduling is to be ignorant of their position in this puzzle. With class scheduling becoming available less than a month before registration opens, how can students anticipate the problems that may arise? How can students be expected to fix these problems when the main issue lies within the hands of the departments and their faculty?
I urge our departments and school officials to consider the merits of reworking the structure of class registration so that all students are presented with the equal opportunity to succeed. I urge the students to address this matter instead of letting the waves of inefficient organization wash over them without complaint. I urge SVSU to refine the registration and scheduling system so that all students will be given the chance to excel without the stress of being left behind. If we do not work to make this change now, it will only become more difficult to address later; by then, hundreds of students’ schedules will be affected due to the inefficiency of class registration.
