On Oct. 30, course registration began for the spring 2024 semester. However, in light of registration issues in past registration cycles, there have been strides taken by Fordham College Rose Hill (FCRH) and the Gabelli School of Business (GSB) administrations to ensure the current cycle goes as smoothly as possible for students and to ensure past issues, like system crashes, are avoided.
In the past, servers failed, forcing students to experience difficulties. Firstly, students had to wait for extended periods of time to register for courses because of the crowded use of the registration portal. Secondly, students would have to take on schedules they had not expected or prepared for, taking classes at hours that simply don’t work for them. Or students could take alternate classes to fill those that were filled up by others who were able to access the portal before them within their assigned registration slot. Finally, a common issue and frustration voiced to administrators was the registration time for classes, as commuter students had to coordinate their commute around early registration hours.
However, an equitably conscious solution has been presented to students during the current registration period. Now, FCRH and GSB students register on different days. This is to decrease the number of students registering at once to try and ensure that the registration system remains unclogged. A main element of this move is because of the different curriculum paths between the two schools, and how students in the respective colleges earn credits. Another improvement is that registration begins on students’ assigned slots at 8:00 a.m. — a measure to accommodate commuter students.
Providing a comment to the Ram in a joint statement, Senior Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Students, Marisa Totino Villani, and Director of Academic Advising for First and Second Year Students, Beth Markowitz, said, “We continue to work with Academic Records and IT on developing plans for unexpected situations.” They also said, “The credit breakdown for registration for each school accounts for the difference in curriculum paths and how students earn credits in each of the colleges. Representatives from the colleges and Academic Records develop the registration dates and credit breakdown.”
When speaking on the influence and factors that resulted in a rework of the registration process, they said, “We were motivated to make the change to reduce the chances of any technical issues on the mornings of registration and to bring more equity to the registration process.”
They additionally said they are “Hoping that spreading registration out among more days, with less students logging on all at once will lead to the website holding up better this year.”
Students should also know that they have resources to ensure that, beyond technical processes of the registration website, there are ways they can remain ready for the registration processes. Gabelli students have access to their class deans as a resource to plan for registration and are informed at every step. FCRH students have access to the new advising center and will be able to implement new methods into their registration process as the center explores methods that work and don’t work for students.
In their joint statement, Markowitz and Villani said, “At both colleges, we are here for students and in the event that there is an unexpected situation, we will work to support you as best we can.”
