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Printer-Friendly ModeScheduling problems lead to student leaving SVSU
submitted by Brian Fraleigh
January 17, 2005 —
As a second-term freshman in the pre-nursing program at SVSU, the question "How many credits are you taking next term?" takes on a whole new meaning. Let me explain. I had no difficulty getting the classes that I wanted for my first semester here. Sign up for Fall 2004 came and I was expecting the same. No problems, right? Wrong. I found out that not only did I have to wait to register until my name came up, but that everyone with more credits than I had, was allowed to register first. While this made getting useful credits towards my degree difficult, I was able to secure some classes for the fall term. Imagine my surprise when the time to sign up for Winter 2005 classes arrived and I discovered that again my name was at the bottom of the list. This time I was unable to secure any classes that I needed to move me toward entry into the nursing program. What is a student to do?
I don’t think it is fair to only criticize with out offering some suggestions to help fix the problem. First, SVSU should limit the incoming freshman class until all currently enrolled students have registered for classes. This would begin to eliminate the backlog of students who are currently unable to enroll in the courses that they need. Second, prior class loads should be considered in evaluating the number of sections and professors for each discipline. As of this writing, there are several disciplines that have been overloaded without an increase in teachers and sections for the last three to four years. Third, I think that SVSU should run a pre-registration program in the first several weeks of the new term for the following term so that more accurate information is available to better schedule classes and university resources.