Time and time again, registration rolls around and students experience countless issues, with few knowing how to properly address them.

As Registrar Susan Hritzak noted, potential problems that could arise when registering include financial holds, conflicts with class times, technical issues, class closures and pre-requisite problems.

All of these issues have a solution, but many students lack this information and therefore are not properly prepared to overcome them and successfully schedule their classes.

“The most important thing is for students to be aware of what might happen as far as financial holds that block registration,” advised Hritzak, noting that if students take care of it ahead of time many issues could be avoided.

Technical problems are also common among students. As IT is closed at the time of registration at 10 p.m., this raises concern. However, many problems can be avoided by simply logging out and back in to the server. If more students were made aware of this prior to registration, it would help them know how to deal with it and avoid further problems, such as being locked out.

This was a recent issue that arose during this past registration period, and Hritzak is working on setting up a meeting with IT to address it and find a solution.

Conflicts with class times or closures can be brought to student services or department chairs.

“I encourage those students that are having problems to reach out,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Paul Adams. “There might be an easy fix or something we can help with.”

Although many students have expressed feelings of dissatisfaction with the registration process, Hritzak and Adams agree that it has improved greatly over the years. Most recently, registration time has moved up from midnight to 10 p.m. to better accommodate students.

They both acknowledged that there is always room for improvement, which is also a point that Karen Taylor, interim director of financial aid, agrees upon.

“It’s much better to be proactive than reactive,” Taylor said. “We’ve taken a look at how we reach out to students.”

Taylor went on explain how the financial aid office plans to send continuous email blasts to students about their financial status until they address any present issues, so as to encourage them to stay on top of it and avoid those issues during registration time.

Visit student services or email Susan Hritzak for registration guidance at [email protected].