On Oct. 9, the Office of the Registrar sent an email to the student body, notifying them that the times were changed for the upcoming interim registration. Startingstudent on Oct. 10, registration times were no longer based on earned hours, but the anticipated graduation year for each student.
“We were basically looking for a way for it to be more simple for students to understand how the registration appointment was assigned,” Registrar Jennifer Allison said.
With the previous requirement being based on earned hours, many students were not registering with their graduating class.
“There have been situations where students are on the fringe,” said Allison. “Students that were at 89 hours but needed 90 weren’t able to register with the people that they had come into Wofford with.”
This has been an issue that the registrar has been trying to fix for a long time. Issues of students barely missing the cut off for registration was reported as stress-inducing and created student concerns over receiving enough credit hours and classes necessary for graduation.
In an effort to ease the registration process, there has also been a change to the duration of time that students will have to select classes. In the past, students have had complications with overrides and holds. Starting with the most recent Interim registration, the time for registering will be open for at least two days after the selection period has started for each cohort.
“This new system is easy to understand for everyone, not just the students, but faculty and advisors.” says Allsion.
After manipulation checks with IT, the process was instantly easier to work with.
“It’s not going to affect the vast majority of students (negatively)” says Allison. “Even students who brought in a lot of credit hours, whether that was AP or dual enrollment, weren’t graduating early, (so this change will not change when they are expected to graduate).”
Students have had mixed feelings on the shift.
“I think the prior registration was more competitive because as you move up in your major you need certain classes,” said Abby Sutterlin ‘24. “Especially as a biology major, it’s hard to get base level classes.”
“As you move up the chain of being a senior, you should have priority,” says Sutterlin. “Prior to this change, students felt that there was an unfair advantage in getting into classes and often found themselves losing spots to those graduating after them.”
However, other students had concerns for their future registration as a result of this change.
“Registration (before) was a lot easier mentally and wasn’t as stressful because I was more likely to get classes I needed” says Lilly Delatte ‘26. “I used to be able to make sure I got the classes I wanted because I had more hours but (now) there is a higher chance that I won’t get necessary classes”
The system, as of right now, is a permanent decision. Spring 2024 registration will be the second time this change is implemented.
“We’ll see how it goes,” says Allison. “The hours thing has always created issues, and we finally found a way to get away from it.”
The next system development is expected to be introduced in the next two years.
