Laptops slamming closed in disgust, incessant complaining between friends, frantic emails to teachers and department heads and swear words ringing out across dorms are some of the side effects of class registration at Elon University. Whether it’s not getting into a much-needed class or having a less-than-ideal schedule, most every student at Elon has felt the downsides of the current registration process.
What should seemingly only be a problem for underclassmen — not getting into all desired classes — now affects students of all classes in all majors. The student body is outgrowing the current academic infrastructure, and nothing remains more important to our education than that we can actually attend the classes we pay $40,000 a year to take.
Every class registration inevitably brings a struggle to find spots in certain classes for the next semester. But increasingly, many students are having trouble getting into the classes they really need — ones that only meet on alternating semesters, or with very few sections, or those that are necessary for graduating on time. For a school so geared toward growth, a contingency plan needs to be in place to address the increasing number of students. As the school increases the student body, it must appropriately adjust the number of courses and sections offered.
[quote]The student body is outgrowing the current academic infrastructure, and nothing remains more important to our education than that we can actually attend the classes we pay $40,000 a year to take."[/quote]
The current registration process is not only stressful for students, but for professors and department heads as well. Students are frustrated when they are forced to spend an entire semester taking classes they don’t need or sit idly by and watch their required classes fill up. The process is taxing on professors who feel pressure to enroll additional students in their classes, often well above their actual capacity. There are not enough sections of core-major classes, and that places an unfair burden on those unlucky or unfortunate enough not to have one of the early registration periods, a burden received freshman year that is almost impossible to escape.
One of the most concerning aspects of the entire process stems from the importance of prerequisite classes within a major that must be completed in order to even have a chance of graduating in four years. Students unable to register for the foundational classes of their major often have to scramble and plead to be placed in a closed class. The problem then compounds when all flexibility in future scheduling for a student is lost. In some cases, freshmen are not even able to register for their first-year core curriculum classes like College Writing.
Much has been said about the expansion of Elon’s physical infrastructure, and the school has made its intention to grow even more over the next few years very clear. Since that is the case, the university must make proper accommodations so students can register for, and actually take, the classes they need in order to graduate on time.
[quote]If Elon wants to keep class sizes small, they must start offering significantly more sections of classes or overhaul the entire registration process to ensure that each student gets the classes needed."[/quote]
But altering the registration process as a whole exemplifies a sort of identity crisis that could plague Elon in the coming years: expanding into a larger university while still trying to stay true to its small-school roots. Elon touts its small classroom sizes as a sign of its commitment to providing an education in which students and teachers can get to know each other, a place where a student is more than just a number and discussion is open and inclusive. If Elon wants to keep class sizes small, they must start offering significantly more sections of classes or overhaul the entire registration process to ensure that each student gets the classes needed.
Offering a greater number of sections would simply allow for more students to take classes at a variety of times and would not actually alter the small class sizes. But emphasis on section creation falls on the final classes of each major, when getting into a class next semester can be the difference between graduating on time and graduating next year. When only one section exists for an entire major, it’s no surprise students are scrambling and complaining when they can’t get in. For seniors, these classes are non-negotiable.
Although a problem with the current class registration system exists, Elon should not sacrifice the quality of time in the classroom. Expansion cannot be allowed to occur so rapidly that Elon loses the teacher-student interaction that makes class time so rewarding. Elon has its classrooms staffed by the best, but that doesn’t matter if students can never actually learn from them at all.