The Division of Enrollment Management plans to let students register for fall and spring classes at the same time.
Multiterm registration would allow students to register for a year of classes instead of only one semester’s worth, said Carmen Brown, vice president of enrollment management. She said multiterm registration should be available by fall 2011.
Brown said Enrollment Management is forming a committee of staff, faculty and students to decide how to implement multiterm registration
“Multiterm registration is in our work plan for this year, which means we’re very optimistic to get it approved, but we need everybody’s input,” she said.
Brown said the committee will make suggestions to Enrollment Management, and the final plan will need approval from the provost. She said Enrollment Management doesn’t plan to make multiterm registration mandatory.
“For those that are having a hard time finding a certain course they need to graduate, this will really pretty much guarantee the space in that class for them,” Brown said.
Brown said multiterm registration will encourage students to graduate in four years and help them plan their daily schedules.
But she said some students might not benefit as much from the plan, especially if they aren’t sure of their major yet.
“It’s not going to be for every student, because you have to know what kinds of classes you need to take the following semester,” Brown said. “But if you’re able to know the classes and times they’re going to be, you can actually make a lot of personal commitments both in work and at home.”
Junior Faith Gundrum said registering for fall and spring classes might be confusing for students, especially if they want to change majors.
“I think it’s a bad idea, because it’s hard to plan your life that far ahead,” Gundrum said. “You’ll have to go back and drop all those classes and start your schedule over.”
Gundrum said she majored in exercise science until she switched to broadcast journalism as a sophomore.
Rosalie Otero, director of the University Honors Program, said multiterm registration may benefit upperclassmen but could be difficult for freshmen.
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“I suppose that one of the benefits would be that a student who is already on track with his or her major can then know a year in advance what they have to take and can schedule their jobs and lives around those classes,” Otero said. “But can you imagine a freshman who comes in the summer for their Lobo Orientation and they have to decide right then and there what they’re going to take for fall and spring?”
Otero said the University administration hasn’t considered how much of a burden multiterm registration will be for faculty.
Research, sabbaticals and grants are rarely planned that far in advance, she said.
“I don’t know exactly what other schools are doing (multiterm registration) around the country and … what the data is that supports this as a good thing to do,” she said. “It just seems like someone made the decision to do this, and I’m not sure how much input they had from other people on campus.”
Brown said multiterm registration is meant to help students.
“It’s being introduced for students’ sake — it’s not for anybody else,” she said. “There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure we meet the class demands of the students.”
