CSULB students say they’re having registration troubles

Associated Students Inc. Senate discussed the problems students have encountered while registering for spring semester classes and the lack of course offerings for seniors on track to graduate at Wednesday’s meeting.

“A very serious concern regarding many of the students from the College of Engineering, there has been major issues [with] the coordination of classes and the availability of various classes required to graduate,” Sen. Aaron Chiu said.

College of Engineering Sens. Chiu and Kiran Sajjan’s report said that they are currently trying to get in touch with student advisers and other departments to see if there is a solution. Chiu told the Senate that the concern was that the registration process is “not up to date” and was confusing for students.

“We want to make it more streamlined and much easier, in terms of the relationship between the teacher and students,” Chiu said.

In addition, Chiu addressed student complaints of instructors being changed for classes at the last minute.

“When [students] have a certain class with a certain level of difficulty, they want a certain teacher that they know have the confidence in teaching that material,” Chiu said. “Even after the previous semester has ended, they are making last-minute changes so students don’t know who will be teaching that class.”

College of Health and Human Services Sen. Cassie Cabading brought to the Senate’s attention that the university lacks courses that are required for students to graduate.

“An issue I’ve gotten is that for next semester, there is no microbiology course offered for pre-nursing students or any students that need that as a prerequisite,” Cabading said.

She followed the statement by sharing that not only was CSULB not offering the course, but students were also struggling to find an equivalent course in surrounding community colleges such as Long Beach City College.

“[Students] have had trouble finding classes at [community colleges] and I’ve heard from students who don’t have cars, this can be really difficult for them,” Cabading said. “The registration process at LBCC has had students waitlisted and this is because there’s no classes being offered here.”

College of Health and Human Services Sen. Raquelle Hafen added that specific kinesiology course offerings had been removed from the spring 2020 agenda, but the schedule of classes wasn’t updated until days after registration began.

“Recently when we were registering, there were a lot of classes that were deleted,” Hafen said. “That led to a lot of problems because if someone needed a class to graduate and next semester is their last and the classes haven’t been posted[…]it was a mess.”

Hafen noted that for future instances, ASI should reach out to E. James Brotman Hall to make sure the schedule of classes was being updated, in a timely manner, to minimize confusion for students during registration.

College of Business Sen. Stephanie Torres brought up a problem that arose for seniors on track to graduate after next semester.

“The classes say there’s open spaces, so [students] go to register, but it won’t let them because it says it’s reserved for graduating seniors, but they don’t understand because they are graduating seniors,” Torres said. “It’s confusing because they can’t register, but they’ve been to different places like Brotman Hall and Academic Affairs, and no one has one straight answer. They’re just trying to graduate on time.”

In addition, College of Business Sen. Taryn Williams also voiced that she had received a large amount of student concerns about the lack of course offerings in the upcoming semester.

“We should start by meeting with the dean,” Williams said. “In my mind, I imagine something like a cohort offering. Courses would take place in order and be a set schedule so [students] could finish all their classes in time to graduate.”

Williams added that several people she knew have been forced to change their majors due to the lack of courses, and that she herself has had her graduation delayed and had to push back starting grad school. She acknowledged that there were challenges to providing more courses, especially if there weren’t enough students to fill up another section.

“The majority of my required coursework only have one offering or one course that is taught at two different times,” Williams said. “You have an entire discipline of people that are fighting for the same set of classes and that can get really stressful.”

The next ASI Senate meeting will be held Nov. 20 at 3:30 p.m. in USU 234.