Seniors and priority registration students logged on to BisonHub last week, eager to secure the final courses needed to graduate. However, they were met with limited course options.
After weeks of delays and promises that registration issues would be resolved, many students scrambled to build their schedules beginning Nov. 18, as required classes remained unavailable online.
This latest setback has left graduating seniors questioning why the postponed registration dates failed to resolve the problems and whether they’ll be able to meet graduation requirements for the Spring 2025 semester.
More than 80 students across different classifications, majors and colleges indicated through a Nov. 23 Hilltop poll that they experienced course registration issues firsthand. The Office of University Communications did not respond to requests for a comment after three attempts.
Joshua Wallington, a senior computer science major from Detroit, emphasized the stress he felt going through this registration process, as it’s becoming difficult for him to register for the classes needed to graduate.
Students have had to continuously check the website to see when new courses are added, as they do not get notified when this happens.
“It’s not fair. We should all have the same opportunity to try and get into the classes that we wanted the first time,” Wallington said.
Reinah McNeil, a senior broadcast journalism major and history minor, also expressed frustration over the registration process and the stress of having to graduate late due to it. She emphasized wanting more clarification from the administration regarding registration so these issues could be avoided.
Courtney Robinson, an honors biology advisor, professor and chair, provided some insight into the issue. She said it’s part of the growing pains associated with transitioning to the new platform, BisonHub.
Robinson said the delays were caused by the fact that this is the first semester where students are registering for spring classes through BisonHub.
“This is the first spring where we’ve had all of the courses to roll out, and so there were just some delays and administrative challenges around that,” Robinson said.
While challenges are not uncommon during such transitions, they have contributed to the frustrations many students are experiencing. However, Robinson said despite these setbacks, the administration understands students’ frustrations and is working to address the issues so all required courses will soon be uploaded.
“The good thing is that the faculty in the department, the leadership in the departments are here to support students, and we’re willing to make accommodations, and accommodations can be met,” she said.
Wayne Britt, a political science advisor, explained that he, along with fellow advisors, have been working to try to reassure and update students on the process as more classes are added.
“We’ve been just reassuring, helping with schedules, letting students know not to drop whatever they have so far because they don’t know when specifically other classes will be added,” he said.
His advice to students has been to start by adding as many classes to their schedule as they can for right now, and then to keep checking BisonHub to add more classes little by little until they meet their requirements. He said there is still time left until schedules need to be finalized before they are penalized.
“It’s been stressful for us too and we don’t always have all the answers. The biggest thing needed right now is patience on both sides,” Britt said.
Robinson said some support has been put out by the BisonHub team to help students struggling with registration as the administration is adapting to ensure students can move forward with the process.
One of these supports includes the BisonHub 101 course on Canvas, which provides step-by-step instructions, tutorials and answers to frequently asked questions to guide students through the registration process. The course aims to familiarize students with the new platform and troubleshoot common issues they may encounter. Additionally, the platform offers tips on how to search for available courses.
“I think that where we’ve had to sort of adjust to and sort of move along with the process is just making sure that their courses are loaded, and just letting students know that these are the courses that will be available,” Robinson said.
Students are hopeful that if these issues are resolved now, registration can be easier in the future.
“I think that once they fix the bugs, and make classes available when they claim they’ll be, then it won’t be that bad and it could be a better and cleaner process,” McNeil said.
Still, students have expressed concern about being able to meet all of their graduation requirements due to the delay in courses being uploaded.
Siena Britt, a sophomore legal communications major and African American studies and criminology double minor from New Jersey, also encountered the issue firsthand and has been unable to register for many required courses.
“With the School of Communications, for my major, there’s no classes listed, so everything that I need to register for as far as my legal communication scheme and my BA/JD program scheme, I can’t see anything,” she said.
The only courses she has successfully registered for so far have been general electives, causing her to stress over being unable to add her “most important classes” to her schedule.
Kaia Chebiniak, a freshman political science major from Boston, echoed similar frustrations over the registration process. She described feeling blindsided by the lack of available courses, which has left her uncertain about her academic plan for the semester.
“I should still be able to make my schedule and know what classes I want to enroll in, but a lot of my classes just aren’t on BisonHub and administration has been little to no help in resolving these issues,” she said.
Students have called for better communication from the university about registration.
“I would like more open and clear communication about when registration is opening, because it was also a big hassle to learn when I could even begin registering. And, also, just having more available places to go where we can get all the information we need rather than having to run around and talk to a bunch of different people and then find the information ourselves,” Chebiniak said.
Students have also called for faculty to be on top of class times, professors and locations—especially after registration was already delayed.
“I’d rather wait for it to be perfect and correct than get it pushed back and it still be wrong,” Britt said.
Robinson said the administration remains committed to resolving the issues and improving the registration experience.
“There are multiple units at the university that are working together to make sure that these courses get up and available to students as quickly as possible. I think that this is all just part of the growing process of an organization, and we’re doing the best that we can, and we’re always excited to help students when we can,” she said.
Copy edited by Jalyn Lovelady
