About two or three weeks before the semester begins, the course catalog magically appears on WebPortal, allowing students to piece together the classes needed for a workable schedule. After hours of carefully constructing these schedule puzzles, students wait for their assigned registration date and time. When those appear, students often stare in disappointment. Many only have about a week to shop for textbooks, assemble supplies that have gone astray in long-untouched backpacks, buy a parking pass, find classrooms and refill Starbucks cards for the cups of coffee needed for those 8 a.m. classes.

For many students, that scenario is typical. San Diego State’s registration period for the spring semester begins two weeks before the first classes start. That time is shortened for most students, depending on their class standing, athletic or campus participation or disability status. The result can be a period far too short to prepare for a semester of classes; this critical amount of time should be lengthened to give students a fair chance at a successful beginning to the semester.

The short amount of time allotted for some students to register for classes can be stressful. Textbooks can be difficult to find online. It takes a good deal of work to find the best price on the latest edition of a book written last year. Assembling supplies for each class can be a hassle if there’s not much time to go to the bookstore for a pre-semester dash for pens, pencils, paper, Scantrons and highlighters. If a parking pass gets delayed or lost in the mail, commuters need to bring quarters for temporary parking passes on the first morning of classes.

Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs Sandra Cook said the registration timeframe is short for good reasons. Registration used to focus on getting students into as many classes as possible. Cook said the problem with this system was that professors spent the first two weeks of class removing students without prerequisites from their classes and giving add codes to those who couldn’t register after the seats filled up.

“It’s how crashing became a masterpiece on this campus,” Cook said.

Thanks to WebPortal, SDSU students’ transcripts are electronically checked for prerequisites and class standing requirements before they can enroll in a class. The system also gives incoming students credit for Advanced Placement courses taken in high school. Additionally, students with fees due have more time to pay  before registration. Students have a chance to get into any essential classes they haven’t taken with staggered small lecture or teaching assistant-led sections.

For the spring semester, students also have a chance to see their fall semester grades and find out if they met prerequisite grade requirements for the courses they want to take.

SDSU isn’t the only university with a short registration period. Harvard College at Harvard University gave its students five days to register for classes, while some Yale University students have even less time.

On the other hand, SDSU isn’t an Ivy League school. The University of California, San Diego, an institution in the same city and about the same size as SDSU, gave its students 43 days to register for spring quarter classes. University of San Diego allowed its students to register for spring classes at the same time SDSU released its spring course catalogue in November.

However, not all San Diego students have the luxury to take time to register for the classes they need. For those on the stressful end of a short week before the semester starts, registration is a dreaded event. When we want to be enjoying our last days of summer or winter break, we are forced to plan classes with very little time to work, which puts a damper on getting ready and excited for school.