Registration for classes will occur earlier for continuing students starting in summer 2018.
Continuing students will now register for their fall semester classes in April instead of July or August, registration for spring 2019 will moved up to November from the usual time in January and summer registration will take place in March instead of April or May.
Incoming students will still register after their orientation date as before — meaning that for the first time, sophomores will register for fall classes before newly-admitted freshmen and transfer students.
The change was made to help students plan classes in advance and give them more time during the semester to meet with advisers, Vice President of University Affairs Chris Thomas said in an email.
SDSU Registrar Rayanne Williams said continuing students will be allowed to sign up for any class they want when registering, but will get a warning message if that class is dependent upon a prerequisite they are currently enrolled in.
Once grades for the semester are posted, staff in the Office of the Registrar will notify students who don’t meet the requirements for a class and drop them from the class, Williams said.
“For my office, the adjustment to being dropped from classes will be something we will have to deal with,” Williams said. “There might be a little bit of anxiety there until people get used to that process.”
Another aspect of the change is that tuition and fees will still be due at the time of registration for students.
“Having to come up with money earlier might be a challenge (for students),” Williams said.
Music senior Dominique Lawson said the new timeline gives students little time to plan their finances.
“Who has that type of money lying around?” Lawson said. “It was fine the way it was.”
Athletic training junior Julia Semmler said the registration timeline adjustment won’t affect her too much other than making her pre-plan her classes earlier, but it will affect her when she pays for classes.
“I don’t have financial aid so my parents will have to think ahead to make sure we have the money ready,” she said.
Williams said her office has been visiting advisers and assistant deans at colleges across campus for months to talk to discuss the change.
Assistant Mathematics Professor Antoni Luque said the new timeline gives professors the opportunity to provide preliminary materials to students who have signed up for their classes and make sure those students are ready.
“This will make it less likely students take the wrong course at the wrong time,” Luque said.
