Incoming students sometimes find it difficult to remember all of the University’s important dates when it comes to registration, classes and fees. But one campus administrator has disclosed the secret to staying ahead of the new academic freedom students gain in college.
A student’s most useful registration tool is the schedule booklet, said Robert Doolos, University Registrar.
“Whether you buy the booklet in the Union or you print it off the Web, be sure to hold on to your schedule booklet because it has just about everything you need to know about registration in it,” Doolos said.
Paying a fee bill, adding and dropping classes and priority scheduling usually are new to incoming freshmen, Doolos said.
“In the schedule booklet students can find both a registration calendar and academic calendar,” he said. “If they watch this calendar, it is really hard to miss an important deadline or date.”
The first thing students should know about registration is the importance of returning a fee bill, said Paul Ivey, Center for Freshman Year associate dean.
“The issue we see most often [in the Center for Freshman Year] is students not paying their fee bill on time or returning it even if they have a zero balance,” Ivey said. “Their classes are purged and it is then very difficult to rebuild their schedule.”
Even if students do not owe money to the University, they must either return the bill to the Bursar’s Office or complete the zero balance form under the fee bill portion of PAWS to announce their intention to attend classes, Doolos said.
The deadline for returning fee bills this semester was Aug. 7. However, the University will not purge classes of those who have not returned their fee bills until Aug. 22.
Between the two dates, the Bursar’s Office allows students to keep their schedule and pay their fee bill by paying a $75 late registration fee, Doolos said.
The dates for adding and dropping classes also are important for students who are unhappy with their current schedule.
The deadline for dropping a course and receiving a 90 percent refund from the University is Sept. 2.
“If a student drops a class by the sixth day there is no indication on transcript that the student was enrolled in the course,” he said. “But if the student drops the class after, a ‘W’ will appear on the transcript.”
A “W” on the transcript is only a withdrawal indication and does not compute in the actual grade point average or academic status, Doolos said.
“One or two ‘W’s’ is probably not a big issue because almost everyone will need to drop a class at some point,” he said. “But if their is a consistent pattern of ‘W’s’, a graduate school or potential employer will look at that and wonder.”
Though the last day students can drop classes this semester is Nov. 7, students can add to their schedules only until Sept. 4.
The last thing students should know about registration is to be aware of priority scheduling dates for the Spring semester.
The dates for when each group of students is eligible to begin scheduling are announced in The Reveille, sent to students via PAWS e-mail and are listed in the schedule booklet, Ivey said.
Students should make sure to read their PAWS e-mail because the University is using PAWS more and more to communicate critical information to students, including scheduling dates, Doolos said.