New early enrollment schedule to make process smoother for students
Friday, March 21, 2014 2:00 AM
News
Pittsburg, KS
A change in the early enrollment process at Pittsburg State is aimed at making enrolling easier and more effective for students.
Beginning at noon on Sunday, April 6, graduate students, seniors and juniors will be able to enroll online at staggered times based on how many credit hours they have completed. The staggered enrollment will continue on April 8 for sophomores and on April 9 and 10 for freshmen.
This is the first time Pitt State has staggered the enrollment process based on credit hours completed. Pitt State officials say they hope the change will make the process smoother for students and reduce technical problems caused by the sudden rush to enroll.
“In the past, we swung open the proverbial door at one time and everyone who could enroll on that particular day tried to run through it at the same time,” said Registrar Debbie Greve. “By staggering the enrollment process by credit hours and giving the students a proper schedule, we make the process smoother for them and less straining on our web servers.”
Greve said approximately 3,500 students will enroll on April 6, and another 1,000 will enroll on the subsequent days that week.
“There have been times in the past when our servers became somewhat overwhelmed by the number of students who were enrolling at the same time,” Greve said. “That causes serious issues for everyone involved, particularly the students trying to get in the classes they want. We’ve heard from our students who have encountered problems while trying to enroll, and this change is our way to respond to those concerns and make things better and easier for our students.”
Greve stressed that the staggered times are based on completed hours only, and that does not include credit hours from the current semester.
“That’s very important for students to understand when they are looking to see when they can begin enrolling,” she said. “The hours they are taking right now do not count toward that total.”
This is also the first year that early enrollment will begin on a Sunday. Greve said students who can enroll on that day need to have their pre-enrollment processes complete by the preceding Friday.
“Students who will enroll on Sunday need to have already taken care of things such as getting their advisement number and making sure there are no holds on their accounts,” Greve said, “because not unlike the 5 a.m.-to-8 a.m. enrollment period, the office will not be open to assist with those types of issues. They’ll have to wait until Monday.”
There will, however, be university staff on hand to answer technical or enrollment questions during the day. The number for the early enrollment hotline on April 6 is 620-235-4993.
“If they are having issues with the system or having problems enrolling, we’ll have people available to help,” Greve said.
For the full enrollment schedule for each semester, visit http://www.pittstate.edu/office/registrar/enroll.dot.