Is anyone else getting tired of the headache that comes with Clemson University’s registration system? I know I am.

Lately, it seems that Clemson has been putting a lot of its funding into aesthetics and athletics while forgetting about its core purpose as a university. I can’t help but wonder what happened to making access to education a priority.

Throughout my four years at Clemson University, I’ve seen its registration system adapt and change while ultimately becoming worse.

I remember my first encounter with the infamous registration system as a mix of overwhelming confusion and frustration. Even then, as just a freshman, I struggled to navigate the system and to get into the classes I needed.

“The most frustrating thing about my school right now is trying to register for classes,” a UNIGO user said in her review of Clemson University. “For some classes that a lot of students need, they only offer a few sections so you could be in a class with 200 other students.”

As paying students, we deserve a better and more efficient registration system with more options for classes. It’s only a matter of time before most students come face to face with that dreaded “Full” error next to a section of a class that they need to graduate.

Better yet, it’s not unlikely for students to encounter a course that isn’t even offered that semester at all. I just had this issue while registering for this term as a senior in my last semester at Clemson. Imagine how stressful it is to try to add a class you must have to graduate and for it to just, well, not exist at all.

Not to mention, Clemson’s recently implemented an iRoar/Banner website restriction where students can only access registration on-campus, through CUapps or through the Clemson Virtual Private Network. It’s extremely inconvenient, especially in those dire situations where you need to register for a notoriously full class as fast as possible.

“…We are working hard to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” Clemson’s CCIT website wrote about the restriction.
However, I think most students can agree that we want to know what the delay is in resolving a pretty serious system issue that hinders our registration access.

Students are even taking to online platforms to discuss Clemson’s registration system as well.

“I am a freshman going into my 2nd semester and have not found any available Lit or non-lit classes,” one Reddit user in the thread “Spring Registration” wrote. “All the classes have been either filled or literally do not exist, as they don’t appear on iRoar when I search for them.”

I understand that any registration system is going to have some flaws, and no system is completely foolproof. In fact, there are many things I prefer about the way that Clemson’s registration system is set up, including the ability to request a seat in a course or even request a substitution for a course. Still, there is plenty of room for improvement.

Education and access to the classes we need are necessities for students. We all want to graduate and earn our degrees, but the only way to do that is to take the courses we need. We deserve to have the option to register for applicable classes without hurdles and unnecessary stress.

Madison Akers is a senior communication major from Easley, South Carolina. You can reach her at [email protected].