To: Dr. Vincent Boudreau, President of City College

From: William Gomezcoello, City College student

Date: February 19, 2023

Subject: Winter Session Registration Problem

Good morning Dr. Vincent Boudreau, this is William Gomezcoello writing to inform you of a problem that many students are having this semester at City College. Winter classes are an excellent opportunity for students to finish a required course in an accelerated time frame. Although these classes require more effort, they are very much worth the time and money spent on them, especially because many classes are prerequisites. However, I have personally encountered a major problem with the effect that taking winter classes has on a student’s ability to register for the spring semester. Students in the winter session are not allowed to register for certain classes without finishing their current winter prerequisite class. Therefore winter students are forced to wait until two days before the spring semester to register for these next level classes. This is very problematic because oftentimes students struggle to find the right next level classes that will tailor their schedule. Scheduling is a very important aspect of a student’s success and if the students who are taking winter classes are not able to have the appropriate flexibility of a larger range of timeframes, the spring semester would definitely be more challenging for them. These scheduling conflicts are especially problematic for college students with jobs and other responsibilities that take up a significant portion of their time.

Unavailability of Next Level Classes

The second problem that this registration hold for winter students creates is the unavailability of certain next level classes. Not only do winter students not have a wider range of time frames of classes to choose from, but they also cannot apply for some of the classes that they need due to them closing before the winter semester is over. For example, after I completed my winter pre-calculus class, I wanted to register for general chemistry. However, all of the seats were full, and there was no way to register. After I could not register through CUNY first, I decided to go to the science department and request an over tally so that I could join the class through this method. However, I was denied the request and told that the department does not over tally for basic science classes. This example proves that there is a clear problem that this registration hold for winter students has on their ability to access the next level classes that they need for their majors. Research in the article according to Papadakis (2007) suggests that a student’s ability to learn is directly impacted by their schedules. Students perform better when they have the option to decide when they take certain classes because each person has a unique preference. For example, if a student feels that they can focus more in a class that’s sixty minutes long rather than thirty, allowing this flexibility would be crucial to this person’s performance. A registration hold restricts students from learning at their preferred timeframes and this article proves how important a flexible schedule is for students.

The third problem that this winter session registration hold creates for students has to do with financial aid. Financial aid will give full time students more money than part time. Therefore, if taking winter classes forbids students from registering for the necessary next level classes to become a full-time college student, many people will be missing out on substantial financial aid. This is an unacceptable circumstance that we must address because too many students are already struggling to afford tuition. These people may also have to register for classes that they do not need simply to meet the four class requirement that the financial aid has set. All this does is cost students more money, and more time out of their schedules. With all these downsides to taking winter classes, which are already significantly more rigorous, one would question if they are worth all of the problems they cause to take them.

Registration Solution

Finally, as I have carefully considered all of these problems, I have created a possible solution that City college can implement to fix them. As students are taking a winter class, there is no registration hold whatsoever that will stop them from registering for the next level classes on CUNY first. Instead, the college will instruct the staff to overlook all of the registered students at the end of the winter session who have not completed their winter classes and drop them manually. This will grant winter students the same opportunity and flexibility of time to register for all of the classes that they need. Although this solution will cost the university more labor, I think that I have made it perfectly clear why this expense is worth the price in this memo. 

Although this solution is viable in my opinion, if it is not put into fruition, for whatever reason, I have another solution that could be put to use. This would be to reduce the number of seats in all of the spring semester classes before the winter session ends by fifteen percent. After the winter session, the seats would be re-added to each class on CUNY first which the winter students would then be given the opportunity to review and register for them. For example, if Calculus 201 was made up of sixty seats, this number would reduce to fifty one until the winter session ends. Then the seats would be raised back to sixty allowing for more people to sign up. Not only do the winter students have this option, but every student will be allowed to sign up for classes. However the winter students would most certainly make up the new fifteen percent as they would need the seats more. 

Communication and feedback are essential for the growth of any organization which is why it is very important to raise awareness whenever there is a problem. Thank you for your time and I appreciate your consideration in fixing some of these issues.

Work Cited:

Papadakis, K. (2007). How Is A Student’s LEARNING Affected By Their School Schedule? Retrieved November 11, 2013 from http://www.csun.edu/~kp797909/646/coursework/files/Action%20Research%20Paper.d oc