With the end of winter quarter fast approaching, many students at Seattle University were met with a myriad of issues when attempting to register for their upcoming spring quarter classes. The frequent crashing of the outdated SU Online website was a key source of frustration for many students.

Seattle U Information and Technology Services sent out a campus-wide email on the morning of Feb. 18 letting students know about the issues SU Online was experiencing and advised those trying to register to do so at my.seattleu.edu.

Some students, like First-year Premajor Patrick Snedden, also had problems with the campus wifi.

“I went to the hotspot on my phone because the wifi and servers were down; I couldn’t even load the website,” Snedden said. “I wound up missing a couple of my classes, so I had to completely rearrange my schedule.”

Up until this registration period, Seattle U students have exclusively registered for classes through SU Online, a website with links that students and faculty can use to access academic and financial records, in addition to searching and registering for classes.

Moving forward, the university is leaving this registration tool as it is neither user friendly nor technologically advanced. For instance, SU Online does not make it easy to search or register for classes as it requires users to constantly click out and re-start a search for a class in a different subject.

In addition, during last week’s registration period, it was delayed a couple of times and, at one point, it crashed for about ten minutes. As students were trying to navigate these challenges, class spots were dwindling rapidly, thus enhancing an already stressful process.

Andrew Anderson, who works in the Seattle U Office of the Registrar as University Registrar, gave his reasoning as to why the SU Online system has failed to be useful to students.

“I think that the SU Online system is older technology and it is not as user friendly as the new student planning registration system,” Anderson said.

To combat the registration problems, the Seattle U Office of the Registrar has begun gradually implementing the mySeattleU student planning tool that is more technologically advanced.

This registration period served as its soft launch to the overall campus community. The official launch of this new program will happen during spring quarter registration for fall quarter classes. Moving forward, all the registration will take place through this new system.

Anderson elaborated on the benefit of these changes. He believes that they successfully tried to remove stress from students by holding registration at the same time for all. Anderson also thinks that the new mySeattleU tool will help to streamline the registration and education planning process for all Seattle U students.

“This tool will allow students to plan out all the courses that they will take over their time at SU,” Anderson said. “We are going to take wherever you keep your record of courses taken and put that, as well as your second major or minor, in one place for you or your advisor to see. It is better looking, the search functionality is better, and I think that students are going to enjoy it.”

Last week, many Seattle U students found registering for classes to be difficult, each for their own reasons. Junior Psychology major Colby Butler reflected on his experience registering for this upcoming spring quarter.

“For the most part, I was able to get my classes,” Butler said. “When it came time to register, the main portion of stress came from the system not working for 20 minutes.”

When reflecting on using the new system, Butler explained what he liked about the two systems.

“I think that the new system is easier to navigate, and it makes more sense,” Butler said. “I tried to use it but ultimately went back and forth because I also like certain aspects of the old system.”

First-year Premajor Teagan Waterloo had a similar experience during her assigned time to register.

“At the very beginning, the page crashed so I couldn’t even look for my classes. I got all the classes I needed, although my Spanish class filled up quickly, so I was unable to get the class at the time I wanted,” Waterloo said.

Students still had these problems despite all the registration times now being scheduled between class periods. Additionally, all students were put into groups by grade level—called “buckets.” Each grade level “bucket” was assigned a given time for the majority of people in that grade to register.

To combat the registration problems, the Seattle U Office of the Registrar has begun gradually implementing the mySeattleU student planning tool that is not only more technologically advanced, but also mobile friendly.

Last week’s registration process for spring quarter served as its soft launch to the overall campus community. The official launch of this new program will happen during spring quarter registration for fall quarter classes. Moving forward, all the registration will take place through this new system.

This new tool may not completely alleviate the stress that students will face, given that registering for classes can be a stressful time for many regardless of the registration system. The Office of the Registrar hopes the new system will make the registration process smoother and less stressful for students, with next quarter will providing its real test.