Montclair State University administration sent an email on Wednesday, Sept. 28, announcing the priority registration privileges that many students had, including presidential scholars, are officially revoked.
According to the notice, early registration will no longer be provided to some students. This modification of the policy will allow students to have better access to the courses they need to fulfill graduation requirements.
Students are expressing mixed reactions and many believe this privilege for presidential scholars and other students should not be modified.
Andria Reber, a senior exercise science major, is angry to hear students like her will not have the opportunity to register early.
“Well I’m definitely upset because as someone who did use that every single year for signing up for classes, it did help me a lot in terms of not just getting the classes, but also the stress level,” Reber said. “I knew that there were so many people waiting literally right after lab going straight to their laptop logging in and they wouldn’t even get the class that they wanted.”
Reber further explained that having the advantage of registering for courses ahead of time made it feel like a reward.
“If you are a student [who] got into the program, that’s because [you] worked hard for it,” Reber said. “It felt like for me I was getting rewarded [you know] for putting in the hard work so I can have an easier transition between semesters.”
Jenny Asuzano, a sophomore filmmaking major, said with the change of policy, more students will have a better chance to get the courses they want, but is not fair for those students who have worked hard to gain this benefit.
“I’m not a presidential scholar, but I do have a lot of friends that are presidential scholars,” Asuzano said. “On one hand it’s nice for me to able to have more of a chance to get into the classes that I want. But at the same time, I do feel bad for my friends that are presidential scholars that have gotten to that position and aren’t given [the] extra advantages.”
Jenny Asuzano, a sophomore filmmaking major, says the policy change means more students will have a better chance to get the courses they want, but thinks it’s unfair for those students who have worked hard for this opportunity.
Lynise Olivacce | The Montclarion
Abigail Ohlendorf, a freshman undecided, also shared a similar reaction.
“These [presidential students] work really hard to get this title for these advantages and now they are all taken away in just like a couple of minutes and now the title is just a title,” Ohlendorf said.
Rachel Watson, a graduate student in law and governance, believes there are pros and cons to presidential scholars no longer having this opportunity.
“I think that some students who aren’t presidential scholars, [might] feel like the scholars have an unfair advantage compared to the other students on campus who don’t get the opportunity [of] first priority,” Watson said. “So I can understand maybe why the university might make that change, but at the same time, the presidential scholars do lose the advantage that they worked hard for.”
Rachel Watson, a graduate student in law and governance, believes there are pros and cons to presidential scholars losing registration priority.
Lynise Olivacce | The Montclarion
The administration also explained in the email that instead of priority registration, students now will receive an assigned registration time based on class standing for the upcoming academic term.
The Montclarion reached out to the university for a quote but they were unable to provide a statement at the moment.
