Students got to see a revamped version of the MyColum portal last week when they began exploring course offerings for the Fall 2025 semester.

Administrators said the redesign is intended to simplify the student experience by consolidating previously cumbersome tasks into a more intuitive, self-service interface. As students prepare for registration to start today, Monday, April 28, reactions to the changes were mostly positive, although some students didn’t like the visual design and told the Chronicle it was hard to search for courses.

Mya Biggins, a sophomore illustration major, had already planned which classes she wanted to take for her next semester using the new portal. She said preparing her schedule for registration was a lot quicker than in previous semesters.

“I like that everything’s in one place,” Biggins said. “Navigating it was no problem at all.”

Some students were fond of the new system’s feature that allows students to plan out their courses prior to registration and to view their schedule on a weekly calendar. Lauryn Valencia, a senior traditional animation major, liked the feature, in particular.

“Being able to add the classes that you could take or want to take into one area, and having it all in one spot, seeing if it’s available or not, I definitely think that that will make it a lot easier,” Valencia said.

But Marcus Larson, a sophomore theatre major, said he liked the old system. 

“I was just used to it, and the new system looks a little ugly,” Larson said. 

Still, his favorite part by far was the new pre-registration system that allows students to save the courses they intend to register for during their allotted time, helping them stay prepared and organized. 

The new Columbia student portal consolidates class registration, financial aid awards and other self-service tools. It is being rolled out in stages. Summer registration remained on the old system.

The new registration system has a learning curve, especially for seniors used to a different interface. The degree audit is also not yet connected. 

“You also have to go through your audit and figure out what you can take, and then you have to see if it’s available,” Valencia said. “It’s just not a 30-minute process. You have to dedicate a few hours just to register.”

An earlier glitch from the software provider that had hidden prerequisites was fixed by mid-week, said Greg Foster-Rice, associate provost for Student Retention Initiatives. 

Foster-Rice said that if students still have concerns about registering, they can visit the RegLab throughout the week of registration, which starts Monday, April 28. Faculty and staff will be on hand to help students as they register during or after their designated slots and will also have some laptops to borrow for registration.

Sophomore undecided major Merani Cervantes said she struggled with error messages in the past while trying to register for classes with the old class registration system, so she was excited to try out the new system.

“I would wanna register for a class, and sometimes it would just say error, or it’s not there,” Cervantes said. “And then I would have to talk to someone from faculty, and sometimes you don’t have time to do that.”

Biggins said she prefers this new system to the older one since it’s “a lot more organized,” referencing how she no longer has to consistently switch windows or go back and forth between pages to look at class offerings. She said she was glad that the college made the switch.

Mel Alexander, a junior creative writing major, also liked the new system.

“It’s cool that we’re able to register for classes in bulk, plan our courses out, and actually get to see it on a calendar,” they said. “It’s nice to have a visual for the times I need to set aside for school, and to see what’s open after that.” 

Mikaela Abeyta, a junior game and interactive media design major, was already familiar with the system from her time at McHenry County College, which also uses the Ellucian Colleague ERP software. She said she was also able to find her fall semester courses without any issues.

“So far, I’ve been able to see and plan my favorite part about the system – my classes. I’m just waiting for registration day,” Abeyta said.

The college had help desks on the first floor of every building, offering students who walked in help and answers to questions they had about registering with the new system.

Brennan Lockwood, a junior musical theater major, was in the theater building when he found out about the new system through the registration table set up in the building. He also liked the calendar feature. 

“I feel like a lot of the time with registration, it’s a little bit unorganized, and we have to take the classes and write it out on a separate thing on a schedule,” Lockwood said. “And I feel like this is like, seven to one.”

Sophomore film and television major Olivia Watson also found more ease and control with scheduling and the other facets of the portal.

“That’s beneficial to me,” she said. “There’s also this financial aid function. It’s much more seamless and I can see a lot more things that I couldn’t see before.”

Financial aid offer letters will look different this year because of the new MyColumbia. Now, grants and scholarships are subtracted from the total estimated cost of attendance rather than just from tuition and fees.

Though she’s enjoyed the new system so far, Watson also expressed concerns for courses not providing a description or professor, and for its performance during registration week, where many students will be using it all at once.

“I’m just scared that it’s going to crash the day of, because it’s a new thing and they’re putting it a week before registration,” Watson said. “It’s a kind of risky thing. I’m worried there’s going to be glitches and that there’s going to be a whole bandwidth problem, and that is my experience so far.” 

Students also found issues in other areas of the system. 

“It’s complicated to insert classes, like it’s really overly complicated,” said Karma Hunter-Serio, a first-year radio major. “I have to type in the class, the class number and then a lot of the time the class won’t pop up, so I have to search for the teacher. It’s a crappy system overall, but at this point I’m used to it, so I know how it works. If I was an incoming freshman again, I would hate this system.”

He also added that the portal “feels like walking into an early 2000’s website.”

“Let’s say I wanna take a communications class, but I don’t know what specific, I can’t just type in ‘COMM’ and then get a list of different classes,” he said. “I have to search up specific course numbers, so I wish they would simplify that.”

Sidney Green, a junior photography major, said she found the new registration system “confusing” when she first tried to log in.

“Once I figured out where to go, I really liked it,” she said. Green said the new system is going to “work much better” than the previous one.

Additional reporting by Addison Annis, Trinity Balboa, Aidan Fijal, Araceli Ramirez, Uriel Reyes, Doreen Abril Albuerne-Rodriguez, Marina Bradley, Sam Ho, Emma Jolly, Kate Larroder, Allison Shelton, Greer Stewart and Vivian Richey

Copy edited by Matt Brady

Resumen en Español:

Columbia recientemente cambió el sistema de las cuentas escolares, MyColum, que se usa para inscribirse en clases, acceder a la información financiera y otras cosas importantes de mantenimiento para los estudiantes. Ellos lo probaron después de que la lista de cursos para el semestre del otoño de 2025 se lanzó, el 21 de abril. Descubrieron el cambio que les permite guardar las clases en las que se quieren inscribir, antes de su hora de registro asignada. A muchos estudiantes les gustó ese cambio, junto con las demás que permiten el acceso más fácil al sistema, pero algunos dieron sugerencias para mejorar el diseño nuevo para hacerlo aún más sencillo.

Resumen por Sofía Oyarzún

Resumen editado por Doreen Abril Albuerne Rodriguez