The college is adding additional seats to some full classes for Fall 2025 and opening new sections to accommodate frustrated students who weren’t able to get the courses they needed.
In a campuswide email sent on Friday morning, the college said it was adding seats and sections to some “high-demand courses.” Some schools had already started moving students off waitlists earlier this week, expanding the class size.
According to Greg Foster-Rice, associate provost for Student Retention Initiatives, if a student is waitlisted and a seat opens, they have 48 hours to accept the open seat or it will be offered to the next student on the waitlist.
The old registration system did not automatically alert students who were waitlisted, and students had to watch to see if a spot opened or were contacted by an academic manager. The new registration system allows students to get on a waitlist, and then the college notifies them when a seat is available.
In the past, the college waited until closer to the start of a semester to add seats or left spots for incoming first-years who register later. But enrollment is projected to be down for the fall, and in an email obtained by the Chronicle, Foster-Rice told academic managers and directors that the college wants to try to “rebalance” the seats in an effort to retain current students. The college also is contacting students who have not yet registered for Fall 2025 to encourage them to do so.
In an email to the Chronicle, Foster-Rice said that although the Office of the Registrar, academic managers and schedulers are working “tirelessly” to add seats and new sections for waitlisted students, room capacity or safety could be an issue.
“If students are seeing more messages about this process this year, it’s because the system is a little different, and we are trying to be more proactive and transparent about adding seats,” Foster-Rice said.
Of the six courses that first-year film and television major Kai Szala is taking next semester, he was waitlisted for “Set Construction,” a required course in the BFA program. Only looking to take five courses next semester, he is between dropping the waitlisted class or dropping another class and waiting out the hold on “Set Construction.”
“Either way, it’s just frustrating, everything being up in the air like that,” Szala said. “It’s frustrating to know that I might have to push my plans back.”
Pita Diaz-Rodriguez, a first-year illustration major, was waitlisted for “Figure Drawing I,” a required class for their major. They were supposed to take it last semester but were waitlisted for it then as well.
“I’m a little worried because everyone’s just like, ‘Hey, you should take that class this year,’” they said. “There’s, like, nine people on the waitlist now. It was 11 and it keeps going down. Hopefully there’s a chance.”
Monica Cano, a first-year illustration major, is also waitlisted for “Figure Drawing I” and “Concept Art,” both classes that advance the progress in her major. Without these classes, she will not be able to pick other higher-level classes that will get her closer to being done. She is hoping that by next semester, she will be able to take these classes.
“It’s kind of worrying,” she said. “If I don’t get a response, I’ll probably contact my advisor or something.”
Waitlisted for three classes, Autumn Rogers, a sophomore creative writing major, had holds on her account and by the time she was cleared to register, some of the courses were full. Two of the classes she’s waitlisted for are electives, but her 200-level “Craft and Process” class goes toward her major requirements.
“I don’t like it when I’m told one thing and the cards that are dealt to me look like something else,” she said. “I don’t like speaking with registration offices [and] taking the time to build my own schedule in advance only to be derailed because of something that I can’t really control.”
According to Foster-Rice, by Fall 2025, when students are registering for Spring 2026 classes, “better tools” should be available to “more accurately” predict the number of seats per class to suit student demand across different courses.
“We do our best,” Foster-Rice told the Chronicle. “We are also working with advisors and students to find alternatives that will keep them on that pathway to graduation.”
Copy edited by Patience Hurston
This story has been updated.