Pierce College students who added classes during fall semester’s first two weeks waited in hour-long lines that wrapped halfway around the Student Services building.
Some students waited for more than one hour. Others had to come back the next day.
“The line depends on the volume of how many add cards each instructor gives out,” Dean of Student Services Marco De La Garza said “And it depends on when students come.”
Staffing also played a factor in the long lines, according to De La Garza. He said students began lining up in the morning, but more and more came throughout the day, which made things difficult during break time.
“When [students] come right in the middle of lunch or in between breaks, the challenge is there’s only a few windows open versus having 8 to 9 windows open,” he said. “And that’s what slows down the process.”
But students also played a part in the long lines, according to De La Garza. He said many students attempted to add classes they were not eligible for, and other needed to drop certain classes before they could add new ones.
“That kind of a traffic causes delays,” he said.
Math Professor Zhila Tabatabai thought having more staff in the Admissions and Records office would have shortened the lines.
“If they have more people to take care of that they can solve the problem,” he said. “But maybe the problem is the budget and they don’t have enough people to put in that task to help the students.”
Nina Sabado, 22, felt the same way.
“I think the process is kind of long and I think its unfair to some students,” she said. “I think they can probably hire more staff people to speed up the line.”
De La Garza acknowledged the limitations of his staff.
“We can not get the line down to 15-20 minutes because if we have limited staff, then that takes longer,” he said.
Geology major Sonny Sacks said welcomed the idea of a changed system.
“I do think if something can be changed, it should be changed,” he said.
Dance major Sarah Elias said felt similarly to Sacks.
“Honestly, I feel like it’s a little out-dated,” she said. “Just get the permission online to submit it through the registration program that we’ve all been using for the past three years.”
However, a new Student Information System (SIS) is being worked on to make the class-adding process faster, according to De La Garza.
“The one that we have right now is sort of old and antiquated,” he said. “When the new SIS comes on board there will be no more paper permits.”
