by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
Students registering for the fall semester shouldn't expect a schedule of classes in their mailbox this year.
Instead, students need to check the class schedule online by using my.unm.edu. UNM isn't printing paper schedules anymore.
The change is in correlation with the Banner system, an online program that will serve as the base system for all UNM employees and students in 2007, including accounting, payroll and academic functions.
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The Banner system, which has been implemented in stages since 2002, will manage students under one record, so students don't have to go to multiple departments when applying for financial aid or paying their balance, said Liz Jenkins, project director.
"Students will do all their business on the Web," Jenkins said. "The goal is to make it available anytime, anyplace."
Students will also be using LoboWeb to register for their fall classes instead of using I-TEL-UNM. Students registering for summer classes will still use I-TEL.
To register and view the schedule of classes, students log in at my.unm.edu using their UNM NetID.
LoboWeb is not much different than I-TEL, Jenkins said. The interface will still allow students to phone in their schedules as I-TEL did.
UNM Registrar Kathleen Sena said her office pushed to discontinue printing the class schedules, because faculty can change classroom numbers, cancel classes and change the time of the class after the catalogue has been printed.
"Students are looking at something that is not accurate," Sena said, adding that the online class schedule will help students keep up to date if class schedules were to change.
Some students are not happy about the change.
In the past, Regents Scholars and University Honors students were able to register at the same time as graduate students. Those students now have to register according to their credit hours like other undergraduates.
Sena said the reason those students have to register according to their credit hours is because the Banner system won't allow early registration. It strictly enforces the credit hours, she said.
Honors student Gina Torres said one of the perks of being in the program is registering for classes before anyone else.
"I lose out," Torres said. "It's a part of being an Honors student."
Torres, a freshman, said she was able to get all the classes she wanted this semester because of early registration. She is worried other students will fill all the classes she wants, because she doesn't have many credit hours as a freshman, she said.
Sena said the decision is fair.
"All students are students at UNM," she said. "And all students at UNM should have the opportunity to register based off the rules of credit hours."
Honors student Cynthia Douthit said although she wanted to register early, she understands why the University is making her register at the same time as other students.
"If I were not in Honors, I'd demand to be equal," Douthit said. "I think it's a good choice."
But she is not happy about using an online catalogue, she said. She has browsed around LoboWeb and did not like it, she said.
"It's not user-friendly," Douthit said. "I don't see the point in it."
Jenkins said the University has been trying to make LoboWeb user-friendly and has started a public awareness campaign by hanging banners on campus and placing advertisements in the Daily Lobo that read "You need it."
The University has also mailed postcards to all students informing them about the changes, she said.
So far, Sena hasn't received any complaints about LoboWeb, she said, but students are encouraged to raise any questions by using the Web site.
"You can type in the question, and if someone else has asked the question, it points to the answer," she said. "If not, send the question to us, and we've got a team of people monitoring that will answer right away."
The next stage of the Banner system will be implemented in July so students will be able to view and pay their Bursar's account balance online.
