Registration begins this week with new course numbers

Registration for Fall 2019 begins Monday, but the familiar process has a new look this semester.

In Spring of 2017, the New Mexico State Legislature signed a law requiring universities in the state share the same subject prefix and number as lower-division courses at community colleges, the hope being to streamline the process for transfer students. 

This registration round will be the first since implementing new course numbers and prefixes — lower-division course numbers will be 1000- and 2000- instead of in the hundreds.

According to Pamela Cheek, associate provost for Curriculum and Assessment, because of the new system students will see a difference in prefixes within a department for lower-division course and upper-division, graduate and professional courses.

Below are some things Cheek said students should look out for: 

• Renumbering can make a course look like a different course. For example, before the changes General Psychology was PSY 105, it is now PSYC 1110: Introduction to Psychology. She warned students to double check they are not taking the same course twice, just under a new name. Students can compare old and new numbers or titles on the advisement website. 
• New prefixes can make it hard to tell which courses belong to which departments or programs. For example, ENVS 101: The Blue Planet has been renumbered as GEOL 1120: Environmental Geology. Upper-division prefixes will remain the same. Students can visit the advisement website for a list of subject prefixes. 

Cheek said the time at which students can register has also changed in hopes to make student’s lives easier — instead of waiting until midnight to register, the window now opens at 7 a.m.

Transcripts will also now include an explanation of the change in numbering and what it all means, Cheek said. She added that it’s important for students to double-check their courses using the advisement website resources and checking with an advisor. 

Madison Spratto is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Madi_Spratto.