Every semester, the Office of Information Services sends me an email informing me when I can register for classes. And every time I receive that email, I read that I have to register a week after the athletes and the honor students do.
Now, for some people, a week is not a long time. But it is when I work, go to school and write for the school newspaper. I’m left with a limited schedule, which makes one week a long time to wait anxiously as classes quickly fill up. I may not participate in a school sport, which means I do not win awards for NSU or put their name in big bold letters across a newspaper’s front page, but I do have time constraints. I have a schedule I have to work around as well. But, at NSU, the athletes and the honor students are seemingly more important than the rest of us who also have commitments outside of school.
Before the athletes start grumbling at me, I’m aware that you have time constraints, too. I know you have to practice early in the morning, during lunch and in the afternoon. I understand that you have to travel some weekends and a Friday or a Monday. And I know you need to train in your off-season.
However, I also know some students who go to this school, live an hour away, work full time, work part time, and have children. But even with our time constraints, we have to work around the athletes.
If the athletes need to fit their classes around their schedule, then they should be smart enough to register early and stay awake to register for that special class that fits their schedule. They should be on top of their game when it’s time to schedule an appointment with their academic adviser or log on to WebSTAR and register for classes at midnight the day registration opens, just like the rest of us who are scrambling to fit this into their schedules.
Most student athletes receive incentives to attend NSU. That should be enough. They shouldn’t receive a full ride when it comes to registering for classes as well. It should be up to them to prove they are responsible enough to be an athlete and go to college by registering early themselves.
And as far as the honors students are concerned, us “regular class attendees” can’t even register for honors classes so why do they even get first pick of honors classes and regular classes? If their honors classes fill up, it shouldn’t penalize us. They shouldn’t be able to fill up that one class that we need to take because we work, live in Miami or have to pick our child up from school.
I hope my class schedule will work around my work schedule in the Fall 2011 semester. And I don’t want it going to the people that make my schedule a “strike out.”
