You Are Responsible for Your Own Registration

[Sophia]

Reminds me of when I was in college.  It wasn't registration, but it was changing classes a tad bit after the deadline but because of a change the University did (I forget what).  I'd asked one of the office ladies very nicely to make the change for me, and I told her why I needed the change.  She said, "Oh, sure, no problem."  While she was doing that for me, another student walked up and demanded that the same change be made for her.  It was very obvious that I was in the process of being helped with something since I was standing right there.  The office lady said, "No, can't do that.  It is past the deadline."  The other student got very huffy.  Not precisely the same thing, since the OP couldn't do what the student wanted.  But the attitude seems the same.  I'm just pointing out that the student will find lots of people not giving her the help she thinks she deserves. 

[LazyDaisy]

Even if the OP had the ability, she still does not have the obligation to do it. A very important part of a college education doesn't come from books or classrooms at all -- college also teaches life lessons about how to problem solve, follow directions, and learn to take on responsibility for ones own care. Entitled Student just failed lesson #1 -- no one is going to just do it for her if she is confused or having difficulty...in school...in life...in a career. Someone may teach her how to do it, but not do it for her.

$10 bet that she got a roommate, boyfriend, or mommy/daddy to do it for her this time...and then the next semester because she didn't learn the first time...and then the next...and finally she shows back up in the "All in a Day's Work" as the job applicant who insists that it's the secretary's job write up her resume for her, fill out her job application, schedule the interview when it's most convenient for her (or just skip it...'cause it's too much trouble), fill out her tax and benefits forms, etc etc etc. There are lots and lots of confusing and inconvenient chores in life; she's in for a bumpy ride.

[sparksals]

I just figured an almost 30-year-old, masters-level student wouldn't expect the department secretary to do the work for them.  Guess I was wrong.

Honestly?  Perhaps her very very closing bit was rude but I think you have it all wrong.  You are in a service position.  Students are customers of your employer.  They are paying for their education - without them your employer would not even exist.  They deserve a certain level of customer service.

She did apparently try several methods of doing this herself, she didn't just call you up right off the bat and demand you do her work for her.  But you (not you personally, but your employer who were representing) were unable to provide her with the service which she paid for and to which she is therefore entitled.  I think she had every right to be extremely annoyed and expectant of someone doing more then just telling her this was her problem to resolve.  I think you should have expedited her issue in some way - gotten her to higher up, gotten her some sort of reassurances that the problem was on the school's end (since you mention this system has been problematic) and she would not be penalized (closed out of classes, etc) and generally just not pushed this issue back on her.

I have to POD this.

[ladyknight1]

My school has a few options for registration, all beginning with the student taking initiative. Our students can log into their university account (where they access their grades and other records as well) and register immediately, or they can use their phone, or they can make an appointment with their advisor and register as part of their advising session. There is no one in the staff a student can call to register.

I think the student was rude, and I am not sure what more she thought you could do.

In addition, the financial responsibility the student assumes when registering for a course prompts a disclaimer on our system, making sure the student realizes they will pay for the class unless they drop the course in time.

[PeterM]

I guess my stance is that this is "known issue" without a resolution except "figure it out yourself", and to me that's just not ok. 

The OP offered to stay on the phone and walk the student through the entire process. Do you actually think that's the same thing as telling the student to figure it out for herself?

[MariaE]

We always called it PICNIC (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).

That's a great one We've always called it an Error40 (40cm from the computer screen)... Sounds better in Danish though because there's an alliteration between Fejl (=Error) and 40.

[Gyburc]

I also don't think the OP was rude in any way. She suggested numerous different ways in which the student could arrange registration and offered to help personally. The student simply didn't want to take any of the options offered.

Although I must admit, I'm in a very similar job to the OP's, so I may be biased... 

[Firecat]

We always called it PICNIC (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).

That's a great one We've always called it an Error40 (40cm from the computer screen)... Sounds better in Danish though because there's an alliteration between Fejl (=Error) and 40.

I've always called it a PEBCAK error (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard).

[LazyDaisy]

We always called it PICNIC (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).

That's a great one We've always called it an Error40 (40cm from the computer screen)... Sounds better in Danish though because there's an alliteration between Fejl (=Error) and 40.

I've always called it a PEBCAK error (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard).

Over here we call it the I-D-10-T error

[Firecat]

We always called it PICNIC (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).

That's a great one We've always called it an Error40 (40cm from the computer screen)... Sounds better in Danish though because there's an alliteration between Fejl (=Error) and 40.

I've always called it a PEBCAK error (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard).

Over here we call it the I-D-10-T error

Yep, that too 

I don't think that the OP was rude; she offered to help the student in several ways. She just didn't offer the exact help the student wanted. Which is a position in which I find myself fairly regularly. I truly cannot give them what they want...they just don't like the options I am able to offer.

[Girlie]

Just wanted to say that while I was in school, we had a Registration Office. Your advisor could only recommend classes, and underclassmen didn't have to see them at all unless they really wanted to. So you either had to register online OR go directly to the teacher for that particular class and have them do it for you OR you took a little trip down to the Registration Office and waited in line to recieve assistance.

So while I am definitely NOT excusing any sort of rude behavior on behalf of the student, I might be able to understand her frustration. It is possible that she was able to recieve a different level of help at her previous school (if she went to a previous school). That doesn't make it okay to be nasty to the secretary, of course.

[jedikaiti]

The first time I was in college, you'd talk to your advisor to figure out your schedule, then either call in to the phone system during registration hours, or go to an area set up with special computers and assistants, or, if all else failed, go talk to someone in the registrar's office.

More recently, it was all done online - you could work up your schedule in advance and were allowed to register after a certain time, and would log into an online system to do so. If you had any problems with that, you could call the registrar's office and usually it was a setting on your user account that they would fix ("oh, the payment for that library fine didn't get logged right, let me fix that for you..."), or they'd explain why the problem couldn't be fixed by them ("you need prerequisite XXX  or instructor permission to enroll - just go to the department office, pick up form XYZ, have the instructor sign it, and bring it in"). If all else failed, your advisor could usually push through your class request. Only under the most dire of circumstances (ie, user account totally hosed through no fault of your own) could you just take your schedule in to an office and have them register you for all your classes. Plenty of folks available to help if you got an error or hit a snag, but you still had to largely do it yourself.

[wyliefool]

Wow, all this talk of the internet. Back in my day--only 25 years ago!--there was no 'online,' there was 'on line.' As in, getting some forms, going to a big room w/ hundreds of people, and standing in line. This girl doesn't know how good she has it.

You kids get off my lawn!

[ladyknight1]

Some of our staff took a trip up to NE Florida and visited a very small college. At that school they still use paper registration forms and manually register the students. I was surprised.

When registering for my own courses this week, I did pay attention and checked with our main Registrar's office. There is no way to register without accessing your online account at my school, you may have to get a permission put in by your advisor, but you still have to register online.

[rigs32]

I graduated from college in 1999 and we still stood in line to register.  No phones, no internet.