Registering for classes can be a challenge for students at Pace. Many people have been faced with the reality of having a late registration time which leaves them with minimal options for class selection.
Graduating on track is the goal, but there are setbacks when there are inconsistencies in classes provided on the Pleasantville Campus.
Specifically, Samantha Burtula expressed her experience stating, “It’s extremely frustrating and disheartening when trying to go to register and see there aren’t any spots left or more sections available to choose from,” she said, “It has caused me to have to take out more loans due to needing to take summer classes this past year because the school wasn’t able to make an exception for classes in my own major.”
Marvin Krislov says the problem is a matter of two things: access to information and faculty.
Degree Works is a website where students can see where they are in terms of completing their degree. President Krislov said, “It’s really trying to upgrade our systems so that they talk to each other, and give students more transparent information about where they are,” He said, “So for instance, if you plug in, you can see what credits you’ve gotten, what credits you need to…get, and so forth.”
President Krislov has heard the frustration from students regarding access to information. “I know there’s been a lot of frustration in general about people feeling, they don’t have full information,” He said, ”and it’s hard to get, and they, they go from one office to another.” For the president, upgrading the Degree Works website is a step in the right direction for combatting this issue.
President of Pace, Marvin Krislov, gave his advice on how to combat these setbacks. He suggested students should negotiate with professors.
“Even if the class is full, there’s always the begging.” He said, “In my experience, if you really… want to get into a class, most of the time you can get it. It may not be pleasant it may be a little nerve-wracking, but you can do it.”
He suggests reaching out to professors and requesting to do an independent study or explore options to still get the credit in the class.
But is the problem a shortage of faculty?
“Pleasantville doesn’t have hundreds of faculty…in any particular major it could be a problem,” Krislov said.
However, it is not that there is a shortage of faculty, but with the problem of not enough class offerings, it doesn’t feel like we have enough.
“I don’t think this…problem will ever be completely nonexistent.” Krislov said, “…but you know, there are things we can do, particularly if there [are] certain majors that a lot of people consistently find [that] there are not enough courses.”
Hiring more adjunct professors was a suggestion made by the president at the time of the interview. Krislov addressed this issue later in his State of The University Address on February 20, 2024.
“Right now, HR is working in partnership with Gallagher Consulting on a major project for salary classification and peer benchmarking…” said President Krislov. “We also know that adjunct faculty are an important part of our community, and we’re eager to sit down with adjunct union leadership to start negotiations on the new contract.”