When students can begin to register

March 26: graduate and post baccalaureate

April 2: senior and priority registration

April 9: juniors

April 16: sophomores

April 23: freshmen

An upgrade to the university information system is changing the way both students and advisers will handle course registration for the Fall 2007 semester.

The PAWS Web site has already been updated to include an electronic class schedule and course catalog that students will use to find classes for next fall. These resources are replacing the class schedules that have previously been printed as an insert in The Daily Eastern News each semester.

Registrar Sue Harvey expects the changes to make the registration process easier for students.

“I think most students are going to find it very intuitive and easy to work with,” Harvey said. “Our whole goal in this is to make it as easy and responsive to the students’ needs as we can.”

The electronic schedule and catalog are searchable by different categories including subject, instructor, course level and days of the week. The search should help students more conveniently find courses that fit into their schedule, Harvey said.

The catalogs are currently accessible under the “New PAWS System” heading at www.eiu.edu/paws.

Other updates to the new system will be implemented throughout the month of March leading up to the first day of registration on March 26, Harvey said.

To login to the new system, students will use their net ID and net ID logon, more commonly known as the e-mail logon and password. Students can find their net ID’s in the electronic phonebook link on Eastern’s Homepage.

Once students logon with their net ID’s, they will need to enter their alternate PIN numbers in order to register, Harvey said.

Students will get the numbers from their advisers when they meet to discuss fall schedules.

Advisers will no longer have to flag students before they can register, said Tammy Zuber, assistant director of academic records and registration.

“This will take the place of the adviser flag,” Zuber said. “It’s very important for students to know that they must keep this alternate PIN for the entire semester as it will be needed each time they want to access their registration information.”

But before registration is available, students will be able to view their registration status through the new PAWS system starting March 19, Harvey said.

“It will tell them things like if they have holds on their records and what their academic standing is,” Harvey said.

It will also tell students what day they can begin registration.

Registration for graduate and post baccalaureate students will begin March 26. Seniors and priority registration students can register April 2. Juniors can register April 9, sophomores can register April 16 and freshmen can register April 23.

Another change is that the new system is allowing seniors to register at the same time of priority registration students for the fall semester.

“Before, we allowed priority registration with graduate students,” Harvey said. “And now we’re going to have them register with seniors, so that seniors have the same opportunity to get into classes with the priority registers.”

Zuber isn’t anticipating any problems when the registration system is first available at 6 a.m. March 26.

“Our mock registration went very well,” Zuber said. “Campus-wide, staff members have put a lot of time and effort into this project to ensure that we don’t have any problems.”

Zuber said the university plans to publish a class schedule guide in The Daily Eastern News some time next week with the academic calendar, the registration schedule and instructions about accessing the new PAWS system and registering for classes.

“Students will find that registration through (the new system) is very user-friendly,” Zuber said. “We had many comments from students who participated in our mock registration that they found the process to be very quick and easy.”