V.1 REGISTRATION, TIMETABLE AND ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

Policies and strategies in the areas of registration, Timetable preparation, and management of course and department enrollments are evolving along with our information systems.

Technical questions about building the Timetable should be directed to the appropriate contact in the Registrar's Office. Information provided here is intended to give some background on the registration process and enrollment management issues.

The Timetable process for any semester takes place far in advance of the actual beginning of any semester or summer session and in advance of having knowledge about staffing and resources (faculty hires, leaves, and retirements; short term staffing exercise outcomes; teaching assistant budgets; and summer sessions budget building) and sometimes uncertainty about student numbers (number of new graduate students, incoming first-year students, or the result of curricular changes in a department's own or a related program). Departments need to use their "best guess" about what courses to list in the Timetable and to then monitor and modify listings carefully as the Timetable schedule unfolds. It is often helpful to establish zero enrollment limits for sections for which budgetary authorization or enrollment potential is uncertain. If authorization is obtained later and/or enrollment pressures become apparent, the department can then establish a new enrollment limit and allow students to register. Entering a section with the zero enrollment option means that the Registrar's Office will reserve a room for the section and that the course/section will appear in the Timetable.

Keep in mind the physical limitations of room capacity if your department is experiencing heavy enrollment during the registration period. A class can expand only slightly beyond the room assigned to it. Departments working with the Timetable and Course Scheduling Office to obtain a larger room may find them unavailable especially at the most popular class hours or in the central campus area. As much as possible, estimate enrollment so that the appropriate room size is assigned at the outset.

If enrollment pressures develop in any of your courses during the registration period, contact Associate Dean Nancy Westphal-Johnson or your academic Associate Dean to discuss the situation and options that may be available. While it is sometimes possible for us to provide additional resources for a course if staffing is available, we also need to balance enrollments across the College as a whole and so are not able to respond positively to all such requests. During the SOAR program in the summer, enrollments in freshman level courses are monitored quite closely at the SOAR and College level, and departments may be contacted about enrollment issues for their department.

It's important that those department staff in charge of planning the curriculum and staffing levels maintain contact with staff charged with the responsibility of building the Timetable so that listings are accurate. Staff working with the Timetable need to know when and whether they may change enrollment limits, how many students may actually be allowed in any given section, and who has the authority to open additional sections. For SOAR registration, it is also helpful to provide the name of a departmental contact to Assistant Dean Greg Smith, the L&S SOAR Point Person, so SOAR personnel know whom to contact if there are questions or problems.

Low enrollment courses: Enrollment in all courses should be monitored carefully throughout the registration period since any course or section cancellations must be made early enough for affected students to make necessary adjustments to their schedules. Since graduate students are often particularly slow to register, some departments have found it useful to email their graduate students to let them know that a particular course may be canceled if enrollments do not materialize. College policy is that departments must contact their academic Associate Dean (or Associate Dean Nancy Westphal-Johnson for TA sections) to discuss enrollment and options in courses or sections falling under the following enrollment levels:

	Courses numbered below 300 with fewer than 15 students;
	Courses numbered 300 to 699 with fewer than 12 students;
	Courses numbered 700 and above with fewer than 8 students.