Any student who has priority registration will probably tell you they are lucky. Just being able to enroll in a single class is more difficult than ever. The process for registering for classes in itself is quite stressful, but students who have priority registration have much less to worry about. Due to the fact that continuing students get priority registration, first year students are left to fight for whatever classes are left.

When school starts, a lot of the classes students need to take end up full, but somehow those same classes are almost empty at the end of the semester due to students with priority registration dropping the class. Someone who really needed to take a class for their major can’t because the class is full.

Students in their final semester at EC might need a particular class to graduate, but students with higher priority can take up space in that class. It could be several semesters before that student can take the class, leading to a never ending loop of uncertainty.

That is why stipulations must be put in place to prevent students with priority registration from abusing the very system that awards them the privilege of enrolling in classes during such catastrophically crippling economic times.

EC’s rules for priority registration state that a student can take no more than 18 units. An added stipulation should be that if students with priority registration want to continue to keep their priority registration status then they should be required to have an education plan. An education plan would help students keep their focus and direction by knowing what classes they do and don’t need. Implementing this stipulation on all students would ensure students don’t waste their time or anyone else’s on the path to graduation or transfer.