By Caitlin Murray

Buffalo State College students registering for fall classes in April will be missing out on some familiar features – like the ability to reserve a slot on a waitlist.

Banner Implementation Project Coordinator Don Erwin said the implementation of Banner, the program replacing SABRE, isn’t complete but the project team is working with departments and figuring out ways to ensure a smooth registration for a campus used to registering with SABRE.

Erwin said they have come up with three ways to minimize the problems of “life without waitlists.”

• First, students will be asked to check for other timeslots of full courses.

“Often times we have students on waitlists when there are other open sections,” he said.

• Second, departments will closely monitor what courses are reaching maximum capacity quickly so they can react early and offer extra sections.

• “The third thing is not something the students would see,” Erwin said. “We’re providing the instructors with some capabilities to respond to individual student requests.”

Departments will handle specific requests to enroll in closed courses on a student by student basis.

The Banner team is also beginning research to develop and implement its own waitlist feature within the next year, Erwin said.

United Students Government President Matthew Levin-Stankevich said he knows Erwin and his team are aware that students want waitlists and students will have to plan ahead until a waitlist feature is added.   

“A word of advice is to not only plan your schedule but to have multiple classes planned,” Levin-Stankevich said. “Have a back-up in case your classes fill up. That’s the best thing students can do to prepare for the transition.”

Jennifer Maynulet, an art major and managing editor of The Record, said she will miss the waitlist feature when registration time rolls around.

“I always used waitlists when I register,” she said. “I know other students do too.”

Despite the sacrifice of waitlists, Erwin said the college is saving on cost by switching to Banner because SABRE was an unfinished program.

“It might seem like were taking a few steps backwards because some of the features we liked in SABRE,” he said. “But SABRE is a very costly application in terms of the manpower it takes to support and it’s not integrated with any other system.”

One feature SABRE didn’t support that Banner does is financial aid assistance. Incoming freshman and continuing students who have filed their FAFSA applications for next year have already received their award statements via Banner in February.

Financial Aid Office Director Kent McGowan said Banner’s components are still being implemented but eventually students will be able to pay their tuition bills directly online and track their payments.

“I really think that we’re going to be able to spend more time on the students who have real problems rather giving them info they can get themselves off the self-service (Banner) site,” McGowan said.

Contact Caitlin Murray at murrca47@gmail.com