Students use new BannerWeb system to register for spring 2022 classes

It is 6:59 a.m., and hundreds of students are anxiously staring at their computer screens waiting for the clock to hit 7:00. 

Some students have their course-registration numbers on their notes app, ready to be copied and pasted onto BannerWeb when the moment strikes. Others choose to type the numbers out, hoping not to slip up. They know that typing one wrong number could mean losing an entire course and potentially ruining their schedule.

The moment hits, and thousands of fingers quickly slam on keyboards. Some students are lucky enough to be greeted with a screen full of  “web registered” messages. Others mistype, or are too slow, and must hastily search for the numbers of their backup courses. 

The new BannerWeb registration system, which University of Richmond students had the option of using to register for the Spring 2022 term, offers features that make the process less stressful. 

The new system, which students were first told about in an Oct. 14 email from the Office of the University registrar, includes several new features meant to make the registration process more user-friendly, Registrar Kristen Ball said. 

Ball said that the biggest difference with the new system was a planning feature that eliminates the need to quickly copy and paste course registration numbers into BannerWeb. With the new system, students make a plan for registration by selecting four or five courses ahead of time, then, when their registration date arrives, students can hit submit and all their course selections are sent in at once. 

With the old system, many students would lose courses by dropping them, then find that their ideal replacement course had filled during the time it took them to type out a CRN. The upgrade solved this problem by introducing a feature called conditional drop-add that only lets students drop a course if their pre-set replacement course still has spots available, Ball said. 

Students were able to select whether they used the new system to register. Approximately 10% of seniors, 20% of juniors and 40% of sophomores used the new way, while the rest used the traditional BannerWeb registration process, Ball said. The majority of freshmen used the new system.

Junior Andrew Moy registered for classes on Oct. 28 using the new system.

“I thought it was a lot faster and less stressful,” Moy said. “Being able to have my classes set beforehand allowed me to do the whole registration in about 10 seconds.” 

Several upperclassmen decided to use the old registration system because it felt familiar. Others, especially students who had become frustrated with the old method, decided to seize the opportunity. 

“It was super convenient and much easier to use than the old way,” junior Annie Beckerman said.

The registrar’s office did not receive any specific complaints about the new system, Ball said, but some students had requested help locating things that they could not find because of the format change. 

Some students wondered if one form of registration went through faster than the other. 

“The speed should be the same because all the information is going to the same place, whether you send it from old Banner or new Banner,” Ball said. 

BannerWeb released the new registration system as part of a website upgrade. The old method of registration will gradually be phased out, Ball added. 

“I got all the classes I wanted using the new system, and I’m excited for the Spring,” Beckerman said. 

Contact contributor Kathryn Kimmel at kathryn.kimmel@richmond.edu.