University of Guelph-Humber students are complaining about course registration on WebAdvisor. According to many students, the overload of users causes the server to crash, adding onto the stress many already feel starting a new semester.

WebAdvisor, is the university’s student information system that students use to register for classes, view application statuses and financial aid information.

Some students at the University of Guelph-Humber are sharing their experience with WebAdvisor .

Sofia Petricca, a second-year psychology student at Guelph-Humber, said that WebAdvisor crashes almost every time she registers for courses.

She said that winter 2019 registration was no different. “I reloaded the site multiple times hoping to get the courses I want, but some of them ended up becoming full so I couldn’t get them,” said Petricca.

Petricca said she won’table to work at her part-time job due to the large time gap between her classes. She said students become more anxious about their school experience when their courses don’t align with their personal life.

“We have to think about what’s a priority. How can one be in school without earning money to pay for school and textbooks?” said Petricca.

The morning of fall course selection in 2018, second-year business student, Matthew Guardanapo, logged on and began his course selection process.

“I became anxious because if I couldn’t have chosen the courses I wanted, my first year would have been a disaster,” said Guardanapo.

When the site crashed, Guardanapo repeatedly tried to log back in. After multiple failed attempts, he urgently called the school for assistance.

Guardanapo said that an hour later, a representative was able to help him pick the courses he needed. He said that experience contributed to the anxieties he felt while starting his first year of university.

“I’m surprised that the university’s system continues to have this issue, considering the importance of registration for students,” said Guardanapo .

Even through his second year, Guardanapo said that he’s still having this issue. He said that WebAdvisor should invest in improving the  system.

According to Petricca, there should be fewer students selecting courses at a time because the site cannot respond to the incoming requests all at once.

“Generally speaking, there are 1,000 students selecting courses based on the number of credits earned and in progress,” said Ken Turriff, manager of communications and public relations at Guelph-Humber.

Turriff said that staff always checks enrollment numbers with each opening to ensure that students have been able to select successfully.

“Course registration should be easy for students,” said Petricca.

Turriff suggested that students go on the preferred sections list that can be found under the search and register section. He said it offers students the opportunity to select the courses that they want to register for in advance of their course selection.