Priority Registration, which began Oct. 20, is underway, and Fresno City College students who qualify are filling up the courses fast.

But, that doesn’t mean that those who do not qualify for priority registration will not be able to get into a class they need for eventual graduation or transfer.

Pedro Avila, associate vice chancellor for enrollment management, said that students who must wait for the Nov. 13 enrollment and registration date can take a few steps to secure seats in classes they need.

“There is going to be opportunities to register at the end of the priority registration process,” Avila said. “For example, students that get on a waitlist have a pretty good chance of getting into the class. The earlier they can get on a waitlist, the higher the chances to get into that class.”

Juan Gutierrez, who is a first year student, is one of those students who has to wait until Nov. 13 to register, but says he is not worried.

“I think that even if I don’t get on the waitlist, I will still be able to walk in and get added like I did this semester,” Gutierrez said.

Avila says that new waitlist procedures might be able to help students get into classes. The new procedure will give students control in managing their waitlist, so when a seat opens they can decide how they want to enroll in it.

“If there’s a conflict with another course on their schedule, they will be able to decide if they want to enroll in the waitlisted course or keep their schedule the way it is,” Avila said.

“The way it works is that it is automatic, so as soon as the seat opens they [students on waitlist] get an email letting them know that they must take action,” Avila added. “They will have five business days to log into Webadvisor and register for the course.”

“Previously, the enrollment management office would manually move students when a space became available,” Avila said.

This caused problems because if there were a conflict with the student’s schedule, the office was unable to move them, so the student would lose their waitlist spot.

“Now [students] can modify their schedule to make room for their waitlisted seat,” Avila said. “When the seat opens, they get to modify their schedule to make room for their waitlisted course.”