By Kathianne Boniello
Administrators at Queensborough Community College in Bayside are hoping that a few clicks of the computer mouse will make registering for classes at the school a breeze.
This week marks the first time a City University of New York school will offer Internet-based class registration and officials of Queensborough think it will make registering less taxing and more efficient.
The new system – available to QCC students at the school's website www.qcc.cuny.edu – allows students to access their transcripts, class schedules and to add, drop or check the availability of classes from school, work or home. Students can also register for classes in person at the school or over the phone.
QCC Registrar Guy Hildebrandt said it took seven months to get the system off the ground in time for the Spring 2001 semester registration period, which begins this week.
“This represents a marked change for us,” he said.
Support will be in place in case students have problems or questions, and students will be able to use a computer lab on the first floor of the school's administration building.
“Our goal was to make registration convenient for students,” Hildebrandt said, “but to also make sure that students are receiving the support they need.”
Howard Lapidus, senior vice president for finance and administration at the school, praised the new system as “state of the art.”
“This goes beyond convenience by providing students with services that are literally at their fingertips,” he said.
The on-line registration service also provides new services, such as immediate access to a student's transcript and the ability to forward the transcript to other schools.
When students finish registering for classes on-line, Hildebrandt said, they can also view their tuition bill and pay on-line with a credit card if they choose to.
Ann Tullio, associate registrar, said students will be given appointments for when they can access the on-line registration feature, which is an encrypted site that students need individual passwords to enter.
Hildebrandt said appointments – which would not be given until students had seen their advisers – were a way to control traffic on the site.
The registrar's office will add daily updates on available classes, he said.
