For the first time, Mississippi State University will not print master schedules for the spring semester this year. Instead, the Spring 2005 master schedule will be available online only.
The changes have been made because most of the information is now Web-based and the master schedule often changes after printing, registrar Butch Stokes said.
“I think we’ll save a lot of time and effort in not printing something that’s out of date as soon as it’s printed,” Stokes said.
Although Mississippi State has reduced the number of schedules printed each year, there are still extra every time, he added.
The elimination of printed master schedules will bring MSU up to date with other colleges and universities.
“I’ve surveyed 19 large schools similar to MSU, from Oklahoma to North Carolina and Kentucky to Florida, and most all of them have quit printing master schedules,” he said.
Not printing master schedules will save the university $50,000 to $55,000 per year, Stokes added.
The only possible drawback Stokes said he sees is that people who do not use computers often will have to change.
With the end of printed schedules comes improvements to the existing computer registration system and master schedule.
One advantage of the new system is that students will no longer have to use course reference numbers when registering, Stokes said. Course reference numbers are the five-digit numerical codes that are particular to each section of each class.
Students will also be able to search for courses using new criteria, including the course number, the instructor, the day and time of the class, and the type of class.
The system will make it easier for students to drop classes when forming their schedules, because students will now be able to drop classes without looking up the course code, Stokes said.
Some students and advisors are skeptical of the changes though.
“I always like to have a hard copy of the schedule in front of me,” said Shane Buchanan, who advises 25-30 Civil Engineering students. “It helps going over the student’s schedule.”
Jaime Satterfield, a senior in Human Sciences, agreed.
“I think it makes signing up for classes a lot more inconvenient, because not everyone has easy access to the Internet,” she said.
The Spring 2005 master schedule is already available online. Students can view it by logging into the MSU Intranet. The schedule will also be available as a printable PDF file on the Registrar’s Office Web site by Wednesday.