This article will sound like I am waving my cane at the clouds, but I am perplexed by how students seemingly don’t grasp the importance of registration. They come to my office and have no clue about what classes they need to take or have any input on what they want to do while they are here. Many of them are worse than me when my partner asks where I would like to eat, and I respond with my typical response, “I don’t care. Where do you want to eat?”

Honestly, I never have a food preference. If my wife suggests a restaurant, I will eat there—no fuss on my part. However, food choices are not like those of college majors. Picking the right courses is essential to ensure a student graduates within a reasonable amount of time. Now, they seem to have no idea of what they should be doing for upcoming classes. When we register students, they don’t come in with a plan. In fact, they rarely give input other than they don’t want to have an 8 AM class. That is about as far into planning as most seem willing to go.

Now, I am going to start shaking my cane. When I was an undergrad, I had to meet with my advisor, who happened to be the assistant chair of the department. He insisted that we come in with a schedule planned out for him to review. If he liked it, he would give us a code to allow us to add our classes when our registration window opened. The onus was on us to get into the classes we needed. There was little hand-holding as we were considered adults and could make adult decisions.

Here is where things start to get depressing. My recent registration day stint was only half successful. I barely had fifty percent of my caseload show up to register. Unsurprisingly, none of my football players decided to show up. Our institution gives students the day off to ensure they register for the classes they need, and half of them skip out. Normally, I would chalk this up to laziness, but I know the real issues.

Since the transfer portal became a thing for student-athletes, it has wreaked havoc on smaller schools and student retention. The mentality is that when an athlete thinks that their coach is holding them back by not allowing them to put their full talent on display, they will go somewhere else to shine. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your coach most likely won’t let you shine because there is nothing there that even sparkles. Not even bedazzling yourself is going to generate any interest from scouting organizations.

Regardless, students who jump into the portal believe that they will find greener pastures. Oftentimes, it doesn’t pan out very well. In the meantime, they believe that they don’t need to register for classes because they are leaving. I can see why many students might believe that, but after reviewing your stat sheet, it is safe to assume your aspirations to go pro are limited considering that you are sitting behind the equipment manager on the depth chart.

No matter how you look at it, registration is quickly becoming an afterthought by students. I worry that if this kind of apathy continues, these students will have no aspirations to do anything besides working at a job with no room for advancement because they don’t even investigate what they need to do to reach the next level or earn a promotion.