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Two main challenges confront every DLSU student in their endeavor to remain in this prestigious University: braving the winds of the Henry Sy Sr. Hall Grounds and enduring the online enrollment system.

Before the start of every term, students pay the price for Lasallian education through a frustrating course enlistment system. Preenlistment measures by the administration supposedly estimate the number of enrollees for each course subject, but it hardly suffices when those who actually preenlist amount to only around half of the entire DLSU population—just as it was this last period as reported by the student government. So it’s no surprise that course offerings always seem to be at full capacity, leaving only the undesirable schedules open for whoever’s unluckily scheduled to enlist last.

With its confusing lay of the land, the online enlistment system resembles a map with no clear directions; it could either lead you to the finish line or to frantically go in circles. More often than not, it leaves students to helplessly chart their own courses.

Once you log on to Animo.sys, every second matters. It isn’t enough for a student to click “Finish Enrolling” seconds ahead of everyone else; you need an exceedingly functional device and an internet connection faster than those of the thousands of students clicking at the same time you do. But not many students have access to such reliable technology or live in an area with undisrupted internet signal. This limitation already puts them at a disadvantage in their education, and the term hasn’t even started.

Yet even then, no first-rate gadget and high-speed internet connection can save you when the system itself crashes, which has been expected to occur multiple times every period yet nonetheless causes students immense aggravation. Imagine queueing for a long time only to witness the website collapse the minute you get in.

As much as the freedom of selecting one’s schedule is pleasing to the ears, there’s always a hidden consequence. Students who fail to achieve Dean’s Lister status often end up as the runt of the litter—uncomfortable schedules mixed with less-favored professors result in a dreadful term. An endless flow of students find themselves constantly having to learn under inconvenient circumstances that severely hampers their chances of learning.

This creates a pattern where a group of people continuously get better schedules and more favorable professors while others have to make do with what is left. This isn’t meant to undermine or put down the efforts of Dean’s Listers, but rather a more critical observation of why the current enlistment system needs an overhaul. Every student deserves a chance at obtaining the quality education that they spend thousands of pesos a year on.

Despite the four-percent tuition fee increase (TFI) and ongoing infrastructure development projects, the University’s online systems leave much to be desired. The TFI places a financial burden on our students. It emphasizes the need for the University to give us the best possible value for our investment in our education. After all, what use is TFI for if the administration cannot ensure that students get the best possible education their tuition can provide?

While there were efforts to improve online systems with the Banner Initiative to Unify, Integrate, and Navigate (BITUIN) in Academic Year (AY) 2019-2020 and The CONCiERGE in AY 2021-2022, it has yet to yield any benefits for the main stakeholders’ needs—ease of access to Lasallian education. Despite the announcement of a project last March 3, 2021 under BITUIN that would have supposedly migrated student-related transactions and processes to a new platform called CAMU, it appears that the project has not made any recent progress. Likewise, BITUIN has only released surveys on the My.LaSalle user experience without implementing tangible improvements.

At present, our institution is reliant on outdated online systems to enlist and enroll around 27,000 students a term. The administration must acknowledge the importance of maintaining our virtual infrastructure and prioritizing it just as they prioritize the physical infrastructure for the students’ benefit.

The current enlistment system is undoubtedly archaic in its cobweb-ridden structure and principles that only value those who excel in academics instead of those who are in dire need of assistance. We must ensure that no student gets left behind. In this spirit, more advanced technologies must be employed to ease student experiences in enlistment.

Under any circumstance, comfortable learning conditions should be non-negotiable. In the same way that the University boasts its flashy new infrastructure projects, they must also look into perennial, widespread issues students face such as this. Without the superficial burden of a cumbersome enlistment process, students can truly maximize their potential as Lasallians dedicated to God and country.