And although students interested in currently full courses might have to constantly check their emails for the chance to enroll in the class, some members of MSU’s undergraduate student government are hoping to change this for future semesters.

ASMSU’s Academic Affairs Committee recently approved a resolution that, if approved by the General Assembly, will recommend the university implement a universitywide course waitlist system on the current course scheduling system.

According to the resolution, the system being suggested would replace MSU’s current open seat notification system and would recognize priority in students with higher academic standing but not if their initial enrollment period already has passed. The system would allow the first person on the waitlist to enroll if a spot in the class becomes available.

“Currently, there are other universities that have a waitlist system built in their course scheduling website,” said College of Communication Arts and Sciences representative Sarah Stachura, who developed the resolution, at the Academic Affairs Committee.

Almost all Big Ten universities noted having some sort of waitlist system for full courses on their website, with the exception of schools, such as Penn State University, which has a system similar to that of MSU.

In MSU’s system, if a seat in a course becomes available, the first about 10-20 students who signed up for an alert will be notified of an open seat, and the first student able to enroll earns the spot, Associate Registrar for Technology Kristin Schuette said.

“Our current Student Information System does not allow for a waitlist system,” Schuette said. “It would have to be much more sophisticated.”

Schuette said the Student Information System, or SIS, that MSU uses is from about 1992 and any decision to upgrade the system would have to be made at very high levels of the university. She added the university is looking at “potential future options right now.”

She said the current 0pen seat notification system was put into use in about August 2011 in response to issues involving enrolling in full courses. She said there was potential to make the system recognize priority in students with higher academic standing or show what a student’s chances are of enrolling in a class with the current system, which Stachura hoped a new system could do.

Schuette said departments have the ability to develop manual waitlists, but this might be difficult for larger classes.

“It’s an even playing field right now, or as much as it can be,” she said. “We are happy to hear (any) requests.”

Several students, such as journalism junior Camryn Ginsberg, expressed frustration with the current system, as it requires students to have access to a computer at all times. Ginsberg said she worries giving higher-standing students a priority would mean students in a particular major would miss out on required classes (for that major) that the advanced student didn’t need for graduation.

“I think it would be fair to give priority to people (in) the major,” Ginsberg said.