It was the last day of the adding and dropping period when I woke up earlier than usual, perhaps like any other students who wished to process all their documents for enrollment that day. I went to the university only to discover that all offices were closed. I was as disappointed, as hopeless, as angry as other students who also waited for the registrar’s office to open.

When Ateneans think about enrollment in Ateneo de Davao University, they usually think about its convenience. It is (or was) perhaps the most hassle-free enrollment. Students just have to add their subjects in their student information system accounts (which may or may not crash without warning) and pay to the cashier. Some of them do not even have to line up, as they can go to different payment centers. But behind this seemingly competent system, many more students are inconvenienced every enrollment, usually fixing the problems they themselves have not created.

Some had to validate the courses which they have, with certainty, taken and passed just because they were recorded as “deficiencies.” Some had to manually add major courses just because they were not pre-loaded to their SIS accounts, as they lack classroom assignments. Some had to request for a slot extensions after not being able to add important courses following the recently implemented and equally inconvenient, nonstrategic enrollment system that did not even undergo genuine student consultation. These are among the many complaints of the students which, until now, are not yet resolved.

It may be the department office’s or the registrar’s or the management information system’s fault, but obviously, not all of them are ours, yet we suffer entirely. We understand all the “This is not an easy job, and the system is not flawless” explanations we receive, which is why we do what is asked of us. But we have done our part in paying the fees and studying all our courses, and we do not even receive an “I’m sorry” after fixing the deficiencies that should not be there in the first place, deficiencies that the system itself has caused.

Some may say that ranting and complaining about the system is a display of lack of patience. But for a student who is willing to pay so much for what he thought was a convenient system, speaking up is a step he can, and should, take. And he can only hope that these complaints would compel administrators to solve problems immediately.