The wind became chilly, the days became shorter, and the students became anxious. The month of October brings registration and stress to campus each year.

Registration causes confusion and frustration for students across all departments at MSU. Registration can also be particularly hard when advisers are dealing with a large amount of students. This puts stress on the advisers to get their students the information they need and on the students to get advised before registration begins and classes fill up.

This process is even more daunting for student-athletes because they not only have to be advised within their department, but also from an athletic adviser. After making an appointment and meeting with their adviser in their department, student-athletes must find time to meet with Amanda Nimetz, adviser and academic coordinator for student-athletes, so she can check to make sure the athletes are meeting NCAA guidelines.

This might not seem like that much of a burden. The problem is, Nimetz is the only athletic adviser for all of the athletes on campus. There are 325 athletes on this campus, meaning she has to schedule 325 appointments within two weeks.

If an athlete is not lucky enough to get an appointment when the first schedule is released, he or she could have to wait more than two weeks to meet with Nimetz and register for classes. This could cause he or she to not get enrolled into a class due to it reaching capacity. In that way, student-athletes are at a disadvantage.

Nimetz does a great job don’t get me wrong however, the problem lies within the system. It is absurd to think that Nimetz could make 325 appointments before registration opens up to all of the students on campus. I feel increasing the athletic advisor staff could help this issue.

With more advisers, student-athletes would be able to get appointments easier and faster than ever before. Increasing adviser staff would take the stress off of student-athletes to get an appointment with one adviser, and it would take the stress off of Nimetz to get all of the athletes advised as fast as possible. Another possibility for changing the system is priority enrollment.

When the topic of priority enrollment, a system that would let student-athletes register for classes one week prior to other students, was brought up last year. People immediately saw it as just another “perk” of being an athlete. A portion of student-athletes are being blocked out of the classes they need for their degrees because of the lack of athletic advising available to them.

The solutions aren’t simple. They could include a larger staff within the athletic advising area, they could be priority enrollment, or it could be something entirely different. The issue needs to be handled either way.

What are the NCAA guidelines for a student-athlete?

• Complete 16 core courses:
  • Three years of English.
  • Two years of math (Algebra 1 or higher).
  • Two years of natural or physical science (including one year of lab science if your high school offers it).
  • Three additional years of English, math or natural or physical science
  • Two years of social science
  • Four additional years of English, math, natural or physical science, social science, foreign language, comparative religion or philosophy
• Earn at least a 2.2 GPA in core courses.
• Earn an SAT combined score or ACT sum score matching your core-course GPA on the Division II sliding scale, which balances your test score and core-course GPA. If you have a low test score, you need a higher core-course GPA to be eligible. If you have a low core-course GPA, you need a higher test score to be eligible.