ADAPTING to needs of online enrollment, the College launched a new student portal aimed at facilitating transactions during the first semester enrollment of AY ‘21-’22 last July 13-15. Prior to the portal’s launch, enrollment guidelines from the Office of the Registrar were posted on the Student Executive Council’s (SEC) Facebook page explaining the use of the portal to CAS students.

Streamlining the Process

The readily-accessible portal allows students to view their outstanding balances, class schedules, and Enrollment Assessment Forms (EAFs) anytime. In the future, CAS students could also use the portal to enlist in subjects.

Through an interview with THE BEDAN HERALD, Marriel Cullano, Chief Accountant of the Finance Division, shared that the SBCA Administration was prompted to put up the portal to streamline the enrollment process: “Before, manual pa ‘yung enrollment, ‘yung system - everything was done through email,” Cullano explained. “Now, students will be able to access it [portal] anytime without waiting for an email from the accounting [office], registrar, adviser or department chair.”

Trials and Technical Difficulties

“Given that the opening of classes started earlier than expected, the new system still underwent a ton of trials,” SEC President Alexandra Anadon (III-BSBA-MM) said. 

 Orleane Nabor (II-BAP) experienced complications with the new portal. “At first, it was very confusing. When I first logged in, I had an unpaid balance,” she recounted. “This made me question the statement because I always pay in full upon enrollment.” Apart from seemingly delayed updates of account statements, several students observed that certain steps in the enrollment guidelines were not visible or accessible in the portal.

The SEC was at the forefront to address student concerns, clarifications, and other queries regarding the portal. “As the SEC President, I reminded them [officers] to answer the students rather than avoiding them through giving assurance that their concerns will be processed immediately,” Anadon said. Working together, the SEC, Council of Student Leaders (CSL), CAS Enrollment Committee, and School Administrators continually addressed the concerns of students and parents.

Opportunities for Improvement

Despite the challenges, the Finance Division is proposing a payment gateway for next semester to better record transactions. Through this, the need for the uploading of a document as proof of payment via Google Forms could be dispensed with. Cullano explained: “Kasi the reason why we’re having difficulty when it comes to validation of payments is because the bank statements na nag-aappear sa records namin does not have a student number.” 

For next enrollment, Nabor gave a few suggestions to improve the new student portal: “The portal can be improved by maybe adding a little notification bar on the side for the upcoming school announcements and it’ll be great if it can be synced with an active Gmail [account] a student uses.”  

Fraignel Nonescan (II-BAIST) likewise gave his recommendations to improve the enrollment process: “The announcement should be well-planned, with full information, contact persons - down to what time it will be posted because I noticed that the usual time of posting announcements is in the middle of the night.”

Though improvements can still be made to it, the all-in-one student platform appears to have improved the enrollment process. Anadon concluded: “Even though technical difficulties and glitches arose, the student portal will indeed be helpful in the long run.”

Stakeholders may contact the Student Executive Council for inquiries and concerns regarding the use of the portal.