With more and more students preferring to use the Web to schedule classes, the Ohio University Registrar's office decided it was time to send TRIPS packing.TRIPS, Touch-tone Registration and Information Processing System, allowed students to register for classes, hear their schedule and retrieve their grades and GPA over the phone.Sparse usage contributed to the decision, which will save the university about $10,000 each year.We really started paying attention to the statistics over the past academic year
said Patrick Beatty, associate university registrar. The university was trying to reduce costs or reduce the implications of services that weren't necessarily being used to their fullest potential.Only 300 undergraduate students used TRIPS for spring and summer registration said Beatty, which accounts for only 1.19 percent of the 25,217 OU students in Athens and at regional campuses. (The number of users) kept decreasing and decreasing even within the year he said, adding that To get to the point where only 300 students were using it
it seems like a pretty sound decision.The system was removed Sept. 1 and no alternatives will be introduced. The Registrar's office sent e-mails to students to notify them of the changes and make them aware of the alternatives to registering by phone.Remaining options for students are through OU's Web site or in person at the Registrar's office, located in Chubb Hall.If someone is in a pinch or a bind and isn't able to have access to a computer or is leery of using a computer
in-person registration has always been an option
Beatty said. We don't expect any problems because computers are available practically everywhere you check.TRIPS was instituted in December 1992, before computers and the Internet were available.It was widely used and popular at the time
of course
because students didn't have to wait in lines
Beatty said. The usage numbers just didn't seem to make sense to maintain that technology.
17
