New Student Summer Registration (NSSR) Process FAQ

NSSR & NSRB

• What does NSSR stand for?
  New Student Summer Registration/New Student Seat Reserve.
• What is the New Student Summer Registration (NSSR) process?
  This process allows departments and College leadership to set aside seats for incoming first-year and transfer students in selected fall classes by adding a reserve capacity.
  • First-year seat reserves are a way to attract incoming students and ensure they have equitable access to seats within a department or major since seats are released equally across the four first-year summer registration sessions.
  • Transfer seat reserves are a great way to support and engage with new transfer students by ensuring there are seats available for them to continue their degree at Carolina.
• What is the NSRB reserve capacity and what does it do?
  The NSRB reserve capacity stands for “New Student Registration Bucket.” This capacity is used to hold any seats originally allocated by the department to the new student summer registration process that cannot be evenly divided across the four registration waves. Seats that are unused at the end of each first-year registration wave are also added to this bucket. All seats held in the NSRB reserve capacity will be released when first-year student open enrollment begins on August 2, 2024. Any seats in this capacity that are not taken during first-year open enrollment will be released to ALL students at 12:00am on August 5, 2024.

Participation

• Is participation in either process required?
  No, but it is recommended that all departments participate to ensure a wide variety of classes and subjects are available to first year and transfer students during their registration windows. Discussions with department chairs based on the Dean’s directives are important in planning.
  Important: Participating in the first year and transfer student seat reserve process helps make registration more equitable for all our students and is also free advertising for your classes!
• Can departments “opt out” of reserving seats for incoming first year and transfer students?
  There is no formal process for “opting in” or “opting out,” but since College leadership strongly encourages the practice of reserving seats for incoming first-year and transfer students, departments who do not intend to do so should have their director of undergraduate studies and chair speak with their senior associate dean as soon as possible to ensure expectations are clear across the board.

System Navigation/Troubleshooting

• How/where do I indicate if I want to reserve seats for this process?
  The Registrar collects this information from departments using a special page in ConnectCarolina called the MOI & Reserve Capacity page. The page shows all scheduled fall classes for each department or subject code and enables department staff to input the expected total enrollment for the class as well as the number of seats that should be reserved for first-year and transfer students.
  Note: Department staff can access this page by going to the Student Admin Center and selecting “Teaching Resources” in ConnectCarolina.
• What do I do if I have trouble accessing the MOI & RC page in ConnectCarolina?
  Please notify Jessika Harris (jessikac@email.unc.edu) and submit an ITS Help Ticket.
• Where can I find instructions for entering my seat reserves in ConnectCarolina?
  A training and info session was held on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 for SSMs seeking more information before entering their first-year student seat allocations on the MOI & Reserve Capacity page. The Zoom link was distributed via the scheduling officers’ listserv and is available on the Teams site.
• Is there a way to look up the reserve capacities used in previous semesters? Yes! Departments can look up major/minor reserve capacities on the Maintain Schedule of Classes Reserve Capacity tab. Departments can look up past years’ NSSR and transfer student reserve capacities using the MOI & Reserve Capacity page. In both cases you will need to enter the term code of the semester you want to review, not the code for the current semester. Please remember that fall 2022 was the first semester where the MOI & RC page was used to report NSSR capacities.
• How do I submit a request for student or course data to the Registrar’s Office? The Registrar’s Office has a data request form for department users. More information can be found on the Reports tab of their website.

Seat Allocation

• How many seats should I reserve for this process?
  As many as you would like!
  Example: A class section has 35 seats, and you want to allocate 20 seats for first-year registration. This means that for each registration wave 5 seats will be released in this class.
• How are the seats reserved for this process used?
  Seats placed in the first-year seat reserve process (NSSR) are removed from the total enrollment of the course prior to continuing students viewing the fall class schedule in ConnectCarolina. The seats are “added back” and released evenly across the four first-year student registration waves in July and early August, to ensure that students in every registration wave have access to the same number of seats per class.
• What do the incoming first year and transfer student seat reserve capacities look like?
  • If you indicated that you want seats reserved for incoming first year students in a specific class section, you will see the NSSR reserve capacity automatically added to that section in ConnectCarolina on the Maintain Schedule of Classes page for the number of seats you requested prior to each wave of first-year registration appointments beginning around July 8, 2024.
  • If you indicated that you want to reserve seats for new transfer students that information will be added around March 15, 2024.

  Please note that departments are not to allocate any reserve capacities to First-Year Seminars (numbered 50-89) and First-Year Launches (section numbers 01F, 02F, 03F). The Office of Undergraduate Curricula and the University Registrar will coordinate to reserve seats in these classes. Additionally, departments should refrain from applying reserve capacities to honors classes (number ends with an “H”). Seat reservations for incoming first-years and transfer students in these sections will be managed by Honors Carolina staff.

• There are four types of reserve capacities: that are systematically added based on the seat allocations indicated by the department.
  • NSSR – seats held back for first-year student registration in July and August
  • Transfer – seats held for incoming transfer students. These should be placed prior to continuing student registration on March 25, 2024 if possible.
  • FYPR – seats held for first-year pre-registration; only applied to First-Year Foundations classes (IDST 101, ENGL 105, Triple-I, First-Year Seminars and First-Year Launch sections)
  • NSRB – seats left over when the NSSR seats are divided across all four first-year registration periods and for unused seats at the end of an NSSR registration session; seats in this capacity will be released during first-year open enrollment

  Below is an example from the MOI & Reserve Capacity page for a Fall 2022 class with NSSR, Transfer and NSRB reserve capacities.

  

• How are seats in recitation sections managed for lectures with the NSSR reserve capacity?
  Recitation seats cannot be managed via reserve capacities since the only way to access a recitation seat is through the lecture.
  Important: If students can register for the lecture via a seat reserved in the NSSR capacity, a recitation seat will be available. This is another reason for department staff not to Quick Enroll or overenroll classes that have the NSSR capacity applied to them: it can create imbalances between lecture and recitation seats.
• For cross-listed (combined) classes, should the number of seats expected by the first day of class be for just the section your department controls, or for the cross-listed class as a whole? Your department is only responsible for reporting the expected total number of seats in the section under your subject code in the MOI & RC page.
• Are cross-listed classes part of the automated NSSR seat release process?
  No. Cross-listed classes were pulled out of the automated seat release because the system was duplicating the NSSR values across all the sections.
  Important: The Registrar’s Office and Scheduling team are managing the seat release for cross-listed sections manually. Please send your seat reserves for NSSR to the scheduling team and they will update ConnectCarolina during each registration wave.
• Should my expected enrollment for the first day of classes be the same or different than my current enrollment total? This depends on your unit. Departments are encouraged to enter the expected total enrollment for the first day of the fall semester in order to give the Registrar’s Office and College leadership a more accurate summary of the seats that will be offered in a given semester, but we understand that departments may not necessarily know final numbers this far out from that date.
• Can I only reserve an amount of seats in the NSSR reserve capacity that are divisible by four? The system will only permit you to enter a number that is divisible by four in the NSSR reserve capacity field, but you can absolutely reserve more seats! To hold more seats for first-year students you should enter a new reserve capacity line using RC NSRB. These seats will be held until first-year student open enrollment begins on August 2nd, and any seats not filled during first-year open enrollment will be released to all students at 12:00am on August 5th.

Timeline

• What is the new student seat reserve process timeline?
  

  Dates	Actions
  February 22	Course Request page in ConnectCarolina Opens
  February 29	Extended Class Schedule Maintenance opens (1 week earlier than prior)
  March 4	Student Appointments Available
  March 9	Class Listing for Fall 2024 available to continuing students
  March 13	Reserve Capacity page in ConnectCarolina Closes
  March 14	All new student (NSSR) and transfer seat adjustments are managed through the Scheduling team’s Classroom Scheduling Request Formstack form
  March 14	College leadership begins reviewing seats set aside for new first-year and transfer students
  March 15	Registrar runs NSSR seat subtraction process (before continuing students can see their shopping carts)
  March 17	Shopping Carts Available
  March 22	Registration begins for all degree seeking Graduate, Post-Baccalaureate, and Professional students for Fall 2024 classes
  March 25	Priority Registration for undergraduate students begins for Fall 2024
  April 30	Last Day of Classes for Spring 2024 (LDOC)
  April 30	Release of all reserve capacities/Seat Release Process for all seats put aside for continuing undergraduate students for Fall 2024 Note: if you want seats to remain held for particular populations add a RC row dated 4/30/24
  May 31	ConnectCarolina closes for all continuing undergraduate students
  July 8 – Aug 1	First-year Student Summer Registration waves 1-4
  July 5	We will close the Fall 2024 Extended Course Schedule Maintenance Friday, July 5 at 5:00 p.m. for Undergraduate courses only. Extended Course Schedule Maintenance for undergraduate courses will return on August 5 at 8:00 a.m.
  August 2	Open Registration Begins for first-year students
  August 4	Registration Closes at 1159pm for first-year students
  August 5	Registration opens for ALL undergraduate students
  August 19	First day of Fall 2024 classes

   

Updates

• What if I need to add a new class during Extended Course Scheduling Maintenance (ECSM) that should have seats reserved?
  All new class sections added during (ECSM) must be submitted to the Registrar’s Scheduling team via their Classroom scheduling Request in Formstack. The Formstack request has a place to indicate whether the class should have seats reserved for first-year or transfer students and departments should indicate the total number of seats for each group in the comment box associated with this field.
• Where can I see all my reserve capacities (both NSSR and other) in one place?
  All department SSMs will be granted access to the Reserve Capacity Admin page in ConnectCarolina. This read-only page shows real-time updates when reserve capacities are added, expired, or have their enrollment totals adjusted in ConnectCarolina.
  Note: This page is visible in the Student Admin Center under “Teaching Resources.”
• What if I want to add more seats to my NSSR reserve capacity after the MOI & RC page closes?
  To increase the number of seats in any of the new student seat reserve capacities (NSSR, UG Transfer Student, NSRB) after the MOI & RC page closes, please submit a Scheduling Formstack request”. On the request, make sure you select the box that indicates the class is holding seats for first-year students and enter the number of seats you want to add to each capacity in the comment box.
• What if I need to reduce the number of seats in my NSSR reserve capacity after the MOI & RC page closes? To decrease the number of seats in any of the new student seat reserve capacities (NSSR, UG Transfer Student, NSRB) after the MOI & RC page closes, please submit a Scheduling Formstack request. On the request, make sure you select the box that indicates this class is holding seats for first-year students, and enter the number of seats you want to remove from each capacity in the comment box. Please be advised that the Registrar may reach out to departments that ask to reduce the number of reserved seats for additional information.
• What happens if I need to lower the enrollment on a class that has a NSSR or transfer student reserve capacity? Departments should be cautious when manipulating the total enrollment on any class section with a NSSR or transfer student reserve capacity; the Registrar advises waiting to make these adjustments until open enrollment for all students begins in August and all the reserve capacities have lifted. Departments who must make this kind of change after the MOI & Reserve Capacity page closes on March 3rd should submit a Formstack request. Please be advised that the Registrar may reach out for additional information in these cases.

Registration

• What are the first-year student summer registration wave dates?
  1. Monday, July 8 – Friday, August 2
• When can I use Quick Enroll to add students to fall classes?
  • For classes with seats reserved for first-year or transfer students, do not use Quick Enroll to add students to these sections until open enrollment begins for ALL students on August 5, 2024. Using Quick Enroll on sections that have seats reserved in this process effectively overenrolls these class sections.
  • For classes without seats reserved for first-year or transfer students, use Quick Enroll as you would normally during registration windows.
• Can I Quick Enroll students into First-Year Seminar, First-Year Launch or Honors classes?
  Please do not Quick Enroll students into these classes. Most first-year students will be pre-registered into these classes by Undergraduate Curricula and the University Registrar. Any remaining seats left after the pre-registration process will be equitably released to first-year students during the summer registration waves.
  Note: Honors Carolina has their own process for managing available seats in their classes; departments with questions should contact their team directly.
• What do I tell a student or instructor who is having trouble getting into a class that has a NSSR reserve capacity on it and wants my help?
  Seats in this class are currently managed by the Registrar’s Office in order to provide a fair and equitable registration experience for all incoming first-year students.
  • All new student seats will be released for first-year students during first-year student open registration on Friday, August 2, 2024.
  • Most other reserved seats will be made available to all students when fall open enrollment begins for all students (including first-year) on Monday, August 5, 2024.
• Last year we had issues with students from a previous first-year registration wave being able to waitlist classes outside their wave. Has this been resolved?
  Yes. The Registrar’s Office has corrected this issue as part of their efforts to incorporate feedback from the past cycle.