City College extends dates for registering

As City College of San Francisco struggles to recoup lost enrollment — even letting students take courses for free — more than 400 students trying to register for classes this month have phoned the school in frustration: The online system was offline.

Now, as technicians try to fix the system, City College has extended the registration deadline to Feb. 4 from Jan. 12. College officials also invited students to register in person and, above all, urged them to show up for class this week even if they aren’t registered.

In an internal message to employees on Jan. 8, Chancellor Mark Rocha apologized for the inconvenience and stress caused by the college’s transition from an old student information system to a new one. The system controls the online registration for the spring semester

that began Monday.

“We take full responsibility for fixing this problem, and we are on it,” he wrote, explaining that City College changed to the new system “in the middle of the academic year only because the old (system) would not be supported after Dec. 31.”

Shortly after midnight, on Jan. 8, the college’s chief technology officer, Daman Grewal, sent out this message to students: “Students, Banner 9 Student Portal is unavailable. CCSF IT is working to resolve this issue at the earliest.”

In its Jan. 10 email to students, the college apologized for the problems and said the “system is operational again.” It also listed six city locations where students could sign up in person.

On Sunday, the day before classes began, the college announced the registration extension and assured students that the system “is now functioning properly.” But just in case, a phone number was provided for students needing technical help: 415-2393285.

On Monday, the problems were back, not only for students, but also for faculty websites.

College technicians “continue to monitor and take corrective action,” spokeswoman Connie Chan said.

Registration for the spring semester began on Nov. 26, before the problems started, and Chan said officials weren’t sure how many students had been affected by the technical woes. Last spring, about 45,000 students registered for classes.

Community colleges largely depend on enrollment for state funding. City College lost 30,000 full- and part-time students between 2012 and 2017, as an accrediting commission threatened to revoke its accreditation due to poor management practices. It took five years, four chancellors, two lawsuits, a state takeover and enormous effort by the college before the commission reaffirmed its accreditation two years ago.