UC San Diego students are raising concerns about the university’s new enrollment system after technical outages left many struggling to register for classes needed to stay on track for graduation.
Students gathered on campus to protest the rollout of the Triton Student System (TSS), saying the platform crashed during winter quarter enrollment and made it difficult to secure the classes they needed.
“The day we all logged on to try to get our classes, the site crashed. It didn’t work,” said Affaan Hassan, a third-year student.
Hassan said it took him more than six hours to complete his registration. While he ultimately secured his classes, he said many other students were not as fortunate.
“I spent upwards of six hours on Tuesday trying to enroll, and I was one of the lucky ones because I was able to get my classes,” Hassan said. “There are people that spent all day trying to get their classes, and their classes filled up while they were trying to enroll.”
For some students, missing out on required courses could mean more than an inconvenient registration process. It could mean an additional quarter before graduating and thousands of dollars in added tuition costs.
Luna Vallejo, also a third-year student, said the delays are especially concerning for transfer students who are working to complete their degrees within a limited timeframe.
“Especially for me and my transfer friends, to accomplish getting our classes done in those five or six semesters,” Vallejo said. “If we get another semester, most of us have scholarships, so we're trying not to get into debt for classes.”
Student leaders say the problems with TSS extend beyond Tuesday's crash.
Kieran Matsuoka-Nguyen, ASUCSD vice president of academic affairs, said a student government survey received more than 1,200 responses, with 98% of respondents rating the system as poor or very poor.
Matsuoka-Nguyen also pointed to missing features on the platform, including a tool that previously allowed students to change their majors and minors through the university's former WebReg system.
William Simpson, ASUCSD president, said Associated Students organized the protest and is collecting accounts from students who were unable to access the classes they need.
The student government is pushing the university to restore students' access to required courses, particularly for those whose graduation timelines could be affected.
Student leaders say they have been meeting directly with TSS administrators to relay concerns and are calling on the university to provide a clear plan for improving the system.
A UC San Diego spokesperson acknowledged the technical problems, saying the university experienced unexpected TSS outages during winter quarter enrollment.
“This fall, the university launched a new enterprise software, Triton Student System (TSS), to replace an outdated system with known vulnerabilities,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The university said its teams are working continuously to address the issues and acknowledged the impact the outages have had on students' academic planning and well-being.
“As of last night, over 25,000 students have successfully registered for classes,” the statement said. “We are asking for students who were impacted by the outage to please contact the TSS team at tss@ucsd.edu so we can assist them directly.”
For students who say their ability to graduate on time is now at stake, however, the university's next steps could make a significant difference.
Hassan said the frustration is being felt across campus.
“I think it shows that it's not just a couple of people. It is the entire school that is feeling this,” Hassan said. “This is a disruption to everybody, and we deserve a better system than this.”
