Imagine being a senior four months short of graduation and receiving a notice saying you’re in jeopardy of not being able to graduate. Now imagine that you receive this information via an angry phone call from your parents, who received the letter before you did. Due to Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) discrepancies, this is a familiar situation for many Binghamton University students.
This notice, a paper DARS, is run for a student that has notified the registrar that he or she intends to graduate by filling out an Application for Degree (AFD). If the student’s DARS does not indicate that all requirements are fulfilled, a copy of the student’s DARS is sent to the mailing address on file.
To those students who are unaware of the AFD, a headline reminder has been displayed on the Binghamton University Student Information (BUSI) Web Center, the registrar’s online system for students to view grades and register for courses, for the past few weeks, which includes a link to the AFD, as well as other instructions for graduating seniors.
However, the problem for a number of seniors is that such important personal information was sent to their home address, rather than their local address.
For many students, the mailing address on file is not their Binghamton residence, but rather the default home address. Because of this, some of the DARS reports were sent home and subsequently opened by parents.
Unfortunately, most seniors do not realize their local addresses are not on file. Evan Paul, a senior economics and philosophy double major, was fortunate to have an understanding mother. Paul’s mother did not panic when she opened the envelope to find a paper DARS with a line on the top reading that her son’s graduation is “in question.”
On the other hand, Paul said he did have friends that “got the angry voice mail.”
In order to have the notices sent directly to the students, assistant registrar Andrea Wawrzusin advises, “the way to avoid that would be to have their up-to-date address on file with us.”
Although Wawrzusin was unsure of the number of students who received the letters, she said that they went out to students from every school in three cycles throughout the year, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact number.
In addition to the paper DARS, many seniors would prefer to be notified by other methods.
“I would prefer it to be e-mailed,” said Jonathon Adao, a senior computer science major.
Paul, who was more upset by the principle of the situation, stressed the importance of the University treating its students like the budding adults that they are.
“[We are] graduates setting off into the real world, we’re not little kids,” he said.
Still, BU is trying its best to ensure the graduation of its students.
“Our goal is to try to give them as many ways, routes and reminders,” Wawrzusin said. “We are just hoping we can catch students as best we can with the information they need to know.”