Spring 2025 registration is open from Nov. 11 to Nov. 26, and during that time TigerPaws is essential for students to search and register for classes. However, students report that the website often runs slowly or crashes during registration, causing students to miss out on classes.
Ender Ergun, manager of applications at Information Technology Services (ITS), clarified that this is his first time hearing this situation from students. According to Ergun, ITS has not received any reports or complaints regarding TigerPaws glitches or slowdowns.
“It’s really a matter of scale. If there were hundreds of students experiencing the issue, then that might be a system thing. But if it is three or four students, those might be individual cases. That could be anything, their internet connection or their browser,” Ergun said.
Students should contact ITS if they run into any issues. Students can reach ITS by calling 210-999-7409, emailing [email protected], or visiting the website (technology.trinity.edu).
While some students have reported problems, Austin Helgeson, first-year accounting major, shared that he rarely has any issues with TigerPaws. He also recommended some improvements to make TigerPaws more friendly for first-year students at the beginning of their academic journey.
“Honestly, I don’t use TigerPaws a lot, and I genuinely don’t have issues with it. It’s good right now, though I do experience some lag when logging into Tiger Paws sometimes, but it’s not a big deal,” Helgeson said. “I think it’s a pretty simple platform. But for freshmen that can be kind of confusing at first, and they will get used to it then. Maybe TigerPaws just [needs] a rundown, like an introduction, in a way.”
My Ngo, first-year business major, shared her experiences navigating her first university registration period. Although she faced some challenges, she noted that these issues were not specific to the recent registration period but occurred earlier in the semester.
“It can feel a bit rushed, because everyone is trying to register at the same time. I usually experience a mix of stress and excitement, hoping to secure my preferred classes before they fill up,” Ngo said. “I was really worried when I had glitches on TigerPaws. It was during peak times. The page sometimes loads slowly or the system times out, but it does not matter that much.”
Besides contacting ITS if they run into technical issues, students could reach out to their academic advisor as a resource for support. They are able to register students for classes if TigerPaws fails.
“I got help from my academic adviser, when the system delayed my process. Mrs. Jennifer Reese contacted [Dr.] Bowman to help fix the issue. It was very helpful, I really appreciated them,” Ngo said.
Ellucian, a company that supplies Trinity’s main Enterprise Resource Planning platform Colleague, also has provided TigerPaws since its introduction in 2001. Since its inception, the website has not been revamped in any way.
“I think [TigerPaws] should improve by enhancing the speed, especially on high-traffic days. The TigerPaws is good [for] now, but it could be better in the future,” Ngo said.
As Trinity approaches its Spring 2025 registration period, TigerPaws remains as an essential tool for registration. If students run into an issue, they should reach out to ITS to ensure a smoother registration process.
