WAITLIST PROCESS

Waitlists offer several key benefits. They empower departments to react to student demand in real time and provide clear insights into students facing scheduling roadblocks, enabling us to offer targeted support.  Beginning Fall 2026, faculty members and department staff with SFASRPO access can also manage waitlists via the Registration Approval Tool. This process includes an instructional notification to impacted students. 

PRE-TERM REGISTRATION

• Departments may monitor waitlist activity in Cognos reports

  1. • Waitlist Course Summary - S0160

• Departments are encouraged to review demand to consider opening new sections or adding capacity

• Prior to the term beginning, departments may not permit over-enrollment in a class or adjustments to students’ position on the waitlist.

• If a class is full, students receive this message when attempting to add the class:

  1. • [COURSE] [CRN]: This class is full. Select Wait List WEB in the action column and press Submit Changes to be added to the waitlist. If a seat opens up we will send a PSU email providing 24 hours to add the course.

WEEK BEFORE TERM STARTS

• Departments are encouraged review the ability to add capacity to classes with waitlists

• Departments are also encouraged to communicate with students who are on long waitlists if they are not likely to get a seat to offer other potential registration options (or connect with their academic advisors)

• Departments should communicate the expectation of how faculty will manage their waitlists once the term begins

  1. Will you manage the waitlists centrally or expect faculty to manage themselves

  2. Determine the appropriate % to over-enroll, based on historic attrition

• The Registrar’s Office will send an email to all students on a waitlist to describe what will happen if they remain waitlisted when term begins, urging students to attend in-person classes for the first meeting, or contact instructors of online classes

WEEK ONE

Centralized Waitlist Management 

• For centralized waitlist management, a department representative can provide approval to add the class through the SFASRPO registration override form in Banner

• Beginning Fall 2026, faculty members and department staff with SFASRPO access can also manage waitlists via the Registration Approval Tool. This process includes an instructional notification to impacted students.

• Once the overrides have been applied, notify students to register for the class (can include specific instructions for adding

  • Go to myPSU at my.pdx.edu

  • Navigate to the Academics Page

  • Select the "Registration Hub" link in the Classes Section, then select "Register for Classes"

  • Select the term from the drop-down menu and press "Continue"

  • Find the waitlisted course in the "Summary" pane and choose ** Registered Web ** from the drop-down menu

  • Go to the bottom of the page and press "Submit" to complete registration

• Find specific student contact information on the Waitlist Student Details - S0161 Cognos report

• If you have a large waitlist and need to manage approvals closely, consider giving a time limit for students to add the class. Communicate clearly how long they have to add the class before you approve a different student.

  • Once deadline has passed:

    • Remove SFASRPO approval

    • Contact registrar@pdx.edu with the request to drop student from waitlist administratively. Include course information (CRN, Subj, Crse Number) and student information (PSU ID and Name) in the email.

      • Expect at least 24 hour turnaround time

Decentralized (Faculty) Waitlist Management

• Set expectations for faculty (how should they address demand and capacity)

• Remind faculty how to provide approvals and contact students

  • Provide approval via Faculty Registration Override

  • Notify the student(s) that approval has been given, and they need to add the class in the RegHub

• Remind faculty that they should NOT add students directly to the Canvas shell; they need to approve students to register for the class, which will provide full Canvas access.

REGISTRATION APPROVAL TOOL

Beginning Fall 2026, faculty members and department staff with SFASRPO access can also manage waitlists via the Registration Approval Tool. This process includes an instructional notification to impacted students. 

WEEK TWO

• The approval function is the same in week two for centralized or decentralized waitlist management. All registration requires faculty or department approval in week two, even if the course has seats available and no waitlist.

RESOURCES

• Registration Approval Tool: allows faculty to efficiently manage waitlist requests and provide registration permissions to students during the add/drop period.

• Waitlist Course Summary - S0160 (Cognos): high-level dashboard for Deans, Chairs, and academic department support staff

• Waitlist Student Details - S0161 (Cognos): drilled-down lists of students on specific waitlists - useful for communication to students when seats are opening, or other sections are available, can filter by “new activity”

• Waitlist Trends (Tableau): dashboard to view daily waitlist trends for current and past terms by school/college, dept, or class

• Faculty Webpage: Understanding Waitlists for Faculty

• Student Webpage: Understanding Waitlists for Students