Financial, academic and medical holds have left some students blocked from registering on time and, in one case, houseless.

When Sebastián Guerrero prepared to register for his fall semester courses in April, he expected that he’d be searching for classes, looking for courses that would fit into his degree. 

He did not expect  the university to block him from registration. 

Guerrero found himself caught in an email crossfire with Student Health Services and the Office of Financial Aid as he attempted to resolve the issue.

“Sometimes I write to them with many questions and they just answer one,” Guerrero, a first-year student at Parsons School of Design, told The New School Free Press. “Or, they just copy and paste the message with a link and I have to find everything by myself.”

Guerrero has a medical hold on his New School account because he is yet to receive his second Meningococal vaccine. As a result, he remains unable to enroll in courses, such as the required  ESL+ course for first-year non-native English speakers.

“Everybody’s already registered for classes and I have to wait a month to [get] that vaccine in order to choose my schedule,” he said. “I’m kind of worried right now.”

Everybody’s already registered for classes and I have to wait a month to [get] that vaccine in order to choose my schedule.

— Sebastián Guerrero, first-year student at Parsons School of Design

Guerrero, who is from Peru, has to wait until the spring semester ends to travel home and receive the vaccine, as it is less expensive in Peru than in the United States. He said he was unaware that he needed the vaccine to register for courses.

“No one has ever asked me for this vaccine,” he said. “But if that’s what I have to do to avoid more problems, I’ll try to do it as soon as possible.”

The New School places holds on the accounts of students who do not meet certain requirements — such as having submitted documentation of all required vaccinations — until they meet such requirements, effectively blocking students from registration. If students are unable to register for the necessary classes they need to fulfill their major, they might be unable to graduate on time. 

Lorenley Baez, associate provost for Academic Advising and Career Development, defined a hold as any impending hindrance that prevents a student from registering for courses. The New School imposes registration holds on student accounts for either financial, academic or medical reasons. 

“Students can incur a hold for a number of things, from immunizations to outstanding financial aid balances, to even academic issues,” Baez said. “Academic issues have a range from academic dishonesty to plagiarism, to even a registration issue that is pending.”

To lift a hold, the student must contact the office relevant to their specific hold. In practice, some students said they discovered holds on their accounts just days before registration, and were unable to resolve the issue by the time the registration portal opened. Part of the delay is caused by university staffers being unreachable to students, according to interviews with multiple students.

Students can incur a hold for a number of things, from immunizations to outstanding financial aid balances, to even academic issues.

— Lorenley Baez, associate provost for Academic Advising and Career Development at The New School

Guerrero is not the only student to have reported communication difficulties from the offices that place the holds.

Luna Cofino, a second-year Journalism + Design student at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, was surprised to discover that she had a medical hold five days before registration for the spring 2022 semester opened.

“I had been at school for a whole semester already attending classes,” she said. “That’s why I had no idea I would have a health [hold].”

Cofino struggled to understand what the hold was or how to remove it. 

“I couldn’t talk to a real person for five days straight,” she said. “I would call during school hours all day … I couldn’t speak to my advisor — they are so busy.”

In March, the Free Press reported that Student Success advisors’ average caseloads nearly doubled from 173 students per advisor in spring 2021 to 345 in fall 2021. The New School Student Success office said it generally aims to assign 250 students to each advisor.

Cofino was able to speak with a member of staff at the university and resolve her hold on the morning of her registration date. She successfully signed up for her first-choice courses despite the delay.

I couldn’t talk to a real person for five days straight.

— Luna Cofino, second-year Journalism + Design student at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts

According to Shondrika Merritt, interim associate provost for Student Success, the Registrar and Financial Aid Office persistently emails students with holds about their account status, even if they are unresponsive. 

“It is not a one-time communication,” she told the Free Press over Zoom. “Our goal is to not lose students.”

The New School holds system has also impacted some student’s housing security. 

In February, first-year student Max Freeburg was not only blocked from registering for their classes, but was also evicted from their dorm due to administrative holds on their account, according to an Instagram post by Freeburg that has since been deleted.

A Change.org petition was posted that month on behalf of Freeburg by Holland de Klerk, a fellow New School student and close friend. The petition demanded support for the houseless Freeburg and changes to the university’s housing policy. More than 1,100 people have signed the petition since it was first launched — not much fewer than the estimated 1,500 students at Lang. 

“University policy requires that all students must be registered for classes at any given semester in order to live in the residence halls,” Baez said.

According to Merritt, the Registrar and the Financial Aid Office communicate with students via email to resolve their outstanding holds. If they cannot be fulfilled, the university will enact a support plan to aid the student, she said. 

“What we are trying to do is create a culture of care,” Baez said.

What we are trying to do is create a culture of care.

— Lorenley Baez, associate provost for Academic Advising and Career Development at The New School

One of the biggest challenges for students is arranging their finances in advance of registration. Jade Rentaria, a first-year BA/BFA student at Parsons and Lang, said she has been blocked from registering for classes twice. Last fall, the university placed a financial hold on her account after she fell behind on one month’s tuition payment as specified by her plan.

Rentaria, who is a first-generation college student, struggled to resolve her financial situation in time for registration. She applied for financial aid and was encouraged by financial aid staffers to take out a loan in order to strengthen her application, she said.

“[The Financial Aid Office] said I have to exhaust all possible resources,” she said. “They tried to explicitly say I need to take a loan out. They also didn’t want to pressure me but I definitely felt pressured, like I was backed into the only corner.” 

Rentaria was hesitant to take out a loan due to her family’s precarious financial situation, so she sought other options.

“I had to figure out the money,” she said. “I was able to make some money up, find some money any way or how. It was a whole other situation trying to figure out which office to contact for the hold because there’s different holds.”

Once she had the funds, she was able to resolve the hold via video chat with a member of staff in the Financial Aid Office.

“It’s a link they give you for a video chat and you need proof [of funds],” she said. “If you go to them with nothing you’re not going to get anything back.”

They [the Financial Aid Office tried to explicitly say I need to take a loan out. They also didn’t want to pressure me but I definitely felt pressured, like I was backed into the only corner.

— Jade Rentaria, first-year BA/BFA student at Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts

Rentaria was ultimately able to resolve the hold in a timely manner once she had satisfied the requirements of the Financial Aid Office, she said.

Some students struggled to even get through to the Financial Aid Office. A fourth-year Lang student who asked to remain anonymous because they are employed by the university said she faced difficulty contacting the respective offices needed to resolve an impending hold on her account. 

She said that it took about a week for the department to respond to her request for a loan increase.

“And then once they increased my loan, I had to accept it and then that took a few more days,” she said. “And by that time, the classes I wanted were gone.”

She also believes that the reason it takes the Financial Aid Office time to respond to students is because of a lack of motivation. 

“I just don’t think they want to answer everyone,” she said. “To be honest, I just think that there’s such an influx with people asking questions about their financial situations.”

Holds can be a contentious subject for New School administrators. Natalie Gross, director of the office of Civic Engagement and Social Justice at Lang, said she recognizes why holds exist, yet she questions their merit. 

“When you work with a business there is the expectation that you have a bill, and you pay your bill, and you pay your bill on time,” she said in defense of the hold system. “I also think that there could be other conversations to think about what’s the current need for our student body. How do we adjust these holds and also how do we alert students earlier?” 

Registration for fall 2022 classes is set to close towards the end of May, and will reopen in August.