Now is the time to register for summer and fall classes. However, many will wait for August to roll around to crash classes. But as of next semester, crashing will not be an option.

Students at Bakersfield College will now be placed on an electronic wait list when classes are full. This means those who enroll now have a much better chance of getting classes than those who crash.

Nick Strobel, chairman of the Information Services Instructional Committee, helped develop the wait list system. Strobel sees it as an improvement over the sometimes unfair practice of crashing.

“It’s truly a first-come, first-serve system now. Students won’t have to worry about crashing classes,” he said.

Those days of begging the teacher for an add slip or praying for your name to be drawn out of a hat are over. Strobel hopes the system will end the competitiveness of class-crashing.

“With the old system, we actually had fights breaking out in the halls,” he said. “It really allows those who want to get in to get first crack at it.”

If classes students need are closed, they can apply for the wait list at the BC Web site. Getting on the wait list is free. Students aren’t charged until they’ve actually added the class. The schedule will have a “WL” on it and display the students’ position on the list until they are able to join the class. If students get into the class, they will be notified via snail mail.

Don’t think the wait list means slacking off. The last day to get on the wait list is the Friday before the semester begins, and all wait list students must attend the first day of class, Strobel said.

Teachers have been told about the wait list and are asked to adhere to the new policy, said Dr. Greg Chamberlain, dean of learning resources and information technology.

“We do take this very seriously,” he said. “If only half the teachers are doing this, that kind of defeats the purpose.”

The list will serve a secondary purpose, said Chamberlain, adding that it will track the number of students trying to enroll in one class, which may be a benefit to students.

“We can say, ‘Look, there’s a hundred people, maybe we can add another class.’ “