With schedule books in hand, students across campus are preparing for next week when registration begins for summer and fall classes.

Graduate students and students-at-large are the first to register, which they can do beginning at 7 a.m. Monday.

From then on, the remaining students will gradually become eligible through a process based on seniority, with the final slot opening for freshmen with 0 credit hours (not including in-progress hours) at 2:30 p.m. April 22.

NIU Ombudsman Tim Griffin encourages all students to meet with their advisers before registering. The ombudsman’s office assists individuals in interacting with various procedures and offices within the university, Griffin said.

“A number of people that come to see us each year,” he said, “some of whom after discovering they won’t be graduating as soon as they thought they would, could have avoided their situations had they visited their academic advisers in a timely fashion.”

Griffin said advisers are trained to identify a student’s academic and scheduling needs, and they are very knowledgeable about who is teaching particular courses. Therefore, advisers are helpful in assisting students compile a convenient schedule that best matches their learning styles and academic needs, he said.

“It is almost essential,” Griffin said. “There will be breaking information about class availabilities that the adviser will have at hand that were not available when the schedule booklet went to press.”

The registration book was released last week and is available at Williston Hall, Room 220. The book contains all the pertinent information related to enrolling for summer and/or fall courses, including important deadlines and procedures.

Griffin said it’s important for a student to register as soon as he or she is eligible.

“Once a class gets filled, the ability to enroll for that section of the course is gone,” he said. “In addition, most classes have to have certain levels of enrollment to actually be offered.”

For information, visit the registration Web site at www.reg.niu.edu/connect, or the online undergraduate catalog at www.reg.niu.edu/ugcat.