Time to Register!: Registering for Courses in the 1980s at USJ
Written by Crista Fiala
Today, April 1, 2024, marks the beginning of summer and fall registration! You may have already enrolled in your classes this morning if you’re an Honors student. You also may have woken up a few minutes before 6 a.m., rolled out of bed, and grabbed your laptop, successfully adding all the classes you needed to your schedule. 6 a.m. is likely a grueling time to wake up for many college students. Still, online registration might be an undervalued luxury.
The Hartford Courant published the article featured above on April 24, 1984. USJ – formerly known as Saint Joseph College – announces that undergraduate students can register for summer courses through June 1. These students could not enroll online in their pajamas (although they could have walked over from their dorms in their pajamas.) They had to register in-person from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Monday and Friday. These 1984 undergrads, however, paid a lower tuition price: $130 per credit. Forty years later, the price of one credit for the upcoming summer term is $779 according to the registrar. Would you rather register online or in-person? I won’t bother asking you anything about the cost of tuition.
Women interested in attending an all-women’s college at the time also might have noticed this advertisement for Saint Joseph College in the Hartford Courant, published on August 21, 1983:
Bonus: This Saint Joseph College advertisement featured in The Catholic Transcript May 14, 1976, offers students the opportunity to study on the seashore during their summer weekends:
Read the Hartford Courant clip below from March 9, 1967, to see what summer courses undergraduate students might have taken at the end of the 1960s:
