Early this month, Fairfield University switched to a new student software system, Workday Student. Beginning with the Fall 2025 semester, this is the primary platform Fairfield students will use for advising and registration.
When the university first began sending out emails with information about Workday, many students were confused about the change. “Can anyone explain what Workday is and why I keep seeing emails about it?” an anonymous user posted on Fizz. The course selection system was already stressful for many students and it took a bit for me to finally figure it out. Now, with brand new software, it feels like starting from scratch.
However, it is important to remember that Fairfield is working to support students’ best interests, meaning that Workday was implemented to be more efficient and up-to-date. Sometimes, change is for the better. While the program is still new and has had some glitches as the university experiments with it, Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications and the school is implementing it for a reason. Yes, small bugs or delays are mildly off-putting, but I am confident that once they are all worked out, the system will work smoothly.
Before registering for courses for the Fall 2025 semester, students must do two things, as noted in an email sent out by the university on Feb. 28. First, you must log into Workday Student and complete the action items in your inbox. These tasks are relatively simple and took me barely any time to complete. Second, you must meet with your academic advisor. Instead of needing a PIN to register, with Workday, there is an advising hold on your account that will be lifted once you complete an advising appointment. I think that this system is more efficient, and gets rid of the stress of trying to find or remember your PIN when it comes time to pick classes.
I believe Fairfield University is doing an excellent job of helping students transfer to this new system, even amidst difficulties. Also included in the email from Feb. 28 were multiple resources that can aid in navigating the software. There are “how to” videos that break down the basics of Workday and how to register for classes that I found extremely informative and easy to follow. Students can find support through the Workday Student website, and can email workdaystudent@fairfield.edu at any time as well. I also appreciate the swiftness with which the university has responded to complaints, and I believe the administrators are working hard to get everything up and running for students.
Now, I will say there are some areas of Workday Student that I find to be a bit confusing as I try to navigate through the system. You are able to view your academic progress, similar to the Degree Evaluation site, but I think the way it is set up on Workday is a bit harder to follow. I appreciated the visual checkboxes on Degree Evaluation that Workday lacks. Even my academic advisor chose to use Degree Evaluation to go through my in-progress classes with me as opposed to the new software, stating it would be clearer to see which courses I still needed. Also, I personally experienced some hardship attempting to create schedule plans, as there is no button that clearly states “create a plan”. I was able to figure it out after doing some more digging, but it threw me off at first.
However, despite a few nit-picks, I think that Workday is getting far too much slack from students. Anything new isn’t going to be perfect, especially when it comes to a technology that such a large number of people are attempting to navigate. Yes, Workday needs a bit of work to get everything smooth sailing, but I have hope that it will be a promising new system for Fairfield.