By Megan Sanders, November 4, 2025
Students experienced delays trying to log onto BroncoDirect at the start of their registration window for spring semester classes, according to an email sent by the Cal Poly Pomona IT Service Desk.
The mass email sent out at 8:48 a.m. Oct. 17 — 48 minutes after the first registration window opened at 8 a.m. that day — said the reasoning for the slow response times was due to high demand and a lack of system capacity. The email did not provide a timeline for when the problem would be resolved and just encouraged students to keep trying.
“The Chancellor’s Office is aware of the issue and is working to increase system capacity,” the email said. “You may continue attempting to log in during this time.”
Information Technology sent a follow-up email at 10:25 a.m. stating BroncoDirect was performing as expected and had stabilized.
Not only were responses slow that day, students who had priority registration windows and registration dates after Oct. 17 also ran into issues registering through BroncoDirect.
According to Sawyer Hardy, a biotechnology student, this wasn’t the first time they dealt with slow response times while trying to register for classes, but this was the longest they had to wait for a solution.
“It was about 30 minutes, but I have priority, so I was before the flood of all the people,” Hardy said. “I had to use a different device (because) I wasn’t able to use my computer.”
The Chancellor’s Office oversees BroncoDirect and PeopleSoft servers and technical infrastructures for all 23 California State University campuses.
According to a spokesperson for the CSU Chancellor’s Office, they typically depend on campuses to review their planned registration events and alert them if they anticipate increased demand.
“We are using this event as an opportunity to review and strengthen the communication process, including developing better ways to proactively identify and alert campuses when registration schedules may pose higher load risks, allowing them to coordinate additional resources in advance,” said a spokesperson for the CSU Chancellor’s Office.
For some students, the crashed website made them unable to sign up for their desired class sections.
For example, Aric Villarreal-Flores, a marketing management student, had his shopping cart set up before his registration date, but two of his desired classes were full by the time BroncoDirect started working again. He was left to sign up for sections on different days.
“I couldn’t even join the waitlist. I went over here having split days, and I work, so it’s a little harder for me to go all four days, which is why I depend on being able to come just two days,” Villarreal-Flores said.
To ensure a better chance of getting into a specific class section, students can add classes to their shopping cart before their registration window opens and can click on a box that says, “wait list if class is full.”
If any students are still experiencing technology issues, they can set up an appointment through the IT Service Desk website.
Feature image courtesy of Darren Loo