Bidding FAQ
Do I need to bid for classes that are not ‘traditional’ like Independent Study?
Not all classes will be available within the bidding system. Students will be manually enrolled in independent study, application based classes, and placeholder classes while going on exchange.
When can students bid for courses?
During Bidding Phase I and Bidding Phase II students will be bidding with students within their own program for a roster position. This means that during these three phases, Evening and Weekend Students will only be able to place bids on classes with seats allocated for their program (Evening: section 60s, 80s; Weekend: section 70s, 80s).
For Evening & Weekend students who would like to take Full-Time class (designated as section 30s), how do we bid?
Evening & Weekend Students will not be able to place bids on the classes designated as section 30s. These classes can be added during an Add/Drop phase, if seats are available, and bid points will not be needed.
If a course closes in Bidding, will students be automatically placed on waitlist?
Yes, if a course closes in either of the bidding phases, and your bid did not secure you a roster position, you will be placed on the waitlist. Students will hold their position on the waitlist using the points bid during the bidding phase (regardless of the Clearing Cost for the class). Position rank will be determined by the highest bid.
If a course closes in Phase I, students will not be able to add themselves to the waitlist of the course until the Add/Drop phase. If a course closes in Phase I or Phase II of bidding, students who gained a waitlist position during the Add/Drop phase will be ranked lower on the waitlist than students who were placed there as a Result of a bidding phase. Students who secure a waitlist position during Phase I or Phase II cannot be displaced by students who add themselves to a waitlist position in the Add/Drop phases.
Can you prioritize your bids with other classes within the term?
Bids cannot be prioritized against other classes within the term. Students are encouraged to bid the number of points they are willing to spend for a course in any given quarter.
Can you drop a roster position to recapture bid points?
Yes. You will recapture the entire value of your bid only if you drop the roster position during a phase in which 100% of bid points are returned. Between Phase I and Phase II of bidding, there will be a 100% refund phase in which students can drop successful roster positions and receive a refund of 100% of the points which can then the points can then be used during Bidding Phase II. Once we have moved into the Add/Drop phases, students receive a partial refund, the value of which is determined by the phase of Add/Drop.
Is there a minimum required amount of points to bid?
Students must bid a minimum of 1 point.
How does the system prioritize the bids?
Upon resolution, the system will place the bids for a class in descending order to determine the students who will secure a roster position.
Can you see the number of bids placed during the bidding phase?
No, students cannot see the number of students who have placed a bid on a class during the bidding phase. However; once the phase has been resolved, a student can review the bidding statistics to see the number of bidders for any given class.
Can points be transferred from student to student?
No, points cannot be shared amongst your peers.
After the bidding phase ends, will we know if we got in to preferred course?
The Registration & Records team will send out an email once the bidding results are ready to review. You will be able to log-in to the Online Bidding & Registration system to see the classes in which you secured a roster position as well as any waitlisted sections.
Will we see the minimum points for the closed course?
Yes, this also known as the Clearing Cost. Students will be able to view the bidding statistics to see the Clearing Cost for each section. If a class does not fill to capacity, the clearing cost will be “zero” which means students who secured a roster position, were not charged any points.
Why can’t I see bid stats and TCEs in the bidding and registration system?
The online Bidding and Registration system is designed to be a simple system in which you place your bids on courses already researched and selected in the Course Planning application. Course Planning is your “one stop shop” for reviewing course descriptions, schedule information, TCEs and historical bidding statistics. Additionally, you can use Course Planning to create a schedule for Fall 2015. More information on how to use Course Planning is posted on the Serial.
I bid the same amount as the clearing cost, but I am on the waitlist. What happened?
When multiple students bid the same amount for the final open seat in a course, the system randomly selects a student to fill the last roster position. All remaining students who placed the same bid are placed on the waitlist, again using a random selector to determine waitlist rank order.
When I view the class capacity in the Bidding and Registration system, it appears to be a fraction of the total class capacity. Why is that?
The bidding and registration system will show you only the seats available for bidding to students in your program. In shared sections of courses, that number will be a smaller number than the total number of seats available for enrollment.
If I am on a waitlist from Phase I. Will I have a chance to bid on an alternate section in Phase II?
The system does not allow you to place a bid for a course if you are on the waitlist for another section of the same course. If you want to place a bid on an alternate section of a course, you will need to drop your waitlist position during 100% drop.
Will I be able to drop bids during Phase II?
No. If you want to drop a bid to recapture points for use in Phase II, you must do so during 100% Drop.
