Samad Hakani, Photography Editor

With course registration for fall 2024 slated to open on April 15, students looking to get a head start on scheduling have noticed a significantly diminished course catalog. 

As of April 2, 2,439 courses are listed for the fall 2024 semester on Yale Course Search, compared to 4,268 courses that were offered for the fall 2023 semester. This semester’s course rollout process has been noticeably slower than last year’s, according to CourseTable data by co-lead Sida Chen ’26. By March 31, 2023, 3,144 offerings for the fall 2023 semester appeared, meaning that this year’s rollout process has lagged behind by 22.5 percent. 

The Registrar’s Office is “not aware of a reason that course offerings would have decreased,” according to a statement provided to the News.

“It is a challenging time for departments to complete this work with competing priorities, so perhaps the numbers will go up by the time registration opens,” the statement wrote.

The discrepancies in total courses listed vary by major. Last fall, 71 unique courses were listed under global affairs, including 28 specifically for undergraduate students. When Yale Course Search opened on March 5, just two undergraduate courses in the department were listed on CourseTable — which scrapes its data daily from Yale Course Search. As of April 2, nine undergraduate courses are now listed under global affairs. 

Isabella Panico ’26, a global affairs major, wrote to the News that she had been looking forward to browsing electives for her major, but the delay has hindered her ability to develop enthusiasm about her fall 2024 calendar.

“With courses coming out later it can be frustrating for students in the major to get excited about the next semester and also just to plan our schedules,” she wrote. “With the Jackson School’s recent growth I’m always rooting for their exposure, but this is a bad foot to get off on for the fall semester.”

The Registrar’s Office for the Jackson School of Global Affairs said in a statement that they are still in the process of entering fall courses and that students should check back at the end of the week.

In the philosophy department, 19 undergraduate courses are currently listed, compared to 34 last year. Professor Daniel Greco, the department’s director for undergraduate studies, said that while he was not sure of the cause for the discrepancy, it could be due to an unusually large number of faculty taking leave during the fall 2024 semester.

Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences Tamar Gendler did not provide the number of FAS faculty on leave for the fall 2024 semester but confirmed that “the number of faculty on leave next fall is well within the range of normal variations.”

“As always, there are a few FAS departments that have more leaves than they can accommodate in their curriculum,” she wrote. “In those departments, we have approved the hiring of visiting faculty with relevant expertise who can teach the needed course.”

The course discrepancy is also visible in other disciplines, including in the School of Engineering & Applied Science.

Computer science, a popular undergraduate major under SEAS, shows 67 fall 2024 courses as of April 2, compared to 87 courses ultimately offered for the fall 2023 semester.

Kristin Flower, associate dean for faculty affairs at SEAS, wrote that she cannot share which faculty are slated to take leave next semester.

However, she wrote, “The number of SEAS faculty on leave for Fall 2024 is consistent with past fall leave numbers.”

Course registration for the class of 2025 begins on April 15.