By Guamacice Delice
Over the spring break CUNY rolled out a revamped model of the software program CUNYFirst and many York students said that the new layout is worse than the old one as simple tasks require multiple steps.
“CUNYfirst went from 2022 to 2002!” wrote a student with the screen name Amisha in the student feed room of the York Cardinal app. “It took me an hour to figure out how to find the professor’s name.”
Several students took to the app to bash what the university dubbed, “CUNYFirst 9.2,” the first major revision to the software first purchased in 2013 for more than $600 million. At the time the program was widely ridiculed as dense and clunky, with one headline about the software reading, “CUNYFirst, Users Last.”
“Last night I spent 3 hours to figure out with new Cunyfirst,” a student screen-named Kally wrote on the app. “Yeah, it’s like 20 more steps extra (for) what took 4-5 steps before,” someone responded.
Others complained about difficulty logging in and confusion about navigating the course registration process.
But not all the feedback was entirely negative.
“I do find the upgrade interesting, and I am enjoying figuring it out,” wrote one student with the screen name Gama. “I feel it’s very convenient. It takes a lot patience. Like every technology, at first it is hard to figure out.”
CUNY set up a website to help students, faculty and staff navigate the new software.
