Penn State students, rejoice. Starting today, eLion is rolling out a feature called ‘Schedule Planner’. This new online application allows students to compare their non-class schedule conflicts with open courses to make scheduling easier.

Gone are the days when you see an open section, sign up for it and then realize that you’re busy during that time. With Schedule Planner, at any time, even prior to open registration dates, students can log in to eLion and select the new Schedule Planner link, which will redirect them to the Schedule Planner website. There, you list all known blocks of time that you are unavailable along with the courses you wish to take for an upcoming semester. Schedule Planner returns all open class sections that fit the open blocks of time. Student then return to eLion and continue the usual process of registering with their new personalized sections.

The registrar’s office will send Schedule Planner hourly updates regarding section space availability. Additional features will allow students to save their listed schedule conflicts for future use and offer the ability to lock in a particular section of a desired course.

For those of you who complain how hard it is to schedule because you are just “so much busier than everyone else” (you know who you are), now you have no excuses. Happy scheduling!