Last year, Penn State decided to sell football tickets to freshmen students at FTCAP before any other students got a chance to buy them.

Officials said they did this to get a head start on selling them because student tickets did not sell out until August last year.

Did the university really believe that after an Orange Bowl season it would have trouble selling tickets?

Tickets still sold out last year. However, given the team's abysmal record from the previous season, it would have made sense for the athletic department to doubt its sales prowess in 2005.

But apparently this year, the athletic department doubted the power of a winning season because about 200 freshmen got first dibs on tickets that could have potentially gone to seniors hoping to witness their last football season in Happy Valley.

Student tickets sold out at an unprecedented rate this year, surprising students who found themselves without a way into Beaver Stadium for the season.

There were no e-mails telling students to purchase their tickets online.

So students who weren't at home to receive their mail were out of luck unless a parent or sibling told them of the ticket form's arrival.

Penn State has decided to discontinue the practice of selling tickets at FTCAP, a decision we applaud. This year's ticket process was hardly fair.

Freshmen were given an unfair advantage over upperclassmen, who may not have more opportunities to watch Dear Old State face off against Notre Dame or Ohio State. Freshmen will have another chance.

Seniority should rule in the case of Penn State football. Joe Paterno has a history of not starting freshmen.

This should apply to fans too.

A possible alternative is to have students purchase tickets when they schedule. And no, the Honors College students who schedule ahead of everyone else should not get priority.

Students schedule courses according to how many credits they have. Everyone has his or her allotted date.

If someone is slacking off and dropping more than a few classes, then maybe this could prove to be an incentive.

Stick with your classes, get tickets earlier.