Tanisha Newton describes applying for and receiving financial aid as a long, drawn-out process with lots of paperwork.
“I had to keep sending stuff back and forth,” the psychology freshman said. “It takes a lot of time.”
A new MSU Web site could make the process much faster.
The site, which is accessed by entering a Pilot ID and password, displays a student’s complete financial aid record and indicates if any action to renew or claim awards is needed.
“The Web stuff is going to make some of the routine things easier for students,” said Val Meyers, assistant director of the Office of Financial Aid. “It’s really kind of fun.”
The office also has discontinued sending out paper award letters when students have received new awards.
Instead, financial aid recipients receive an e-mail when they have received a new award or if their financial aid status changes.
But the e-mail only instructs them to view the Web site and does not include information about the actual financial aid change. Meyers said e-mail containing aid information can be too easily redirected or lost.
“The e-mail doesn’t tell them anything confidential,” Meyers said.
The Office of Financial Aid serviced about 28,000 students last year and mailed out 10,000 notification letters, Meyers said. The change to Internet-based notification is expected to save the Office of Financial Aid $60,000 in paper, postage and other supplies, she said.
“Unless they don’t have computer access, they’re getting it by e-mail,” she said. “I think we have done 152 letters so far. What we don’t want to do is a lot of paper.”
And beyond the financial savings, the new system is expected to save time.
“The turnaround time is just fantastic,” Meyers said. “It really does make a difference.”
Finance freshman Christina Davis said she’s found the Web site helpful.
“It’s well put together,” she said. “It was easy to find information about my financial aid.”
And Davis said she’s noticed a time difference.
“My information was on the computer before I got my award letter,” she said.
As colleges and universities look to scale back budgets, Internet-based financial aid access is becoming a growing trend, said Susie Rosen, regional executive for federal student loan distributor Sallie Mae, which produces a system similar to MSU’s.
“Today’s students
