My ULV to offer online registration in fall 2003

by Gloria Diaz
Managing Editor

Making financial aid changes and registering for classes will soon be a mouse click away as the University of La Verne will launch its online registration program in fall 2003.

The program has been in the planning stages for two and a half years, with full launch of the program taking place in November 2003, when students will be registering for Spring and January 2004.

The suggestion for this new program came in January 2001 from the Board of Trustees, President Stephen Morgan and the expressed dissatisfaction of students having to stand in line at Woody Hall.

"(In 2000), President Morgan said to me that it is unacceptable that students have to stand in line, and they can't take advantage of the easy access and services we should be providing," said Executive Vice President and Streamline Project committee chairman Phil Hawkey. "There was a need for ULV to give better service to its students."

Putting the technology and the programs into place has cost the University approximately $2 million over the past three years, Hawkey said.

The goal of the program is to alleviate crowds in Woody Hall and to keep students from having to go from window to window during the registration process.

The committee aimed at creating a program that will allow flexibility in time of registering, Hawkey said.

"This is a University-wide project designed to provide a seamless enrollment process for students," said Eric Bishop, director of academic advising. "It keeps students from having to bounce from window to window or having to go through four different offices, rather giving the ability to do it all at once."

Through the system, students can view their records in real-time, meaning that if changes were made an hour prior to log in, the changes would already be in the My ULV system.

"The process will empower students," Bishop said.

Upon full launch in Spring 2004, the program will be available to students in the different ULV campuses, not just the main campus, Bishop said.

The system will be available for 20 hours a day so students can have someone to help them when needed. Students will also be able to make online tuition payments, deal with financial aid and view their transcript.

The reason for the time restriction is because "we don't want to open it up the very first time and not have anyone here for support if students have trouble at midnight or 3 a.m.," Bishop said.

Although the process would be convenient for students, Bishop said they should still feel welcomed to come in and talk to someone in person if they need to.

"We will still want that one-on-one contact between the students and the staff," Bishop said.

Students can get the simple questions answered via the web, thus allowing more time for students who have problems the Web site cannot answer, Hawkey said.

Bishop said that incoming freshmen and new students will probably go through the current process of registering so they can "get to know how it works." They will still meet with an adviser and register at Woody Hall, but, Bishop said, "this will make it easier for students who don't live in the area."

The program can be accessed through the ULV home page by clicking on the "My ULV" icon. To log in, students must use their student ID number and use their birthday as the password. If problems occur during log in, students can contact the Office of Information Technology at extension 4130.

The program will be tested today, between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. The Office of Information Technology will be monitoring the test for any problems.

Students participating in the tests will receive a $10 gift certificate to In-N-Out restaurants.

"We are looking to test the capacity of the system, we want to see if it will be able to handle having 300 students on at one time," Bishop said.