Financial aid computer not yet in use
tjy nanay Lyons
Staff Reporter
Students visiting the Office of Scholarships
and Financial Aid at UNL may find themselves
learning the virtue of patience as they wait in
line.
Lack of automation has plagued the financial
aid office for several years and has slowed pro
cessing and transfering information, said Bill
McFarland, director of scholarships and finan
cial aid.
While most other mqjor universities in the U.
S., including all of the Big 8 schools, have
acquired advanced computer systems to increase
efficiency and integrate admissions, registration,
student accounts and financial aid, UNL has
lagged behind, said Larry Apel, associate direc
tor of scholarships and financial aid.
Although portions of a new computer have been
installed in the office, Ape! said, the office still
does its work by hand.
The computer system is from Information
Associates, a company that produces software
packages for business and educational institu
tions. The system is the most advanced produced
by the company and is an improved version of
what many other universities are using, McFar
land said.
The cost of the new system was to be disclosed
by university officials.
• Nancy Walz, computer support specialist for
UNL, said the system was purchased through a
special prqject fund of the chancellor’s budget.
The purchase included 13 new terminals and one
additional printer, she said.
Portions of the system were installed during
the summer, but the complete system won’t be
fully operational until the 1988-89 school year.
Because UNLonly purchased the financial aid
portion of the software, several months will be
needed to build links between financial aid,
admissions and registration, Apel said. Time also
will be required to write procedures and initiate
trial of the system.
The office is using one component of the sys
tem, the “tracking screen,” this fall, McFarland
said. The tracking screen allows workers to call
up on a screen the forms a studejnt has turned in,
whether the student has completed all forms
needed, or whether they have been returned to
the student, he said.
The office also is using a message screen that
allows workers to call up Guaranteed Student
Loan information.
“We can log in when the application was
processed by the office and returned to either
the student or lender the amount of the loan, and
when the check came in," McFarland said.
Until the system is completely operational,
award information such as scholarships and
grants will be compiled by keypunch into a sys
tem of Alpha files. Alpha files are binders con
taining names of nearly 40,000 students who
receive awards.
Each time a student .asks information on
awards, the appropriate Alpha file must be
retrieved manually. If the file is not in its place, a
delay results.
New information is written into the files by
hand each time an award changes.
When the award screen is operational, most of
the information will be at a finger’s reach and a
student’s questions can be answered in just a
few seconds.
"Sometimes we had two people
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