Iowa State is one of seven universities participating in the pilot project of Access America for Students, a new Internet Web site designed to simplify the lives of college students.

Access America for Students will allow students to apply for federal financial aid, check the status of the financial aid they are receiving, apply for a passport, change their mailing addresses with the postal service, access federal tax information and perform many other tasks online.

According to its Web site, Access America for Students began in 1997 with the National Partnership for Reinventing Government and is part of the broader Access America plan.

The plan will provide different segments of the American population with better access to federal services and benefits.

Some other schools involved in the pilot program include DeVry Institute of Technology, New York University, Tarrant County College, the University of Florida and the University of Missouri.

ISU’s involvement came rather naturally, said Earl Dowling, director of Financial Aid.

“We were already into that kind of thinking,” he said, referring to ISU’s AccessPlus Web site. “And when the federal government wanted to get into that kind of thinking, we were already there. So we thought it was natural for us to get involved.”

Joan Thompson, ISU treasurer, said the federally run Web site would provide three main new functions for students.

“The first would be distribution of financial aid,” she said. “The second is making the government accessible to students through Web pages, and the third is the use of digital signatures, or some form of electronic authentication, for students to be able to sign notes online and file tax forms.”

Dowling described Access America for Students as a digital version of the Student Answer Center located in Beardshear Hall.

“Both of them are one place where a student can go to get answers to some of their questions,” he said. “That’s what the government hopes to do with the Internet, with Access America.”

Thompson said as part of the pilot program, ISU administrators will be giving the federal government input about the Web site.

“We are actually helping the Department of Education with their infrastructure to give them more efficient use of resources in how financial aid is distributed,” she said. “We will provide feedback to the federal government on what works and what doesn’t work.”

Access America for Students will continue pilot tests this fall by expanding to a larger number of college campuses. The final goal is to have access available to all post-secondary students at all colleges and universities in the nation.

The Access America for Students Web site can be found at www.students.gov.