After one semester of touch-tone financial registration at Iowa State, students are using the system but not as much as the Office of Student Financial Aid would like to see.

Earl Dowling, director of the financial aid office, said ISU’s Financial Aid Voice Response (FAVR) is part of how the office is using technology to make financial aid information more available to students, but he would like to see more students use the technology.

“It’s going great. My only problem: It should be going greater,” he said. “I don’t want the students to get the notion that the only way to get information is to visit Beardshear Hall.”

The FAVR number can be reached at 268-7180. FAVR gives students specific information regarding their individual financial aid status.

Under the system, students no longer go directly to the office’s database by entering their social security number and a personal identification number.

“In essence, it is a financial aid touch-tone registration that expands our office hours to meet the needs of students,” Dowling said.

Other technologies the office has implemented this semester include a web page at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~fin_aid.

This site, he said, has been popular among students seeking information.

Also, students can print or view financial award information using the ISU Access Plus machines.

And starting in the fall of 1997, the financial aid office will begin to use bar codes on loan request forms and promissory notes.

This, Dowling said, will speed up service at the financial aid office, make access to information easier and provide security by not using social security numbers.

ISU is among the first universities in the nation to use the new technologies, Dowling said.

He often speaks to other university financial aid offices that are considering using new technologies.

“I think it’s going to revolutionize how financial aid offices do business,” he said.

On Dowling’s first day on the job nine years ago he saw a long line of people extending out of Beardshear Hall who were waiting on financial aid checks and information.

By using technology (and the postal service), he said, the office has made financial aid more convenient for the students.

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Financial Aid Voice Response System

To access your individual financial aid application and award status, call FAVR 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

( Dial (515) 268-7180, on-campus 8-268-7180

( Enter F for Financial Aid, then the correct

system code: F = Fall, S = Spring, 1 = Summer, then two digits for the year, then #

Example: For Spring 1997, enter FS97#.

( Enter your social security number, then #

( Enter your 4-digit university PIN, then #

The PINnumber from your ISUCard, not the class registration PIN number.

( Request the appropriate information from the main selection menu.

0# to return to the main menu

1# to review loan information

2# to review your application or award

3# to review holds on your financial aid

8# to change your PIN

9# to exit FAVR

If you encounter any problems, please hang up and call the Office of Student Financial Aid, (515) 294-2223