In this age where computers are the prominent link to society, there is one question NIU should ask: Does MyNIU really offer as many benefits as a person-to-person meeting?

At the beginning of the school year, the MyNIU system was slow due to freshmen clamoring to change their classes or make any last-minute schedule adjustments. Granted, there are not enough student advisors to personally visit all incoming freshmen, but inconvenience arises when all of NIU is practically jamming MyNIU At the same time.

“It’s really difficult to use MyNIU when there are so many people on the system at once; it’s slow and will crash on you,” said Boone Lockard, freshman business administration major.

If waiting wasn’t bad enough, MyNIU has another flaw. Financial information isn’t updated precisely. The best way to acquire the true details about your financial aid situation, grants and loans, is to go to the Financial Aid Office.

“On MyNIU, it estimates how much you owe the school including tuition, Huskie Bucks, etc. I wish that it had a clearer breakdown of what you owe, so you can tell what costs what and if it’s a necessary cost,” said Melanie Francia, freshman chemistry major.

Still, the most obvious MyNIU problem is the lack of personal input. When signing up for a class, an advisor can give details to curious students, but MyNIU falls short. Sure, if you know what you’re doing, the system benefits you and is easy to use, but those less experienced with MyNIU can be left in the dark.

The system features unnecessary options with no obvious purpose such as the NIU Customization and Reporting Tools tab. To improve this deficiency, these features should be given a purpose or possibly deleted. If the administration does add more features, students should be notified or at least informed of what those functions are. The most used Self Service section should be the main page of MyNIU because it shows the vital information.

“This is the first year for NIU to have an enterprise system a.k.a MyNIU. Instead of lots of small systems we have one large one. We’re still learning all the kinks and hope to have a better idea of how to improve MyNIU in the future,” said Brent Gage Assistant Vice Provost Enrollment Services.

For right now, MyNIU seems to be more trouble than it’s worth. It’s crucial to students’ advancement through college; students should be appropriately advised on how to use it. Given the fact that MyNIU is in its first year of use, it’s expected to have shortcomings, but its problems affect the entire student body.

Jennifer Kurland