Students will no longer be able to forward e-mail from their Z-ID e-mail accounts to other mail accounts.

The policy change is a part of MyNIU, the new student information system being implemented for next year.

Brent Gage, assistant vice provost of enrollment services, said e-mail will become the official mode of communication between the students and the university.

“We want to make sure Z-mail takes on important significance,” Gage said.

Vice Provost Earl Seaver said that, with a Z-mail account, NIU staff and faculty can guarantee the e-mail reached the student.

“We send a lot of information out to students through e-mail,” Seaver said. “With the e-mail forwarding, we cannot guarantee that students will get the e-mail.”

Seaver said that one e-mail service marked forwarded e-mails as spam. However, Seaver could not name the service.

As a result, Gage said, students with multiple accounts will have to do a better job at managing them.

“We really need students, as a part of NIU, to be on top of that,” Gage said.

Gage related a story about a student last year who, in March, was sent a financial aid award notification in their e-mail. In August, the student began to ask where their financial aid was.

“The student never checked their Z-mail account,” Gage said. “Instead of getting a grant, they had to increase their student loans.”

Seaver also shared a story about a student who did not check their Z-mail account. According to Seaver, this student thought they had graduated.

However, an e-mail in his Z-mail account detailed everything the student still needed to complete in order to graduate. Seaver said that student is still working out the situation.

With the new emphasis on Z-mail, Gage said that mail directed to students’ accounts will also have a new emphasis.

“We’re going to make sure anything sent to that account is going to be important,” Gage said.

Another change is how students will register for classes. Gage said that WebConnect will no longer be used in registering for classes.

“The new system will be contained within MyNIU,” Gage said, adding that students registering for summer classes will still use WebConnect.

Gage believes that today’s students technological knowledge will make the transition an easy one. He did not name specifics regarding the new system.

However, he said there will be information nights on the new system sometime in March.