Grades Soon Available On-Line

Finding out you earned that easy A will soon be easier than ever before.

After more than a year of planning in collaboration between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Computer Services, the FAS Registrar's Office will send a notice to all undergraduates next week announcing that they will be able to view their course reports from their home computers via the "Registrar Online" Web page.

To access their grades on-line students will be required to enter their student identification numbers as well as a personal identification number (PIN) which will be included with the mailing.

FAS Registrar Arlene F. Becella cautioned that the reports available on the Web are not official transcripts because they do not show transfer credits or grades received in courses taken at other institutions.

The course and grade information on the Web site will be updated weekly and even more frequently during peak processing times--like the end of a term--according to a brochure included in the mailing.

As a security feature, students' names and identification numbers will not be displayed with course and grade information, the brochure says.

Most Ivy League institutions and many other universities allow, Web access to grades, Becella said.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 said ever since the campus-wide network was installed about five years ago, "we have wanted to use it to cut down on the amount of student foot traffic, paper forms students must file, and lines students must wait in."

Lewis added that he did have concerns about the security of student information, but said these could be addressed through an increase in individual vigilance.

"Students' grades are highly confidential information," he said. "Students are cautioned always to guard their passwords and PINs with care...and close e-mail sessions when they leave their rooms."

Alexander Y. Wong '98, head of the campus computer organization Digitas, wrote in an e-mail message that, while student information will be safe from casual hackers, the entire program "just doesn't seem useful enough...to potentially introduce a security problem."

Becella said she hopes that eventually the Web site will allow access to official transcripts--including grade point averages and transfer credits.

She also said that the Registrar's office has not yet abandoned the traditional mailing of course reports to students, which this year will be sent via "snail mail" by June 12.