The Griffon News

The beginning of each semester puts students in long lines, looking for answers to their many of questions about registration, financial aid, housing and scholarships.

One Stop is a new addition to Western’s homepage that will put a stop to all this craziness.

“I actually didn’t use One Stop, and I hadn’t heard of it until I saw a buddy of mine checking up on his scholarships,” freshman Josh Billingsley said. “I did go check it out, though, to see what it was all about, and I really liked how everything was accessible on that one Web site.”

Last fall, about 90 percent of students who applied at Missouri Western did so online. Keeping these high numbers in mind, Western has been trying to find a way to make the online availability easier.

“One Stop has made applying easier for the students,” said Tyson Schank, Western’s communication and web coordinator. “We want to simplify the process. One Stop is one place the students can go to apply for everything at once, making it easier for them to get into Western.”

Last semester, the admissions office streamlined the admissions and financial aid application process when they introduced One Stop, a Web site that combines the process of applying for admission and scholarships.

“So far the students haven’t seemed to have any real issues,” Schank said. “This year we’ve pretty well got everything streamlined.”

Western is trying to keep up with technology. Plus with the ease of completing forms, the students can make sure they don’t miss any steps. They can also monitor their admission status.

“We’re a hot university, and we are excited to take care of our students,” Admissions Dean Howard McCauley said. “Not only can students keep up with their applications, but the counselors can, too. Plus, it’s so convenient.”

Students can begin to use One Stop by creating a user name and password. They can follow up by filling out admission applications and check their status in the admissions file, seeing what materials they still need to submit. When Western receives any information about the student, a check mark will appear next to that specific place on the Web site to let the student know their information has been received.

Students can apply for scholarships, request letters of reference, submit essays for scholarships, retrieve housing info and forms and access the honors program application all on this one site.

“It would have made my life easier when I was applying here,” Billingsly said. “I could have done everything at once rather then going back and forth to see what I still had to turn in.”

Before, students had to request scholarship applications from several departments or fill out several applications. Now, with minor exceptions, they can fill out one application online. All the student has to do is fill out a survey, and their application is included for the different scholarships that pertain to them. And if they do qualify they will be considered for that scholarship.

Also, a cost, scholarship and financial aid estimator recently have been added to One Stop. When students put their information in the estimator, they are able to see their total cost, financial aid, automatic scholarships and any additional loans for which they might qualify for.

“Kids have grown up with the computer,” McCauley said. “They can sit down where they’re comfortable and apply for college.”