Universities and colleges vie for students by offering services via Web pages Here's a sampling of courses available online By Carol Hegarty FOR COPLEY NEWSPAPERS As potential students surfing the Internet become increasingly savvy, universities and colleges step up efforts to attract them. Services, information and a variety of special offerings are available via Web sites. Most home pages cover academic programs, admission and financial aid information, upcoming campus events, how to reach faculty and staff, and support such as transcript request forms. Yet what to post on sites is often carefully considered by faculty, students and administration officials. Besides achieving a consistent look, content aimed at satisfying a varied audience - from high school seniors to professionals - was foremost at North Central College, according to Mary-Claire Uselding, director of public relations. "One of the challenges about the Web page is that we're constantly changing it because the technology is changing," said Uselding. "Expectations of people on the outside are changing. I think we look upon our Web page as really an important presence to potential students, alumni and donors. "It (content) is certainly an issue," said Mykl Novak, Webmaster, Information Technology Services at Marquette University. "How can we use the Web to help students? How can we use to Web to provide services? How can we use the Web to teach, to learn?" To meet such considerations, many colleges and universities have library services online for current students. One such institution is Aurora University which offers students at downtown Aurora and Wisconsin campuses online access to its main campus library. Students may request photocopies of information online and receive them as faxes, said Brett Sutton, dean of informational services. "So we can extend our reach," Sutton said. College Web pages also go beyond academics to attempt to meet practical needs for students. To increase employment opportunities, Robert Morris College's Web page has made it easy for employers to submit job placement information, according to Vince Norton, vice president for enrollment services. "Eventually the next step will be employers will be able to view resumes of students, coded so their identity is masked," Norton said. "We want visitors to our site to get a feel for the atmosphere here," said Nancy Pohlman, director of public relations at the University of St. Francis. Pohlman said university officials hope the Web site will someday facilitate networking for its 43,000 students in 18 states as well as alumni. But for now, university officials are content to respond to email sent from the site. "It's a wonderful tool for us to keep in touch," Pohlman said. "Almost no one feels shy on the Internet." Indeed, there are some currently interactive sites. Alumni, for example, have a place to chat in cyber space at Judson College's Web site. "With alumni all over the world, most have access to a computer with Web access," said James Tew, director of communications. According to Uselding, a chat line for North Central College alumni may be added to its site in the future. "We're looking into it," Uselding said. "But it does require a lot more activity behind the screen. We'd like to receive donations online, but we're proceeding rather cautiously because we don't want to bite off more than we can chew." According to Uselding, the athletics page gets the most hits. "One time the page was down and we got lots of calls, 'Where's the scores?'" Uselding said. Downstate, Illinois College posts a headline featuring campus news on its page everyday, according to Jim Murphy, public relations director. "We hope it might grab somebody," Murphy said. "We wanted to, not make it different, but have some nugget on it that might make someone at least to visit it a second time." To attract regular visitors, even preference forms might someday be added to college Web pages. Personalized information will be thus served up when visitors return to sites. And so educational institutes continue to compete for students on the Web. "The big challenge with the Web is staying current," confirmed Novak.