GW’s computers are ready for the turn of the century despite nationwide concerns about the effect the Year 2000 computer problem will have on college and university student-aid services, University officials said.

Education Secretary Richard Riley said earlier this month many colleges and universities are not ready for the expected Y2K problem. He said student-aid delivery may be affected unless improvements are made.

“With less than six months remaining in 1999, only 20 percent of the responding post-secondary institutions have completed the renovation of their mission-critical computer systems,” Riley wrote in a recent letter to college presidents and chancellors.

Because older computer systems are programmed to read only two digits for the year, many computers will be set back to 1900 at the turn of the millennium. Experts are undecided what effect this worldwide problem will have on life in January.

Riley said 40 percent of college respondents do not expect to have their mission-critical systems in place until October and said he was disappointed that only 32 percent of schools responded to the survey. Riley said a follow-up survey will be sent directly to the schools’ chief officers.

But Dan Small, director of GW’s student financial assistance, said the University has been ready for several months now and has contingency plans in place.

“We’ve done all the necessary checks and balances several times,” Small said. “We feel confident we’ve done everything we could possibly test.”

Small said the Department of Education required schools to be ready by last January for financial-aid processing, and all of the updates were finalized last December.

But he admits GW, like many other universities, is relying upon lenders and lending agents to be prepared as well.

“We seem to be prepared for it, but we are reliant on others in the industry who say they’re ready and whom we trust,” Small said.

He said a lot of information is sent electronically and a problem with the computers of a lender or lending agent could have an effect on a student’s aid package. But, he said he hopes all problems will be resolved in the period between the new year and the start of the spring semester.

Small said if a loan was certified, but the money has not been received, students will still be able to register and attend classes as usual.

“If we know the loan is certified, the money is almost good,” he said.

The Department of Education received high marks recently from a Congressional subcommittee reviewing the government’s preparedness for the Y2K computer problem. But, because student-aid programs rely on data partnerships with the colleges and universities it serves, it cannot be sure information flow will not be affected, Riley said.

In fact, the Education Department’s inspector general said colleges and universities were at “high risk” of being unprepared for delivery of student-aid information. Riley said only 22 of the more than 5,800 schools have tested their student-aid programs against the department’s software.

According to the “Year 2000 Survey of Post-secondary Educational Institutions,” released by the Department of Education, 60 percent of schools said their mission-critical systems will be ready by the beginning of October, with all but one percent expecting to be ready by the new year.

“It appears that many post-secondary institutions will have little time left to adjust if schedules slip or problems are discovered,” Riley wrote.

Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, said he believes the computer problem will not have as much of an impact on colleges nationwide as Riley fears.

“We think the Y2K issue will be a really insignificant issue on college and university campuses,” Hartle said. “In general, colleges will be in very good shape on Jan. 1.”

He said the survey the Education Department released only used a small sample and said the results may be flawed because the survey was distributed in the summer. But, he said, the issue of fixing computers on college campuses is complex.

“What makes things harder for colleges and universities is that, unlike other places, they don’t have a single database,” Hartle said. “There are a lot of databases on campus that need to be brought up to speed.”

The survey found only 27 percent of schools have an institution-wide Y2K project team.

“Of course, institutions should be assessing, renovating and testing all of their critical data systems and business processes, not just those related to student aid,” Riley wrote.

He said Y2K vulnerabilities may occur in central administration systems, in basic infrastructure, in academic research and library systems and in various student services.