Onestart system poses problems for student groups

Students aren't the only ones who have been complaining about IU's switch from Insite to Onestart. Several campus groups are expecting a decline in sales or donations because of the new program.\nTen organizations attempt to sell items to students after they have completed registration for classes on Onestart. Nearly all of these organizations experienced a decline in sales after the fall registration. These offers include the Arbutus yearbook, football season passes, School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation locker rentals, opera season tickets, a Theatre Centre flex pass and the IU Student Association rape crisis fund donation.\n"I didn't even notice that there were any tickets for sale on Onestart because there was too much jumble on the screen," sophomore Janell Lenfert said. \nStudents agree Onestart makes registering for classes difficult to understand. \n"I had to have my boyfriend sign up for all my classes for me because when I sat down to do it, I didn't know where to start," sophomore Kelley Messmore said.\nMessmore is not alone in her confusion. \n"Onestart was too hard for me to figure out on my own as a sophomore," Lenfert said. "I think it's especially hard for sophomores because we started out with Insite and once we got that down, they had go and to switch to Onestart."\nThe IU Dance Marathon is one of the 10 organizations that attempted to sell tickets on Onestart and the group is anxiously waiting to determine the decline in ticket sales.\n"It is really hard for us to tell if we have a decline so far because this year when we sold tickets we did a lot of promotion by selling T-shirts and handing out flyers," Vice President of IU Dance Marathon Ashley Crouse said. \nLike other organizations, the decline in ticket sales will hurt the marathon's funding. \n"We are really hoping that Onestart didn't affect us because every four dollars that each student contributes really adds up," Crouse said. "I am predicting that the sales will fluctuate with the semester and the spring semester because of our promotion."\nCampus Bus Service representatives say it's too early to tell if there has been a decline.\n"We normally sell bus passes up to the Thanksgiving Break so we would not have a final fall semester count until then," said Director of Campus Bus Service James Hosler. "We anticipate some decrease due to the smaller freshman class but the percent decrease remains to be seen."\nLike the IU Dance Marathon, other organizations that sell items through Onestart do not have a plan to bring its funding back up.\n"I hope that we sold a lot of tickets because if not, we aren't going to be able to promote as much for the spring because a lot of our people are graduating and traveling abroad," Crouse said. "We don't know what we will do to raise money."\nAlthough these organizations and many students are displeased with Onestart, IU will be keeping it for registration this spring. \n-- Contact staff writer Nellie Summerfield at nsummerf@indiana.edu.