PRESTO
PRESTO (Personal Records for Employees and Students at Oberlin) is the web doodad that lets students add and drop classes, check grades, check financial aid info, check paycheck information, and check some other cool things.
Many students hate it with a bloody passion, simply because it's where you first discover that all the classes you want to take are scheduled for exactly the same time. Which is 9:35 am.
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[edit] Hours of Operation
For some crazy reason, it's only available during certain hours:
MONDAY — SATURDAY: 6:30AM to 11:40PM
SUNDAY: 9AM to 11:40PM
(Why a web interface to a database can't run during the wee hours of the night is beyond me. Maybe it's solar-powered.)
[edit] Sections of PRESTO
PRESTO is divided into two sections (three, if you have filed your W-4 and I-9 with the Student Employment Office)
[edit] Personal Information
This is where students find out their OCMR once it's assigned. This section of PRESTO is then ignored for the next four years.
- Change Security Question
- View Addresses and Phones: Find your OCMR, and also your home address!
- View E-Mail Addresses
- View Emergency Contacts
- Change your PIN
[edit] Student & Financial Aid
This is the most-used section of PRESTO, where students register for classes, find their grades, and check Financial Aid information.
- Registration: Register for courses!
- Student Records: Check grades and find your transcript. Also gives you a(n unnoficial?) copy of your 1098-T form.
- Financial Aid
[edit] Employee Information
This section of PRESTO only appears if you've filed your W-4 and I-9 with the Student Employment Office. It tells you various things, such as how much you got paid last week, and how many exemptions you wrote down on your W-4 when you first submitted it.
- Benefits and Deductions: Do you have any dependents?
- Pay Information: What did you get paid last week, and how much got taken out for various taxes?
- Tax Forms: Tells you what you wrote down on your W4 in the "number of exemptions" box.
[edit] Technical Details
According to the footer of PRESTO’s help page, it was created by Sungard Higher Education. It comes with their Banner software suite; it seems to be the "this is the read-only way to access data."
PRESTO server’s unique IP address is 132.162.1.220.
[edit] Opinions
PRESTO is actually very nice compared to the systems many other colleges use (i.e. non-web-based systems). Its user interface leaves a little to be desired, but it works well enough. Nhorn 14:58, 8 August 2005
