MyBU ready for its initial launch, set to gradually replace ‘outdated’ Student Link

BY CATERINA TOMASSINI Staff Writer

MyBU, a new platform to help Boston University students navigate their student accounts, will launch on March 6, replacing the homepage of BU’s current student portal, Student Link. The entire Student Link will be fully updated in summer 2024.

BU Students use the Student Link system to access their class schedules, pay bills, register for classes, view their grades and more. It was created in the 90s as a replacement for a telephone system. Student Information Systems has been trying to replace the Student Link for 12 years. Tracy Schroeder, vice president and chief data officer at BU Information Services and Technology, wrote in an email that MyBU aims to provide students with a “friendly, convenient experience” when accessing online tools and resources.

“The main pro of the old system was that it worked reliably on a large scale and supported many complex processes,” Schroeder wrote. “It was built to fit BU like a glove, but the glove fit 20 years ago and couldn’t be altered at the pace of change today.”

Schroeder wrote that the March launch of MyBU is the only “first view” students will see of BU’s work to replace current student information systems.

MyBU is projected to be fully completed by the summer of 2024, according to the BU student information systems renewal program team. Until 2024, MyBU will gradually replace Student Link’s pages and functions following the academic calendar to not interrupt student life.

Marylou O’Donnell-Rundlett, associate vice president of Student Information Systems, said BU wants to provide students with a better student portal without disrupting use of the current one.

“In the fall, we will start with admissions and financial aid… and then in the spring, we’ll move on to registration,” O’DonnellRundlett said. “We’re very much following the student life cycle and bringing up the pieces of the system as we go along to make it as smooth as possible.”

Alexandra Bellerose, director of communications of BU enrollment services, said she thinks slowly introducing students to MyBU will give them time to become familiar with the new system.

Bellerose said BU students were able to attend drop-in sessions throughout the fall 2022 semester to make suggestions and incorporate ideas for the new platform.

“This was done with a lot of student feedback,” she said. “We had a group of student testers actually come in and use the website and make suggestions and feedback and incorporate their ideas on what are the things that they use most or things that they have pain points at the University.”

The project to replace Student Link began in 2017, according to Schroeder, who wrote that the new website’s data center,