The Office of Admissions and Records, Student Government, and Voice FX Corporation initiated grade availability through phones or the Internet in August 1997 as a cost-saving experiment. Students checking grades by phone or on the web encountered brief advertisements provided by Voice FX Corporation. The outsourcing initially cost $6,000 a year and was designed to test whether it would be possible to cease to mail grades to students, which would result in significant cost savings. Effective spring semester 1998, grades were no longer mailed to students automatically, although students could request that a copy be mailed.