by Jerreck McWilliams
Staff writer
Unless you are an accounting major, odds are you do not know how to read your student bill. You are not alone.
The degree of concern from SOSU students who are unable to understand the intricacies of Campus Connect’s billing system has caused the administration to take action.
“Clearly, our current system does not meet our students’ needs,” said Liz McCraw, the dean of enrollment management, who is now working with a committee to re-evaluate how a student’s bill is presented.
The committee will consist of the SE staff members who both hear from and explain to students regarding the students’ bills: financial aid officers, business officers and academic advisers.
McCraw explained that the committee’s current activity has been working with our POISE provider to create a pilot program at SE that will allow students to have “personalized bills” that will show them the simple information they need to know, “how much do I owe and for what?”
POISE is the database operating system used to store and access student information.
Southeastern’s Chief Information Officer Dan Moore has been working closely with SE’s POISE provider to establish this program.
McCraw explained that the committee addressing this issue would first create a bill that would “be tailored for different students’ needs.”
Afterward, they will put together a focus group of around 100 students who will be able to see both the old and the new bill system for the 2012 spring semester.
This focus group will evaluate the new billing system to see whether or not it works for them.
If successful, the new system will be implemented during the summer semester of 2012 as a trial run for all students.
McCraw said that the lower number of students who attend during the summer semester will make it easier to make any additional changes to the system before it is established next fall.