by Jerreck McWilliams
Staff writer
University billing has been a complicated subject in recent years with concerns from students that our billing system is too confusing to read.
The university is currently working to make the student billing system easier to read for the people who need to understand it most: the students.
According to Dean of Enrollment Management Liz McCraw, these plans involve the effort of a committee to re-evaluate how a student’s bill is presented to him/her.
From that re-evaluation, the committee will create a streamlined, more easily understandable bill.
The bill will show the student only the information he/she needs to know: “How much do I owe and for what am I paying?”
Until this new system is fully developed, however, students will still have to make do with the old system with which so many students have had issues.
“The bill on CampusConnect is not overly difficult to interpret, but there are many items on it that should be better labeled so we know exactly what we are being charged for,” said SE student Zachary Cobb.
“This mainly goes toward the fees that we pay that are all lumped into a single label,” said Cobb, referring to such labels as the Computer Supplies and Equipment Fee or the Student Technology Fee.
Luckily for students, the Business Services office has recently taken steps to alleviate some of this confusion via a short document which summarizes the purpose and use of the most common fees that appear on each and every student’s statement.
Previously, the document distributed to curious students included only the name and the amount charged for each itemized fee.
However, the document did not include a description for what the funds collected were used toward.
The difference now, for example, is the students are informed that the $6 Electronic Academic Service Fee charged is used to pay for the use of Blackboard services.
The $5.60 per credit hour Student Activity Fee is used not only to fund SGA, but also to pay for admission into many school-related events.
Also, the difference between the $4.70 per credit hour Student Technology Fee and the $70 per course Computer Supplies and Equipment Fee is that the former pays for Help Desk services while the latter is used to fund actual computer printing equipment.
This document can be found posted outside the Business Services office window in the Hallie McKinney Building on University Boulevard, across from the Campus Police.