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Tuition bill moves online
SCSU will no longer be printing invoices for student tuition and mailing them out.
This is a statement from a notification letter the cashier's office distributed to SCSU students near the end of the Fall Semester. Not merely a memo on a policy change, the letter has other implications.
"It makes the students more aware of their responsibilities," said Kevin Barnes, accounts receivable director in the business office.
Barnes, who oversees cashier operation s, loans and work-study, is currently collaborating with Jeff Wagner, business office manager, on transferring all student information onto the Internet. Making tuition invoice information available on the internet was one of their first steps toward reaching this goal.
"Rather than spend money on postage, since students are already paying a computer fee they can review their account right there," Barnes said.
Beside s the benefit of easy access, according to Barnes, the Internet system also is able to eliminate a variety of problems existing in the traditional mail systems.
"Some students have one residence hall one semester and another residence hall another semester and they never update their addresses," Barnes said. "This way students can have a different address than the one originally on file and still be able to access their information."
Another problem the Internet system removes is the cost of postage.
"Just on one mailing we spend about $5000, and much of that mail is returned because of wrong addresses," Barnes said. "And we have about three or four mailings a semester."
An additional advantage of the Internet payment system is that changes can be made instantaneously.
"As soon as you register or drop a class, your account will reflect those changes," Barnes said.
This will be SCSU's first semester using the online system, but according to Barnes it has been available through MnSCU for about the past year. Although a lot of students would still prefer to come in and get the invoices themselves, Barnes said he hopes that will not always be the case.
"It really doesn't pay to have all this great technology if we don't use it," he said. "We need to start using it and hopefully, over time, we can change peoples' mindsets."
Student feedback on the system thus far has been minimal.
"It's kind of annoying to not get the invoice in the mail," fourth year radio broadcasting major Kevin Hanson said.
Hanson also hinted the new Internet method may have other implications.
"It's really a telling indicator of the state the university is in when it has to resort to this level of penny pinching," he said.
The majority of the feedback Barnes has received is from parents.
"Many of them would like to access their student's information, to do this, all they need is their student's id number and pin which they can get from the student or the office," Barnes said.
Eventually, it is Barnes' hope that financial aid will have all of its information online as well.
"We already have class schedules, grades and direct deposits available for students," he said. "Financial aid is the next step."
Despite some speculation about the security of the Internet, Barnes is confident that student information is protected.
"When you link into the area you are actually linking into the MnSCU server itself, they have a secure transaction thing on, the security for your payments is even more tight then that," he said. "I trust our programmers."
The system is also backed up and so far has not been down for more than a day.
Students should familiarize themselves with their accounts because according to Barnes, more new changes are forthcoming. Barnes recommends that students check their accounts after they make any changes, or at their convenience, as long as they keep track of important dates on the calendar. One of these important dates is Feb. 4, tuition payment deadline.
For students who did not fill out a direct deposit form, another note to jot on the calendar is the date financial aid and loans will be disbursed, Jan. 27-29 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. in the Atwood Ballroom.
How to access personal account information:
1. Go to SCSU Website at
www.stcloudstate.edu
2. Click on current students tab on left of screen
3. Click on registration
4. Click on access online registration and student information system
5. Type in scsu id and pin number
6. Click on student tab
7. Click on my account
8. Click on full account detail (on left)
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