News
Briefly
Calendar of Events
Commentary
Opinions
Sports
Diversions
World News
Login
Letter Submission
Search
Archive
Publishing Policy
Classifieds
Mail Subscriptions
St. Cloud State University
College Publisher
Home
>
News
Tuition debts challenge administration
By Joe Palmersheim
Published:
Monday, April 7, 2003
SCSU is currently owed more than $3.56 million by the student body. Most of this huge sum comes from unpaid tuition and fees.
It is a problem that has been going on for years, Associate Vice President for Administrative Affairs Diana Burlison said.
"If we do not collect tuition from all the students, then we will have to increase the cost of tuition to offset the money we don't collect," she said. "We base our budget on collecting 'x' percent of our tuition. We don't expect to collect every penny, but we base it on a large majority of it."
These fines have a large impact on the students.
"When we have a large accounts receivable outstanding, we have no choice but to impact the increase of tuition in the future," she said.
As a penalty for not paying bills, the students in question will have holds placed on their records and transcripts. They will also not be able to register for classes in the upcoming semester.
"If you don't pay your tuition in the fall, you won't be able to register in spring," Burlison said.
She explained that this has been an ongoing problem for many years.
"We've always held a policy of putting holds on records and not allowing people to register," she said. "What has changed was (that) under the guidance of a previous administrator and a previous director of the Business Services area was that (the department) had become much more lenient on setting up payment plans and stuff like that."
In a previous interview with the University Chronicle, Burlison said that SCSU had cut more than $2 million from its budget in the past two years.
"Because of the financial conditions of the state and the upcoming budget cuts, we've taken, perhaps, a more stringent enforcement of 'if you don't pay, then you don't have the right' to use the facilities and the educational opportunities that are here," Burlison said.
When students fall behind in tuition payments people like Jeff Wagner must fix the problem. Wagner is the Director of Business Services. The department is in charge of collecting unpaid fees and tuition.
"I think more often than not, it's financial need (that causes people to not pay their bills)," Wagner said. "They just don't have the resources."
Wagner said that when students with fines are notified, most of them are fairly cooperative.
"Most try to make arrangements for payment," he said. "We have very few that come for one semester and leave without paying. Most of our students try to pay their bills."
However, Wagner added, "It happens more than I'd like."
Forum:
No comments have been posted for this story.
Post a comment
Privacy Policy
Network Advertising
Article Syndication
