This semester marked the College’s first use of the electronic billing system, or e-bill, to bill students for tuition, room and board and meal plans. According to the Bursar’s Office, the transition to e-bill seems to have gone smoothly.
p. E-bill allows students to view their bill online, rather than receiving a paper copy.
p. “I’m really pleased with it,” College Bursar Barbara Heberling said.
p. Heberling said, for the most part, the switch seems well received.
p. “As with anything, you’ll get some complaints; but we really haven’t had too much of a negative reaction. I’ve been really pleased. I think it has worked well,” she said.
p. Herberling said the new system has several advantages over the old.
p. Students are now able to view their bill immediately and see the same information as staff members, allowing for better communication between students and the Bursar’s Office.
p. Herberling said that problems with lost bills are virtually gone.
Herberling added that students seem comfortable with the new process.
p. “Most students do things electronically nowadays,” she said. “Moving forward this way, it was a natural progress, to a degree.”
In addition to the traditional payment methods, several electronic payment options, independent of the e-bill system, have been recently adopted, including the option to pay tuition with a credit card.
p. “In the past we haven’t taken credit cards,” Heberling said. “But Tuition Management Systems [the company used to handle tuition payments] said it was possible. It’s up to the student or the parent as to how they want to pay.”
p. With this option, a convenience fee is applied—a tiered amount that is based on how much the student or parent chooses to pay via credit card.
p. Three percent of whatever portion of tuition is being paid at that time is charged on top of the tuition itself.
p. But this, and other payment options, is not tied to the electronic billing system.
p. “The e-bill is just a delivery system,” Heberling said. “All the same payment options are still there.”