In order to get in line with other changing policies within the university, Student Accounts is changing their tuition reimbursement policy.
The policy used to be graduated–a 90 percent refund from day one, 50 percent after two weeks and 25 percent from four weeks to eight weeks, at which point there would be no more refunds. Starting this semester, that policy will be a 100 percent refund for the first two weeks and then nothing. The last day students can withdraw and receive a refund is Aug. 31
Delora Shoop, student accounts manager, said this policy lines up with the revised registrar add/drop policy that changed in the spring semester.
“After the first two weeks students have to petition to add a class, so we are moving our policy to be in line with that policy to encourage students to make their selection in the first two weeks,” Shoop said. “That way there are not so many dates.”
Although the policy is stricter, Shoop said appeals can still be made if there are extenuating circumstances.
While the change is already in place, students were yet to receive information explaining the new policy as of Aug. 18.
“We will send an email to all students coordinated with the registrar office, also to inform them about another change in late fees,” Shoop said. “We are waiting closer to school because we are not sure how often students look at VandalMail and we also don’t want to bombard students with emails.”
Shoop said they didn’t look at the number of students who would be affected by the change, but compared the policy to other schools with similar regulations.
“It’s hard to tell,” Shoop said. “I think positively there will be a lot of students affected in the first two weeks because in the past they had to give up 10 percent and now they don’t have to pay anything.”
She added that they anticipate a lot more adds and drops in the first two weeks because of the change.
Among the refund and add/drop changes, there will also be increased late fees–$75 beginning Aug. 21 if the account is not paid in full (up from $50), $100 fee Sept. 4 (also up from $50), and an additional $100 each month the balance remains unpaid, Shoop said.
But she added that students are encouraged to sign up for the newly in-house payment plan, which eliminates late fees and the previous third party hassle.
“Through TMS (Tuition Management Systems), the process was cumbersome and clunky,” Shoop said. “A student could’ve made a payment but it wasn’t reflected until a month later, so we went internally.”
Students can register for the new plan through VandalWeb.
“We are encouraging students to do that by the first day of school so they don’t incur charges,” Shoop said.
Katy Sword can be reached at [email protected]