Change Proposal: Billing Inquiry and Payment Process

Due to the complexity of our tuition and fee structure, and the current limitations on how we format our bills, students have many questions about their bills. During the summer of 1998, a total of 2,794 inquires were made to the University's helpline asking for explanations of University bills. The tellers at the Bursar's Office windows also answer many questions about bills during the beginning of each semester, when students are paying their bills in person. The lines at the teller windows can be long during the first two weeks of classes and after the mid-semester bills are sent. Further, tellers may not have easy access to historical account information. The current system keeps records online for two semesters. If a student has a question about an old bill, a staff member must locate the record on microfiche stored in another room.

Overall, the system often frustrates students' desires to complete their financial business in one-stop. The movement of data from one office to another requires from one to two days. The lag causes students to wait for their account to be updated and return to offices at a later time to complete their transactions.

In contrast to the current system, PeopleSoft will have real-time account information available. Once the various PeopleSoft modules are on-line, all information from the Registrar, Financial Aid, and Admissions offices may be applied to students' accounts instantly as the information changes. Thus, the lag time between the entry of information in one office and its appearance in another will be significantly reduced. Instead of travelling from office to office, waiting for data to be updated, students will be able to complete their business in a single day with fewer office visits and reduced frustration. There will be a corresponding decrease in staff frustration as staff gain access to comprehensive data.

The new system will be able to print an individual student's bill on-line and produce many different views of the bill. PeopleSoft has the capacity to electronically store each bill it generates. Thus, it improves tellers' ability to respond to students' questions because it gives them access to the full history of students' transactions.

A long-term goal of this project is to develop a new process that will allow for remote billing inquiries via the web and voice response system (VRS). Eventually, students will be able to determine their bill, delete optional fees, and change items such as meal plans remotely, without having to wait in line and occupy staff time.

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