The Gannon University cashier’s office has made the decision to switch to a completely paperless billing method, which will begin next semester.
This means that students will no longer receive a statement of their bill in the mail. Instead, they will be expected to check their emails for reminders of due payments online.
Students can still pay with checks, but the point is that they may now complete their payment totally online.
Many schools nationwide are making the same movement toward completely paperless billing, and in an attempt to keep up, Gannon is following the trend.
Apparently, students’ tuition bills have been available online for quite some time, but they are only now doing away with the paper aspect that has been the more popular form of tuition payment in school history.
Carolyn Ross, manager of student accounts for Gannon’s cashier’s office, explained that the university wanted to make the move much sooner. However, a complication involving when the students received their IDs and when fall semester bills are sent out held up the process for a bit until officials could figure out how to get students their IDs faster.
“Their fall bill was coming in the beginning of June and they weren’t getting their IDs until orientation,” she said.
“Now that they get their IDs sooner, and we’re already making email communication with them, we can make the paperless move.”
Many students are torn on how they feel about Gannon’s new paperless tuition billing services.
Conrad Thibault, a senior sport marketing and management major, didn’t have many good things to say about the change despite the fact that he will only be around for one semester while the program is in action.
“The bill that would come in the mail was a concrete warning telling me I have to pay my bill,” he said. “Without it, I think a lot of students who don’t think to check their email regularly will be late on payments.”
Senior entrepreneurship major Pierre SantaMaria also had some qualms with the idea of totally paperless billing.
“I’m just not sure if the software they’re using will be secure enough with all the Internet hacking and security flaws going on,” he said.
“There’s a lot of money being exchanged for something like that to happen.”
Emily Gibbs, a sophomore physician assistant major, sees no problem with the change to paperless tuition billing.
“I think it will definitely help the environment,” she said, “so why wouldn’t they do it?”
Despite students’ opinions, this upcoming semester will be the first semester implementing the change. As a result of the transition, however, the cashier’s office will be sending out a postcard to students in order to remind them to view their bills online, as well as instructions on how to go about completing the transaction.
Students will only be allowed to register for courses and confirm enrollment once the cashier’s office can see that they have reached a balance of zero dollars, so students should keep their eyes out for emails from the cashier’s office regarding their tuition bills.
Any other questions can be directed to the Cashier’s Office at 814-871-7425.
CHARLES LEAR
