Friday, March 10, 2006
Policy changes for fall 2006
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Several significant policy changes will affect students registering for the fall 2006 term. Students responsible for enrollment Effective fall 2006, enrolled students will be responsible for dropping or withdrawing from their classes. The University will no longer cancel students’ classes for failure to settle their accounts with the Bursar’s Office. Under the current policy, which will remain in place through summer 2006, students’ classes are automatically cancelled if they have not settled their accounts one week before classes begin. Suzanne Devine, bursar, said, “We found increasingly that 60 percent of the students whose classes were cancelled for nonpayment came back to reenroll. They either missed the payment deadline or didn’t understand the policy." It is imperative that students take responsibility for their enrollment because of another significant shift in the refund rate, effective fall 2006. Refund rate change Effective fall 2006, refunds will change from 90-80-70-60 percent to 100-75-50-25 percent. If a student drops or withdraws from one or more courses through the first week of a term, they will receive a 100 percent credit; during the second week, a 75 percent credit; during the third week of the term, a 50 percent credit; and during the fourth week, a 25 percent credit. “Currently, if students don’t pay their bills, we drop them from their classes, and they have no fees associated with that,” Devine said. “They get a 100 percent refund. With this policy shift, they will only receive a portion credited to their account, depending on which week they withdraw. After the fourth week, there will be zero refund.” Additionally, the $15 schedule revision fee (when adding a course after the beginning of the term) will be discontinued in fall 2006. The current refund percentages and the schedule revision fee remain in place through summer 2006. “This policy brings us in line with most other state schools,” Devine said. “Students were penalized under the old system even if they withdrew on the first day of class. We felt it was better overall to refund them 100 percent during the first week.” Late registration fee change Another policy change will encourage students to register in time to attend the first week of classes. Effective fall 2006, any registration that takes place during the first week of the term (August 28-September 1) will incur a $30 late registration fee. Any registration taking place after the first week of the term will incur a $125 late registration fee. This policy shift still has to be approved by the USI Board of Trustees. “Faculty have found that students are less successful in a course when they miss the first week of classes. We’re trying to create a deterrent to them coming in late,” Devine said. The current late registration policy/fee remains in place through summer 2006. Registration period extended While registration periods have been expanded significantly over the last several years, effective fall 2006, registration will essentially be available from the time of early registration through the end of the first week of the term. Refer to pages 4-5 of the fall schedule for a chart of available dates and the corresponding billing procedures. “Over time we’ve been trying to open it up as much as possible,” said Tracy Sinn in the Office of the Registrar. “In the past, there were just two weeks of early registration.” The registration period for the fall term continues to early September, but students are encouraged to register at the earliest opportunity. MyUSI change for fall 2006 only Due to the Banner conversion, there also will be a temporary change for students navigating through MyUSI for fall 2006. To access fall 2006 services, students will first need to click on the Self Service tab, and then Student and Financial Aid before proceeding as usual. Students will continue to open the Academic Services channel on the MyUSI tab to access services for summer 2006 terms (registration, schedule revisions, etc.). |
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