New policy changes to NIC’s application, attendance and non-payment protocols have heralded record lows for mandatory drops and payment issues.
The old system regarding payment, application deadline and attendance caused too many fiscal issues for the college. While many students complain that the new system is confusing, Jay Lee, vice president for instruction, explained that the new system has increased efficiency for registration and payment operation.
Lee said there are basically three new policy changes that have occurred, which include an all-new deadline for application, mandatory non-attendance drops and non-payment drops.
The application deadline was inspired in an attempt to create a more prepared student body. Lee said that the track record for those who register on time is much stronger than for those who do not.
“Those students are not as strong as candidates as those who register on time,” Lee said.
As of now, application deadlines are scheduled for Aug. 12 for fall enrollment and Dec. 16 for spring, as well as May 25 for the summer session.
The second policy change involves mandatory non-attendance drops for students who do not attend any classes the first week of school.
“One of the reasons, historically, is students signing up for financial aid and not attending classes,” Lee said.
New non-attendance policies dictate that students must be present in one class of each course their first week in order to remain enrolled in the course. Online students must complete an assignment during the first week.
“The college incurs burdens of paying back and tracking down students,” Lee said.
The new attendance policy was a fiscal move for the college, according to Lee. Last year, NIC was required to pay back approximately $1 million to the federal government due to this issue.
The last new policy changes the procedure for payment on student accounts. Currently, students have until the second day of classes to pay on their financial aid accounts.
Lee explained how this helps smooth payment operation by reducing the amount of last-minute work for NIC employees. Before, when payment was due before the semester started, many students would be dropped from classes due to non-payment.
“Students would suddenly find money and we would scramble to get them into classes,” Lee said.
With the new system, students have two days before payment is required. Although this policy was designed to reduce scrambling, some students may still procrastinate and wait to pay until
the last possible moment.
“We had a thousand payments in the last two days. In spite of that, a number of people still do not pay their bill,” said Joseph Bekken, financial aid director.
For students receiving financial assistance, a financial aid credit is subtracted from the total amount owed. If financial aid exceeds the amount due for tuition, the remaining balance is refunded to the student via their Higher One account. This helps to reduce the number of people who abuse the financial aid system.
For those who are still unsure about recent policy changes, Lee advised students to “start in the offices that do those things.”
The financial aid office and registrar’s office are always eager to help students get started on the right foot. Lee warned students, though, that the last minute is not the time to seek help. Naturally, the college faculty’s busiest time is the last two days before payment is due.
But overall, these policy changes were instated to increase efficiency for the otherwise chaotic time of registration and payment.
“A lot of work by people went into developing these policies,” Lee said. “It’s going to take time and we are definitely looking to improve the process.”
