The University did its last-ever mass-mailing of tuition bills this month.
People who owe money on their student accounts must now log on to the Internet every month to find and pay their bills.
To use the University’s new billing system, called QuikPAY, a student must access the DuckWeb site and go to the category “QuikPAY Student Account.” There, he or she will see the amount owed.
The bill can either be paid via electronic check or by printing out the bill and mailing it to the University with a paper check. Credit cards are still not allowed.
Billing statements are produced around the 15th day of the month, and payments are due on the first day of the following month.
Parents or other parties who pay students’ tuition cannot use DuckWeb, but they can use another Web site with a similar interface. Students must set up those accounts.
Implementation of QuikPAY began about six months ago.
Accounts Receivable Supervisor with University Business Affairs Dave Doerksen said the billing department began the transition process by sending out both paper bills and e-mail notices when bills were due from June through September.
Now only e-mail notices will be sent out. Any student who wants to continue receiving paper bills must submit a petition to the student billing office.
“Student response has been overwhelmingly positive,” Doerksen said. “The group of students coming into the University now are very computer literate.”
Some University students interviewed in the Oregon Hall lobby said they had not heard of QuikPAY. When it was described to them, they expressed concern about whether the system is easy to use.
“I guess it’s better if it’s faster, but if you don’t know how to do it, it’s confusing,” sophomore Tyler Stearns said.
“I am completely computer illiterate, so it bugs me when things go online,” junior biochemistry major Sarah Hoffman said.
Another concern is that tuition bills could be lost in the cavalcade of e-mails that many people receive.
“I’ll forget about it if it’s online,” Hoffman said. “If I have a hard copy, I’m more likely to remember.”
Doerksen said parents are more apprehensive than students about the new system, adding that he guided numerous parents through the process of setting up QuikPAY accounts during orientation week.
Of the 10 or so petitions to continue receiving paper bills that have crossed his desk, Doerksen said the main reason cited was that the students’ parents had limited computer access or literacy.
“That’s pretty unusual in this climate now,” Doerksen said.
QuikPAY has advantages over paper bills in that it can deliver more messages to more people more efficiently, Doerksen said, because each student can designate up to two third parties to receive e-mail notifications.
Doerksen said the process of mailing paper bills takes four days from calculations to mailing, not counting the time it takes the letters to get from the University to the mailboxes of students and their families. QuikPAY transmits e-mails immediately.
“Long term, it’s going to save us some money because we’ll have reduced paper and postage costs,” Doerksen said, adding that cutting costs in any way possible is necessary during this time of state funding reductions.
QuikPAY is a service of infiNET, a Chicago-based company. Doerksen said other universities around the country have already set up or are planning to set up similar services.
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