Cashier

Contact:cashier@mail.ecu.edu

Tuition, Fees, Room and Meal Charges

All tuition, fees, room and meal charges must be paid in full or a satisfactory source of repayment identified(i.e., financial aid, grants, outside agencies, outside scholarship, etc.) Before an official Individual Class Schedule/Receipt will be generated.

Preregistered students are sent a Cashier's Billing Statement, which includes upcoming tuition and fees, on-campus room rates and any debts from the previous semester/term. Also, included are current meal plan rates. The top portion of the statement must be returned with a full payment or verifiable source of payment (financial aid, grant, scholarship, outside an agency, etc.) by a prescribed due date (approximately two weeks prior to the first day of classes) to allow sufficient time to process payment and return their official class schedule. Those students failing to comply by this due date are subject to a $10.00 late payment penalty. Those students that have preregistered and not paid in full by the published "last day to pay" (two business days prior to the first day of classes) will have their class schedules canceled and need to re-register before paying tuition and fees. Those students not registering until registration day (the day prior to the start of classes) must pay their tuition and fees by the "last day to register and /or pay fees" date or forfeit their class schedule. Students attempting to register after this late registration date, will pay tuition and fees before obtaining a class schedule. When a class schedule is approved, the student's credit will be processed and an Official Individual Class Schedule/Receipt generated. (Note: A partial payment will not hold a class schedule for any student.)

Miscellaneous Student Fees and Charges

Miscellaneous charges such as fines, residence hall charges, health service charges, etc. will be entered into the Student Accounts Receivable System by the appropriate department by an authorized employee and collected through the University Cashier's Office. Exceptions to this policy are the Library and the Traffic Office. These two areas collect their own fines, then deposit them through the University Cashier's Office by departmental deposit.

Individual student charges are entered into the S.A.R. by the appropriate department by the student's social security number, amount of the charge and code for identifying the source and reason for the charge. A bill is generated by the University Cashier's Office after receiving written confirmation of the charge from the department. If no response, a second bill is generated and followed by a third bill. At this point the student's records are tagged and the student is unable to register for the next semester/term. Approximately ninety days after the first bill is sent, if there is no satisfactory response or the financial obligation is not liquidated, students with delinquent balances of $500.00 or greater are referred to the Attorney General's Office for collection assistance. Students with outstanding past due balances of $50.00 - $499.99 are referred to an outside state, contracted collection agencies for a period of one year.

Disposition of Delinquent Student Accounts Receivable

Outstanding amounts are considered to be past due ninety days after incurred or after the last day of any semester/term. Accounts of $50.00 or more that are ninety days delinquents are turned over annually to the State Department of Revenue for matching against N.C. income tax refunds. Delinquent balances of $49.99 or less and ninety days or more past due are considered uncollectible and placed in a holding account to be written off at fiscal year-end. Students with past due financial obligations are not allowed to register for the next semester/term or receive transcripts. Student records will remain tagged until the financial obligation is satisfied.

A list of student accounts receivable will be drawn up to include all accounts' ninety (90) or more days delinquent with unpaid balances outstanding of $5.00 or greater. This itemized list will identify the following: 1) students' name and a known address; 2) social security number; 3) past due dollars amount; 4) date incurred; 5) reason; 6) status of account, i.e., Attorney General (A.G.), collection agency (C.A.) write off (W.O.). From this list, a listing following the above-referenced guideline will be compiled, identifying delinquent student accounts receivable with outstanding balances of $500 or greater, to be referred to the Attorney General's Office for collection assistance. Further collection activity on these accounts will be at the direction of the Attorney General's office. Next, a list identifying delinquent student accounts with balance of $50 but less than $500 will be drawn up as previously outlined to be referred to an outside state-contracted collection agency. At the end of twelve months, if collection efforts are unsuccessful, these accounts will be withdrawn and written off as uncollectible by fiscal year-end. Finally, a list identifying past-due student accounts with outstanding balances of $5 but less than $50 will be compiled, along with a request to write off these accounts as uncollectible. To determine if an account is uncollectible and should be written off, the account is at least one year past due and all attempts have been made by letters, calls, and collection agencies to recover the money. Before June 30 of each fiscal year a request will be forwarded to the University Comptroller's office for a disbursement to liquidate the balance in the revenue holding account along with any student accounts with balances of $4.99 or less identified at that point in time as an operating loss. The above noted steps in handling and disposing of student accounts ninety days or more past-due will occur no less than quarterly to comply with State and University policies and procedures. Student records will remain tagged until the financial obligation is satisfied. Vendor set off will be handled by the institution.

Bad Debts/Set Off Debt Collection Act and State Employee Debt Collection Act

Debtors to the University with debts of $50 or greater and in arrears of ninety days or more must be listed annually with N.C. Department of Revenue for potential set off against their N.C. individual income tax refunds. Also, a listing of debtors to the University, regardless of the dollar owed, is to be submitted annually to the Office of State Budget and Management to cross check and determine if any debtors are employed by the State of North Carolina.

Set Off Debt Collection Act (G.S. 105A/Administrative Memorandum, Number 127, dated October 30, 1979) states that on or before December 1 of each year, a list of former student debtors to the University with outstanding delinquent balances of $50 or greater and ninety (90) days or more in arrears will be submitted to the N.C. Department of Revenue. This list must be labeled to show the following information: 1) name and address of a claimant agency; 2) agency code; 3) a code identifying list as initial or update. Debtors required information; 1) social security number; 2) full names; 3) amount of indebtedness; 4) an expiration date (if applicable). When a match is identified, a notice is sent back to the University advising the taxpayer's name, social security number, address and amount of the tax refund. The University then sends a letter to the debtor advising that if, within thirty days: 1) the indebtedness is not retired; 2) a satisfactory repayment schedule is not established; 3) a written notice of disagreement is not received, the University will request the N.C. of Revenue to disburse the appropriate portion of the refund to be applied toward the indebtedness(copy of a letter sent to N.C. Department of Revenue). If no satisfactory response received from the debtor, the original form received from the department of revenue is signed, dated and resubmitted for payment. State Employee Debt Collection Act (GS Chapter 143, Article 60/ratified bill reference Article 59) states that on or before December 31 of each year, a listing of former students, regardless of dollars owed, is compiled and forwarded to the Office of State Budget and Management. The debtor list will be cross referenced with a current listing of an employee of the State of North Carolina. When a match was identified, a computer generated listing identifying the state employee by social security number, name and agency of employment is remitted to the University. The University Cashier's Office will forward a letter to the debtor notifying the indebtedness and possible actions that may be taken under S.E.D.C.A.

Returned Checks

Returned checks are automatically redeposited a second time by Wachovia Bank and Trust Company. Returned checks are then purchased, upon request, from Wachovia, after being charged back to an individual student's account.

When notified of returned items, the University Cashier's office, when making the next daily deposit, will sign for the returned check(s). The head cashier will charge the amount of returned check(s) plus a $30.00 returned check charge back to the student's account. The student's account is flagged "bad check" and tagged by "cashier."