As Internet transactions grow increasingly common, University Student Financial Services launched its new online payment system, QuikPay, on ISIS yesterday.
Eliminating paper bills altogether, the new system allows students and authorized payers to pay fees such as tuition, room and board, bookstore and telecommunication charges, library fines and parking tickets online, according to Sara Jordan, manager of public relations and customer service for Student Financial Services.
Students received an e-mail Monday announcing the new system's debut, and parents will receive a postcard in the mail outlining the new system.
Second-year College student Matthew Britt noted the importance of informing parents because many parents would be more likely than students to use the system to pay for students' miscellaneous charges like a telephone bill.
Parental involvement was one of the reasons for implementing the service, Jordan said, adding that Student Financial Services chose to introduce the program during February because usually only 7,000 to 8,000 bills are sent out during the month, as opposed to the nearly 20,000 bills mailed out during major semester billing periods.
Along with the convenience of paying online, QuikPay users will be able to pay off their bills in increments, and students will be able to send the bill to up to five authorized payers after they receive notification of a bill's arrival via e-mail.
QuikPay's efficiency does not only benefit students and their families -- it eliminates the high cost and time delay associated with mailing bills, Jordan said, especially for international students who often received bills a week after the payment was due under the previous system.
Students and authorized payers are now able to view bills and pay via e-Check from a savings or checking account or by credit card. American Express, Discover and MasterCard are accepted forms of payment; Visa, however, declined to participate.
"They will not participate with the program unless everyone using the program is charged the same [processing] fee," Jordan said, adding that Student Financial Services did not believe it would be fair to penalize non-Visa payers with a charge.
QuikPay users who do not want to or cannot pay online have the option of printing out a bill and mailing a check.
Jordan maintained that students' method of payment is up to them, but stressed that the timing of payments is critical, especially for students trying to get a transcript or remove a registration block.
"If they make a payment before 2 p.m., the block will come off that night," she said, adding that a payment after that time would not appear until the next day.
This system is long overdue, Jordan said. The vendor running QuikPay, Nelnet Business Solutions, already provides this service to universities across the country, and the University has been looking into using the system for six years.
However, other "priorities of the University ... took the resources that we needed," she said.
Now that the program is in place, Student Financial Services hopes the system will ultimately lead to 100-percent electronic payment.
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