Refunds for school-related expenses at UW-Oshkosh will only be granted electron¬ically in the spring semester and afterward due to a policy change instituted by the Stu¬dent Accounts and Billing Office.Paper checks for any sort of refund will not be ac¬cepted.
According to Director of Student Financial Services Debbie Matulle, the policy change was implemented for both the University’s and student body’s benefit, as students of Oshkosh will face less hassle in their fi¬nancial transactions on cam¬pus. In addition, refunds can be wired directly to banks in students’ hometowns.
“It is a convenience… for the student because it can go directly into their bank ac¬count,” Matulle said. “They may not have a bank in Osh¬kosh. They may have to send the money home with Mom and Dad.”
Electronic transfers be¬came an option a couple years ago.
“We started direct deposit two, three years ago just as a voluntary thing, as an option for students. We’ve had more and more students utilizing it,” Matulle said.
She added that many of the students who didn’t use direct deposit were not op¬posed to the idea, but hadn’t considered it. When asked why they didn’t take advan¬tage of direct deposit, stu¬dents replied, “’Well, it was my last semester,’ or ‘I just didn’t think about it’ according to Matulle.
The Student Accounts and Billing Office eventually decided to officially adopt direct deposit as the sole means of giving refunds.
“The federal government has allowed us with respect to Title IV financial aid … to request [that] students to sign up for direct deposit for their Title IV,” Matulle said. “Not that [the federal government is] requiring us to do this, but [they said] that if we have a policy in place, that’s OK.”
UW-Oshkosh student Chase Granzow commended the change.
“As far as the idea goes, I think it will be easier for people that actually have a bank account, but if you don’t then it will be more of a challenge [to handle refund transactions],” Granzow said.
He foresaw problems with financial aid transfers getting lost in translation somewhere thus causing funds to be misplaced.
“I’ve had problems with my bank, [but] not with financial aid,” Granzow said.
UW-Oshkosh student Adam Nemetz was lukewarm with regards to the concept.
“I would imagin I’m not [with the] majority on this. I’m old fashioned, [I] like paper checks,” Nemetz said.
The new policy is currently in place. Instructions for how to use the new system are available on Titan Web under the finances section. The direct deposit link on the left gives further instructions.
Be the first to comment on this article!