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Bringing It Home – The Saint Rose Blog

Managing Your Student Account At Semester’s End

Can you believe that there are only three weeks remaining in the Fall semester?  Yes, the end is near.  Papers, projects and finals (Oh my!).  Deadlines loom, darkening the once bright and cheerful spaces of our phone calendars (I actually still use a paper calendar).  I suspect that each of us copes with this trying time of the semester in her or his own way.  Over the years, I have evolved my own proprietary blend of tantrums, procrastination and other shameful behavior to help me muddle through.  By the end of this week I’ll be insufferable.  And I’m only taking one class this semester (pitiful, I know).

For those students managing a more substantial course load than myself, probably the last thing on your mind right now is your student account for the spring semester.  You’ve got bigger fish to fry.  And then, once winter break arrives, it’s only natural that many of us forget about school for a while.  During the break, on those short winter days, I like nothing more than to settle in to a comfy chair by the fireplace, a cup of warm cider in my hand, the soft whir of my laptop fan whispering in my ear, as I pour over the minute details of my student bill.  But perhaps this isn’t the case for everyone.  So here’s a few reminders to help you stay on top of your student account at a time when your focus might understandably be directed elsewhere.

  1. Check Your Student Bill Online, More Than Once – log in to the Secure Site to view your Spring bill.  Once you register for spring classes, a bill is generated.  However, the bill can change.  Room fees and meal plan charges, for example, haven’t been added to student accounts just yet.  Likewise, most of your financial aid should be automatically applied to your spring bill, but some sources of aid may not have posted yet.  Make a habit of regularly checking your student account, just to be sure everything is in order and stays that way.  It only takes a second.  If you have any questions, contact us in the Solution Center.
  2. Spring Bills Are Due January 6, 2012 – make arrangements to cover any remaining balance by that date.  After January 6, an unpaid balance will generate a registration hold, which would prevent you from adding classes during the Add Drop period.  There’s still plenty of time to sign up for a monthly payment plan for the spring semester.
  3. Notify Financial Aid If Your Enrollment Plans Change – this one tends to apply mostly to graduate students.  If your financial aid is packaged based upon the expectation that you will be enrolled as a full-time student (9 or more graduate credits) and you are enrolled part-time (6 to 8 credits), this will prevent your loans from paying to your student account.  As a general guideline, all students should confer with financial aid before making registration changes.  But this goes double for you graduate students, who don’t always contact us with the same frequency as the undergrads.
  4. Email Us Permission to Enroll in a Closed Course – This one isn’t related to billing or aid, but I thought students might find it helpful.  If you’re trying to register for a closed course (i.e. a class that has reached enrollment capacity), you need to obtain permission from the professor to get into the class.  Of course, this is harder to do once students leave for break.  Remember that an email from the professor will suffice to allow us to register you for the class.  Just be sure the email specifies your name and all the course info (course number and section).  You can forward the professor’s email to us and we can register you for the class.  Be sure that you forward us the email via your Saint Rose email account.  We cannot accept email requests from addresses other than your student account.  The last day to add and drop Spring classes is January 24, 2012.

Hopefully these reminders will help you manage your student account and avoid unwanted surprises.  You can then devote your time to more important concerns, like fine-tuning your own, personal end-of-the-semester panic routine.  What’s your method of choice?

What do you think?

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