Financial Services exhausted

They're pouring in. As a result of the University's financial hold policy, record numbers of University students have been flooding the Student Financial Services office to resolve their debts so they can register for next semester. Originally, 2,305 students were placed on financial hold. By late last week, the number had been pared down to about 1,000. The policy has also caused the Financial Services Office to become swamped with students coming in person and calling on the telephone. In the course of a normal day, Financial Services personnel used to see 200 to 300 students in person and speak to another 200 to 300 on the telephone, according to Carol Murphy, Financial Services' senior director of student services. But now, if 300 students come into the Financial Services Office, it seems like a slow day for Murphy's staff. Totals well over 300 students are now commonplace. Last Friday, 633 students came in, Murphy said. Big days are not unusual at Financial Services, Murphy said. Nine hundred and seventy students passed through the doors on the first floor of the Franklin Building on the first day of classes this semester. But it has never been so busy for so long, Murphy said. Other Financial Services employees have noticed the deluge too. Since the Financial Services office was created in 1988, "this is the craziest it's ever been," Financial Services Assistant Dennis Drumm said. The week of November 1, when advance registration opened and students on financial hold found they could not register, was especially tough, he added. "By Wednesday or Thursday, I felt very frustrated and burned out," Drumm said. "By the end of the week, we were pretty happy to see the doors close." "We didn't have a chance to breathe," Financial Services Assistant Ellen Hornig said. "The lines were out the door and the phones were ringing off the hook." Financial Affairs Assistant Sheila Cunningham said she thinks the new financial hold policy is a good one for the long run, as it forces students to pay their bills. For now, however, it's difficult for the Financial Services Staff. The new financial hold policy requires students to keep current in their tuition payments to the University. Students must pay for a semester before they are allowed to register for the next one. Previously, students were allowed to go another semester without paying before facing financial hold. Students on financial hold cannot register for the next semester, receive academic transcripts or receive degrees from the University. The policy was changed because Financial Services officials hoped that by forcing students to either pay or work out a repayment plan with Financial Services earlier, students would not get so far into debt that they could not get out. Under the old policy, the University also found that it was consistently owed more money than any other Ivy League university.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.