At the President’s Convocation, President Gainous announced that any student who had not paid his or her fall tuition fees by Sept. 23 would be unregistered from their classes.
When asked if administration would enforce the policy, Patricia Green-Powell, vice president for student affairs confirmed the announcement.
“Sept. 23 is publicized everywhere. It’s in the registration booklet. This is nothing new,” she said. “Because the president publicized it, it’s raised awareness among students.”
Green-Powell said if students have not paid for their classes, they would be cancelled.
Olivia Hoskins, a 21-year-old psychology student from St. Paul, Minnesota sympathizes with students who will be affected and knows that they are not entirely to blame for their removal from classes. “I feel that if students received their financial aid packages in a timely manner, it’d be okay to enforce it, but because students haven’t received their financial aid packages yet; how does administration expect the students to pay their fees on time?” Hoskins said.
According to the University Registrar Michael A. James, 1800 students have been notified that their classes will be cancelled due to the non-payment of fees. There is hope for students whose financial aid will not come until after the dead line. “We will work with students, but there has to be credible proof that they have financial aid coming through,” James said.
The financial aid department is working to make sure that students are not removed from their classes.
“We are trying to get as many students through the process and we will get as many students re-instated as we possibly can,” said Freda Donald, financial aid interim director.
“We are working very hard, we are processing every day. Our goal is to not see any students get cancelled,” Donald said.
Gerradi Towers, a 21-year-old junior early childhood education student from Dooly, Ga. realizes that the cancellation date may come as a shock to fellow Rattlers, but also that they need to be responsible.
“Really, we should’ve known if we had read the papers. I would tell students to stay on the people in financial aid and I wish luck to them,” he said.
Taji White, an 18-year-old freshman Computer Information Systems student from Miami, said that although waiting on financial aid might take a long time, those whose schedules are being cancelled need to respond quickly.
“I know how it is in the financial aid office, you get discouraged, but the students better take out a loan or something,” White said.
James warned that any student who planned to remain in class this semester should take immediate action.
“The worse thing to do is to do nothing,” James said.
Green-Powell advises that in the future students take ownership of their fees. “You’ve got to apply for financial aid early,” Green-Powell said. “I’ve seen students wait until the last minute and then want to rush us around. You should know by June – comfortably- whether or not you will have aid.”