The Office of the Bursar will reimburse 475 students part of their Summer Semester tuition payments after a student questioned the way his bill was calculated.
"As we delved into it, we saw it was an issue," Bill McCune, associate vice president of the Office of the Controller and Business Services, said. "This is an inequity and it needs to be changed."
The two Summer Sessions have been calculated individually. If a student took seven credit hours during the first Summer Session and eight hours during the second, she would be charged a fee calculated separately for each session.
That meant in some cases, students were paying more than they would have if the credit hours were combined. McCune said the difference in price can be substantial, although the current system can sometimes be to the student's benefit.
Officials began reevaluating the bills in June, McCune said. The Bursar combined each student's total credit hours to see if the charges would be less than those on the original bill.
"If the combined fees were less than charging separately, then we credited the difference to the student's account," Judy Merritt, director of Bursar and Loan Administration, said.
McCune said it took the cooperation of the Bursar, University Computing Services and the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid to recalculate students' fees and financial aid.
"It took some time checking to make sure we got it right," he said. "We hate to give you money and then take it back."
On July 11, the Bursar sent an e-mail to affected students, notifying them that their accounts would be credited and giving them options for repayment.
Students were given three choices: apply the credit to Fall Semester charges, receive a check at a local address or have the amount directly deposited into a bank account.
Students have until 4 p.m. Friday to decide.
Starting with Summer Semester 2007, the Bursar will calculate students' fees based on their combined credit hours.
"We're going forward," McCune said. "This is going to be a fairer situation because what you pay for any semester - Fall, Spring or Summer - should be the same."
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