McKendree University

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/25) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Accounting Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX Contact Email: [redacted] @mckendree.edu McKendree's policy of accruing interest on unpaid balances is disclosed in multiple places such as in the course catalog and at the bottom of each billMcKendree sends students with outstanding balances a bill at the beginning of each month (either an electronic or paper statement), which would detail the interest accruing on the accountThis student also signed a 'Veteran's Deferred Billing' statement which detailed tuition and fee policies including how to view e-bills and that interest would accrue on unpaid balancesSince the student was using the GI bill to cover tuition, she was coded to not receive finance charges while she was eligible for the benefitAfter the benefit ran out, and the bill remained unpaid at the end of the semester in June, she began to accrue interestThe student was in contact with staff in our Business Office who worked with her on how much interest was accruing, how to make payments, what form of payments are accepted and that any payments made would be applied to the oldest unpaid balance firstOver the span of August through early November multiple e-mails went back and forth between the student and a staff member in the Business OfficeSpecifically, on September 24th, she e-mailed the Business Office when she was told that she owed amounts for spring, summer and fall terms to find out what the summer charge was since she had not attended during that semesterAt that time, she was told that it was an interest fee on the unpaid balance from spring On November 6th, she e-mailed with some confusion about her balance being $higher than she expected after making some paymentsA Business Office staff member again explained that the $was interest and that every days 1.5% interest is assessed on the unpaid balance Regarding the issue of the student not being aware of the GI bill running out, McKendree is not responsible for determining eligibility of GI BenefitsThe VA determines this and sends a letter to the student when they have exhausted their benefitsIt is then the student's responsibility to notify the University that they no longer have benefitsThe student also signed a 'VA Certification Checklist' which asks the student to notify the VA certifying official at McKendree when the VA benefits are exhausted

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/25) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Accounting
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@mckendree.edu
McKendree's policy of accruing interest on unpaid balances is disclosed in multiple places such as in the course catalog and...

at the bottom of each bill. McKendree sends students with outstanding balances a bill at the beginning of each month (either an electronic or paper statement), which would detail the interest accruing on the account. This student also signed a 'Veteran's Deferred Billing' statement which detailed tuition and fee policies including how to view e-bills and that interest would accrue on unpaid balances. Since the student was using the GI bill to cover tuition, she was coded to not receive finance charges while she was eligible for the benefit. After the benefit ran out, and the bill remained unpaid at the end of the semester in June, she began to accrue interest. The student was in contact with staff in our Business Office who worked with her on how much interest was accruing, how to make payments, what form of payments are accepted and that any payments made would be applied to the oldest unpaid balance first. Over the span of August through early November multiple e-mails went back and forth between the student and a staff member in the Business Office. Specifically, on September 24th, she e-mailed the Business Office when she was told that she owed amounts for spring, summer and fall terms to find out what the summer charge was since she had not attended during that semester. At that time, she was told that it was an interest fee on the unpaid balance from spring 2015. On November 6th, she e-mailed with some confusion about her balance being $16.82 higher than she expected after making some payments. A Business Office staff member again explained that the $16.82 was interest and that every 30 days 1.5% interest is assessed on the unpaid balance.
Regarding the issue of the student not being aware of the GI bill running out, McKendree is not responsible for determining eligibility of GI Benefits. The VA determines this and sends a letter to the student when they have exhausted their benefits. It is then the student's responsibility to notify the University that they no longer have benefits. The student also signed a 'VA Certification Checklist' which asks the student to notify the VA certifying official at McKendree when the VA benefits are exhausted.