BURSAR 101 WORKSHOP

Monday, June 14, 20152015 NYSOBBA Annual Conference

White Plains, NY

PresenterSusan E. Kirwan

SUNY PotsdamNYSOBBA Northeast Regional Director

Discussion Outline What is a Bursar? Student Account Systems & Invoicing Regulations Financial Aid Refunds Payments Q & A

What is a Bursar?Definition: Bursar – Medieval Latin Term “Bursa” or PurseAKA: Director/Manager of Student Accounts Director of Student Financial Services Director of Accounts Receivable Manager of Financial Operations Manager of Student Receivables Assistant Controller/Business Manager

Traditionally reporting up through financial affairs but has also morphed into Enrollment Services models or ‘One Stops” reporting to Academic Affairs.

What is a Bursar?Job Description – College Bursar:

“Must be willing to work 48-hour days, take your work home with you, smile while having insults hurled at you, enjoy receiving hate mail and hostile phone calls, you must love dealing with governmental red tape and regulations (which change daily), be an expert guidance counselor, marriage counselor, spiritual counselor and financial advisor. You must know how to get blood from a turnip, and explain to students (and parents) who have dropped out, flunked their courses, or disliked their instructors why they still must pay their bills and institutional obligations.”

Student Account Systems & InvoicingPrimary Record of Financial Transactions: Tuition & fees

Room/Board

Other institutional charges

Payments

Adjustments

Student Account Systems & Invoicing

Electronic Records System: Includes platform for processes Records & Registration Tuition/Fee Calculation Financial Aid Packaging Payment Processing Billing & Presentation And many other processes

Student Account Systems & InvoicingCommon Systems: Ellucian (Banner, Datatel, SunGard)

PeopleSoft (Oracle)

Jenzabar

Others (Homegrown, Etc.)

Student Account Systems & InvoicingWhat Do We Bill? Mandatory Charges:

-Tuition

-Fees Optional/Institutional Charges:

-Housing/Meal Plans

-Mandatory Student Health Insurance

-Books

-Other

Student Account Systems & InvoicingHow Do We Bill? Traditional Method – static paper invoices

E-Bills – static periodic bills, accessible online

Cutting Edge – Real Time “billing”

Other?

Student Account Systems & InvoicingStatic Paper Invoice: Costly; inefficient

Relies on mail service

No confirmation of receipt

Requires student to keep address current

Not necessarily easily replicated

Student Account Systems & InvoicingStatic E-Bills: Available securely to the student and others with delegated access

Flexible if you allow an Opt In/Out (can reduce cost savings and increase administration costs)

More efficient and less costly, especially if mandatory

Mailing addresses may not be updated as often

May be able to track access

Student Account Systems & InvoicingReal Time (Dynamic) Billing: Reflects account changes as they happen

Keeps student/responsible billing party informed of current account status

May reduce confusion around what amount to pay

RegulationsDepartment of Education: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

US Department of Education Federal Student Aid Handbook http://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1011FSAHbkVol4Master.pdf

RegulationsDepartment of Treasury: 1098T - Publication 970

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf

Excess Cash Payments/Patriot Act

http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0%2C%2Cid=113004%2C00.html

–> $10,000 cash (IRC Section 6050 I)

–Substantial overpayments (Title 31 USC Section 5332)

RegulationsOther Federal Regulations: Federal Trade Commission/Truth in Lending:http://ftc.gov/bcp/menus/resources/guidance/credit.shtm Gramm-Leach Bliley: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/business.shtm Red Flags Rules: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/redflagsrule/

index.shtml Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: http

://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: http://www.hhs.govHIPAA (health charges, health professions loans, AOR IFAP Information For Financial Aid Professionals: http://ifap.ed.gov/ifap/ (Blue Book, Dear Colleague Letters, Federal Registers, Financial Aid Handbook, Federal Training)

Financial AidFinancial Aid is constantly changing and updating each year -stay current: Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP)

www.ifap.ed.gov

Publications/Blue Book (2013)

Weekly emails/notifications of announcements HESC – Higher Education Service Corporation

https://www.hesc.ny.gov

Financial AidFederal/NYS Financial Aid: Pell •SEOG (Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant) •TEACH Grant (Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education) •Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant – Veteran/Military Benefits •Subsidized Stafford Student Loan •Unsubsidized Student Loan •Parent PLUS Loan •Perkins Loan TAP/HESC Scholarships

Financial AidNotification of Title IV Aid: You are required to notify students of the posting of their Title IV aid and there are

two types of notifications a school must provide:

(1) a general notification to all students receiving Title IV aid;

(2) a notice when loan funds are credited to a student’s account.

Paying Prior-Year Charges: Federal funds may only be used to pay for the student’s costs for the academic year

for which the funds were applied for. However, a school may use current-year funds to satisfy prior award year charges for tuition and fees, room, or board (and with permission, educationally related charges) for a total of not more than $200.

RefundsDelivery of Federal Funds: Schools are prohibited from charging students a fee for delivering funds. If a school

delivers financial aid funds to students by crediting funds to a school-issued debit or smart card, the school may not charge students a fee for making withdrawals of these federal program funds from that card. However, the school may charge for a replacement card.

If the financial aid disbursements to the student’s account at the school creates a credit balance, you must pay the credit balance directly to the student or parent as soon as possible, but no later than 14 days after the date the balance occurred on the student’s account.

The law requires that any excess PLUS Loan funds be returned to the parent. However, the parent may authorize your school (in writing) to transfer the proceeds of a PLUS Loan to a student directly.

RefundsFinancial Aid Credit Balances: Must be available within 14 days

–From the time of disbursement or

–First day of classes

–Whichever is later By

–Direct Deposit

–Paper Check

–Debit Card

RefundsCredit Balances: Direct Deposit

–ACH into checking or savings account of an already existing bank account

Paper Check

–Can be picked up in office or mailed to the address on record

–Some institutions charge a fee for replacement checks

RefundsOutstanding Paper Checks:

Requires knowledge of when checks are cashed

–Outstanding Checks must be escheated in many states

–Federal Financial Aid Refunds may NOT be escheated and should be returned to the program within 240 days

PaymentsVarious ways to accept payments: In Person - Cash, Check, Credit/Debit cards

Snail Mail, Lockbox - Checks

Online - ACH(electronic check), Credit cards, debit cards

Phone - Credit/Debit cards

Not all institutions accept all types of credit cards and some no longer have a credit card machine in house due to the rigorous compliance policies.

PaymentsCredit Cards = PCI Compliance: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org

PCI is a set of requirements designed to ensure that ALL companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. Essentially any company that has a Merchant ID.

Applies to ALL organizations, regardless of size or number of transactions.

Using a third-party company does not exclude you from being PCI compliant. It may cut down on your risk exposure but you cannot ignore PCI.

Cards include any debit, credit, and pre-paid cards branded with one of the five card association/brand logos - American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, and Visa International.

Q&AThank you for attending!

Questions?