Effective for the upcoming fall 2011 semester, Longwood University has discontinued the $250 tuition deposit for returning undergraduate students.
Director of Cashiering and Student Accounts Bruce Jenkins said he wanted to clear up any confusion students had about the issue.
Jenkins said he has received a few e-mails from students that were upset or confused about the news. "I don't know if it's a case where the parents are paying everything or not," he said. "I think it's just a lot of confusion."
Jenkins said he has been "politely" answering the e-mails in his inbox from the students. He said the majority of the confusion seems to be that students think the deposit was an additional fee aside from the tuition. "It's just a deposit," he said. "I hate people to think we're bad guys and we're stealing money because we're not."
He cited the example of one student who asked if he could receive his deposit money back for the last four years. "There seems to be a misconception that Longwood was taking money from [the students] and not giving it back."
Jenkins noted that discussion to discontinue the deposit had been tossed around for a "long time." He said his department especially looked into the issue last year because of how the deposit request is sent out. He said it cannot actually be billed since there is no real charge, just a deposit.
In order to produce a billing statement, there has to be a charge, Jenkins explained. He said the deposit method was "homegrown" and it couldn't be sent as a bill because there was no actual charge like there is with the student billing e-mails that are conducted at the end of each week which include rated calls and monthly recurring charges. "We couldn't use the standard process because there was no charge there to bill."
The final decision to okay the discontinuation of the deposit came from Vice President for Administration and Finance Kathy Worster.
Jenkins said he is unaware of any of schools in the Commonwealth that have a tuition deposit still in place. "We realized we were the only ones still doing this," he said. However, some institutions do still have a housing deposit in place for students.
"This was not a board approved policy. It was just a business practice," said Jenkins.
The change only affects returning undergraduate students. New students admitted to Longwood will continue to pay the $400 deposit and graduate students will still incur a pre-payment of $50. In regard to the new student payment process, Jenkins said that would still remain the same. He described the initial $400 deposit as a student showing "their commitment" to Longwood.
Likewise, the historical $250 deposit, usually due in March, for returning undergraduates showed a commitment to return to the university. The number of students who paid the deposit gave departments an idea of how many students would be coming to Longwood. Jenkins said it was also a tool used in regard to space and class enrollment issues. Before, students were unable to register for classes for the fall semester until the deposit was paid.
He did note that one negative effect would be for the finance department because the early deposits won't be coming in and students will lack a pre-payment on their account.
Jenkins was unsure exactly how long the deposit practice has been in place, but could confirm it has been in place since at least 1999. Eva Philbeck, budget manager for academic affairs, was unable to be reached for an exact date.
