Fresno State students may have noticed a few more empty desks around them during class after the university’s fee payment deadline passed Sept. 18, a date by which students had to pay up or face being dropped from classes.
This year, Fresno State’s tuition fee payment deadline fell nearly two months earlier than last year’s November deadline. As a result — at least partially — the number of students who were dropped from their classes totaled 200, a slight increase from the 180 students dropped the previous year.
Students who don’t pay their tuition in full by the deadline are dropped from their classes; their accounts with the university can be frozen, leaving them without access to documents such as transcripts.
The reason for the earlier payment deadline is because the old deadline fell around the same time as the state’s enrollment census period when universities tally student populations for the semester. Students who were eventually dropped from their classes for not paying tuition fees were also contributing to the school’s enrollment number for the semester.
As a result, Fresno State was penalized last year for being overenrolled “at the same time these students were not paying their bills,” said Anthony Forestiere, university controller.
“In a sense, it was a double penalty,” he said. “It is a common practice among universities to disenroll right before census and not in November.”
However, there are contingencies for students who think they may have been unfairly dropped. Unenrolled students can go to the Student Financial Services Office and complete a petition for reinstatement.
“The petition is then reviewed by a committee of three staff members once per week, and the decision to reinstate is based upon the explanation and reason provided by the student,” Forestiere said.
If approved, the student then has two business days to pay their tuition fees in full in addition to a $25 administrative fee. If all steps are properly completed, the student would then be re-enrolled.
Lonnie Holcomb, a sophomore criminal justice major, was simply happy to see that he was still enrolled in his classes after Sept. 18.
“I’m glad I was able to pay my fees before the deadline,” he said. “It must be unfortunate to those who were dropped from classes especially if they were almost done.”
