Students can't enroll until all fees paid off

Enrollment begins next week; spring 2004 fees are due Dec.5

By Rory Sa

Fresno State officials have a warning for the 2,000 students who still have outstanding debts to the school: the free rides are over.

Students with outstanding fees will have trouble enrolling for classes on Monday. Until the fees are paid, they will be unable to enroll for spring 2004.

Enrollment services have already sent e-mails and letters to about 2,000 students who still own money to the school.

“ It may seem a little harsh,” said Bernie Vinovrski, vice president of Enrollment Services, “but students do have more leeway than they did in the past.”

“ We don’t want a situation where 2,000 students still owe us money,” he said.

The deadlines for fees have traditionally been July for fall semester and early December for spring, he said.

“ We didn’t enforce [the policy] last December because of the last-minute fee increase,” Vinovrski said. “It wasn’t fair to drop students.”

Vinovrski added that the crackdown is unrelated to California’s current budget concerns. “It’s good business practice,” Vinovrski said.

“ By not being diligent in enforcing payment to the university, we’re penalizing students who paid their bills,” he said. “There’s a fundamental unfairness in it.”

Fees for spring 2004 must be paid by Dec. 5. If their fees aren’t paid, students will be disenrolled from their classes.

Few will be immune to the Dec. 5 deadline.

Before PeopleSoft, Vinovrski said, students had to pay their fees before the start of the semester. The PeopleSoft system, he said, gives students more time.

“ Students who’ve paid their fees won’t be shut out of classes because of people who haven’t paid,” he said.

Vinovrski said the fee policy was never enforced until now.

Financial aid recipients don’t have to worry about the payment deadlines. Their aid has already taken care of everything.

If students think there has been an error, Vinovrski recommends they go to the accounting services office, located in the Joyal building.