It is a situation almost every Old Westbury student has found himself or herself in, at one time or another. Standing in the same place, for what seems to be an eternity, painfully close to the person in front of you, who lucky for you, has apparently forgotten to shower that morning. Finally, after an hour of torture, you finally reach the reward you have been waiting for: handing over your life savings in the form of cash, check, money order, or credit card. The bursar leaves many Old Westbury students with not much more than a headache and an empty pocket. This semester alone, the bursar was bombarded with hour long lines, stretching out the doors of the administrative office with students both surprised and frustrated. Each student had their own personal dilemma, including parking permits, payment plans, fixing holds, and trying to re-establish good financial standings. The one factor that unified all those braving the line, was their disatisfaction with the bursar.
This year, it appears that more than ever, student’s have had issues regarding notifications and overall poor communication with the bursar. Students, such as senior Nicole Lana, was only notified that her classes had been dropped when she was unable to print out her spring term
schedule. As a result, her twenty credit course load had dwindled down to a measly four credits. Even after getting reinstatement permission, Nicole was only able to obtain sixteen of her original twenty credits. This resulted in her having to push back her expected graduation date, until the end of next fall. When asked her opinion on Bursar efficiency, Nicole’s response mirrored that of many students at Old Westbury, “I think the bursar is getting worse… It really shows you that the school’s number one priority is money.”
Bursar manager Susan Anderson and Associate Vice President of Business Affairs Deirdre Dowd disagree, claiming that the bursar has seen an overall improvement in length of lines and overall services, especially since the transition from paper bills to on-line payments three
years ago. They claim that a large portion of problems stem from a lack of student awareness. “We are not ogres,” pleaded Dowd, reiterating that the bursar does not enjoy seeing students struggle with financial issues.
They admit that the system, at times, is not perfect; and that an increase of communication between the administration and the student body would decrease the amount of class cancellations. They added that students have to pay attention to their Old Westbury portal accounts, which is the only direct communication between students and the bursar.
In addition to canceling classes, student’s are also left wondering why the brand new front desk of the bursar’s office has five customer service windows, with a maximum of merely three staff members seeing students. According to the bursar, the reason for this is the need to keep people on staff in the back to answer phones and respond to emails.
Credit cards create problems for students, as well. The bursar accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover/Novus. In addition, if you are using a parent’s credit card, you must have a letter of permission with your parent’s signature. It is information like this, that will save both students and the bursar time and frustration.
The main issue appears to be a lack of communication between the bursar and the student body. No student wants to have his or her classes canceled, nor does the bursar want to drop students’ classes. It is this communication that both parties admit needs to be improved.