From: Bruce Forinash (baforina@gw.fis.ncsu.edu)
Date: Mon Aug 19 2002 - 09:31:10 EDT
At North Carolina State (Public, Research I, 30,000 students) we made a
major change just over a year ago by mailing all refund checks for
students who have not elected direct deposit.
After making sure we gave everyone due notice that the change was going
to take place, beginning with Spring 2001 financial aid disbursement
cycle refund checks were mailed to the student's Correspondence Address
(generally the home address) while direct deposit refunds were sent to
the bank via ACH the same day that checks were released. If a student
elects Direct Deposit, they should receive the refund in their bank
account faster than they can get the check. This encourages the student
to elect direct deposit and eliminates the long lines in our office as
well. For our initial Fall 2002 disbursement cycle, nearly 60% of the
refunds were direct deposit - up from the mid-40's last year. Students
can sign up in our office by turning in the standard ACH direct deposit
enrollment form. The Cashier's Office manually enters account information
from the form to a terminal and transmits to our processing bank.
We notify students of the refund process in the Financial Aid mailings
and include a form in that package. In addition, there is an explanation
on our web page at http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/cashier/fadd/index.html and a
downloadable form that can be completed and sent in. While this process
saves some mailing cost and eliminates the headache of long lines a
couple of times a year, the main advantage to us is improved service to
students. Those who want direct deposit can have it, those who prefer an
actual check understand that it will be mailed to them and can stay with
that option if they want.
In addition, students can check their account balance on the web. If
they see that Financial Aid has been posted and a refund issued they know
how much to expect, and when.
I could go on in excruciating detail, but I'll spare you that. If anyone
has specific questions, please let me know.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bruce Forinash
Director, University Cashier's Office
NC State University
2005 Harris Hall
Campus Box 7213
Raleigh, NC 27695
919.515.6010 (office)
919.515.1164 (fax)
bruce_forinash@ncsu.edu
>>> Will Wilkinson <willwil@regent.edu> 08/19/02 08:12AM >>>
Please respond to the list. We are looking into doing this too, and
any
help to obtain this information early enough to direct deposit loan
refunds
would be appreciated. Do you have students provide authorization and
bank
information with a form they complete and return with their award
letter?
Or, when in the process do you get student banking information.
Thanks,
Will
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanessa L. Peoples [mailto:vpeoples@udel.edu]
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 4:28 PM
To: bursar-l@virginia.edu
Subject: Direct Deposit Refunds
Currently at the University of Delaware, students may request a refund
of their credit balances via check or direct deposit into checking or
savings account. We are interested in trying to steer students toward
the direct deposit option in an effort to reduce and/or eliminate the
amount of paper checks we produce. I am looking to hear from schools
who
have found ways to encourage students to use direct deposit and if
there
are any schools who have been able to eliminate paper check refunds.
In addition I would like to hear from schools who have developed a
process for automatically depositing Financial Aid refunds into
students
bank accounts and how you collect the bank information.
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