Registrar’s Office makes tuition payments easier
Thanks to the merge of the Registrar’s and Cashier’s offices, students can now get their official transcripts, register and pay for classes in the same office.
Associate Registrar Heidi Beck said before the offices combined, many students would have to register and get transcripts in the Registrar’s Office and then run to the Cashier’s Office at the other end of the building to pay.
If students had to make adjustments to their schedules, they would have to go back and forth between the two offices again. Beck said now that the offices are in the same place students will no longer have to do this.
“When you go to the bookstore to get your books, you don’t go somewhere else to pay for them,” Beck said, “so if you come to the Registrar’s Office to get your classes, you should be able to pay for them here too.”
Beck said the first few weeks after the offices merged together went “fairly well.” She said there was room for improvements and said the managers continue to talk about how to improve service in the office every week. She said they also meet with student representatives and discuss student concerns.
“The students have a one-stop-shop,” Beck said. “For the most part, students are really happy to be able to come, register, pay and get a transcript all in one spot.”
There were a few students who were frustrated because they came to the office only having to pay for their classes and they had to wait in a longer line than normal, Beck said. She said the office is looking at ways to reduce lines.
Beck said during peak registration time, some students are going through the graduation process, which is handled in the Registrar’s Office as well.
She said they have made an isolated station in the far west corner of the office that will handle graduation so those who want to apply for graduation won’t have to wait in the registration and payment lines.
Even though there have been a few problems, she said, the students have handled them well.
“The students on this campus are wonderful,” Beck said. “They are not quick to complain and they recognize that people are trying to do the best they can.”
Melanie Leishman, the supervisor at the front counter said the merge of the offices has not only been a lot less frustrating for the students, it has worked well for both of the offices.
“It’s been a very positive thing for both ends, cashiering and registering,” Leishman said. “It’s proof of how good the staff is. They have adapted to the change.”
Beck said the offices decided to combine during the summer. She said the idea first came up when Associated Students of Utah State University President Les Essig was running for his position. One of his platforms was to make the Juniper Lounge, the area where the Cashier’s Office used to be, a place for student use.
After Essig was elected, Gary Chambers, associated vice president for student services and Taggart Student Center Building manager, approached the Registrar’s Office and told them they would be absorbing the Cashier’s Office, Beck said. The idea came to not only absorb the people from the Cashier’s Office but also the functions of the office, she said.
Beck said combining the two offices was a lot of work since they had to train the employees how to do the work from both offices. She said ASUSU could not request to combine the offices until after the election so the offices had to hurry to be ready for the school year.
“Because the request from the students came so late and the requirement was that we made the change by August,” Beck said, “we had to scramble to make sure that everybody got trained.”
She said it was also hard to train those who only work during the first of each semester when the office is busiest.
“In order to meet the ebb and flow of a semester’s cycle the office has always had several individuals who are kind of on call and not full-time employees,” Beck said. “During peak registration and payment time all of them would work all week, so we had people that we had to train. Even during the first week of school a lot of cross-training was taking place.”
Beck said though the decision to combine the offices has posed minor problems for students and staff, it has ultimately been a positive decision.
“Even though there have definitely been glitches on both sides, for us and for the students, we feel very good about the decision we made to combine registration and fee payment,” Beck said. “It’s going to be better for the students and that’s why we’re here.”
-meganroe@cc.usu.edu