Have you heard of a university that only does electronic billing?

imported_Lothar

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2006
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Cliffs:
1.) My brother is continuing university.
2.) School never mailed out tuition/bills, or any financial aid info(loans/scholarship) to permanent address(Home address).
3.) We don't know what the "official" info is because school never sent a letter.
4.) Basically he printed my mom some statement from his school account on Friday and showed my mom(I was at work at the time, and my mom isn't exactly a technology savy person since she calls on one of us anytime she wants to check her email and doesn't use online payment for anything, use credit card online to purchase anything, or even enroll in online banking).
5.) My mom asked why can the school send a letter home? My brother's answer is electronic billing. He said the school switched to electronic billing as the only acceptable form of payment 2 years ago.
6.) I never saw the "paper". My mom forgot to ask me to take a look at it(I guess because everyone was in a rush last week in helping her pack and I was also working).
I worked Friday 9am-9pm, 9am-6pm saturday(mom worked overnight at her other job 10pm-8:30am), I worked 10am-6pm Sunday so I only saw her for like 30mins before going to work. My brother took my mother to the airport at around 1-2pm and I called her at 4pm(we only talked for a few minutes) right before she boarded her flight.
7.) My mom deposited $5,000 to my account saturday morning for his school while I was at work because she was out of checks and had to order some herself.
8.) I write a check and addressed it to his school(UMBC), and put for: "Brother's name" tuition.
9.) I gave it to my cousin to give to him yesterday morning since my brother would be coming by and I was working 9am-6pm.


My brother just called me 20mins and said "thanks for writing me a useless check. I told mom that my school only does electronic billing. The check needs to be addressed to me and not the school" (meaning I guess for it to be under his school student account, it needs to be addressed to him???). :confused:
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
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Sounds like BS but you never know. Just call the school and ask.


What school is it?
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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There is an absurd amount of unnecessary details in that story.

Yeah, call the school.
 

amdskip

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
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I'd guess he is wrong, schools will gladly accept fundage from anyone as long as you say what it's for.
 
Dec 10, 2005
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Why would you make the check out to your brother? That doesn't make sense, unless your brother was going to pay the tuition himself by depositing the check in his own account and paying electronically.
 

imported_Lothar

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2006
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I just called the school and they said "no, no. As long as UMBC is on the check we'll accept it". If UMBC is not on the check, we will not accept it.

I called my brother immediately after that...Here's the entire conversation.
Me: I just called your school, and they said they will accept the check. I'm not writing another check.
Him: OK, bye.
 

imported_Lothar

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2006
4,559
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Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Why would you make the check out to your brother? That doesn't make sense, unless your brother was going to pay the tuition himself by depositing the check in his own account and paying electronically.

Yeah, it didn't make any sense to me either.
Electronic billing only means they send the billing statement electronically. Nothing else.
Why go through all the extra steps of writing to his bank account and then him transferring to the school when you can just give the school directly?

Not to mention the fact that if my mom wants to deduct from her taxes, it needs to be written directly to the school and NOT to the beneficiary.
 

ICRS

Banned
Apr 20, 2008
1,328
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The school I went to only did electronic billing.

But you could play by check, but it wasn't convienent. If you wanted to pay by check you had to wait in line at the student accounting office.
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
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^

Yep.



Are students required to pay online?
If you choose to pay by credit card, MasterCard, Discover or American Express, you must pay online.



Seems online is for CC and there has to be a way to pay by check in person.


EDIT


Yep he can pay with check...

HOW CAN I PAY MY BILL?

On-line by Credit Card (MasterCard, Discover or American Express), Personal Checks or Withdrawals from Savings Accounts.
By mail with checks to UMBC, P.O.Box 8700
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-8700.
In-person at the Cashier's Office with cash and checks.
After-hours, with checks through the Night Depository. Night Depository hours are as follows: Monday-Thursday from 4:30pm to 10:00pm, Fridays from 4:30pm to 7:00pm. The night depository is not available on weekends.
 

Injury

Lifer
Jul 19, 2004
13,066
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Originally posted by: Marlin1975
^

Yep.



Are students required to pay online?
If you choose to pay by credit card, MasterCard, Discover or American Express, you must pay online.



Seems online is for CC and there has to be a way to pay by check in person.


EDIT


Yep he can pay with check...

HOW CAN I PAY MY BILL?

On-line by Credit Card (MasterCard, Discover or American Express), Personal Checks or Withdrawals from Savings Accounts.
By mail with checks to UMBC, P.O.Box 8700
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-8700.
In-person at the Cashier's Office with cash and checks.
After-hours, with checks through the Night Depository. Night Depository hours are as follows: Monday-Thursday from 4:30pm to 10:00pm, Fridays from 4:30pm to 7:00pm. The night depository is not available on weekends.

Yup. Sounds like the brother needs to take the damn check to the Cashier's office and STFU or pay it himself.
 

moshquerade

No Lifer
Nov 1, 2001
61,504
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wave of the future, and for most colleges the future is now.
i know Cornell University is all electronic with billing.
 

imported_Lothar

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2006
4,559
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Originally posted by: Injury
Sounds like the brother needs to take the damn check to the Cashier's office and STFU or pay it himself.

I just hope my mom hasn't been falling for this story the past 2 years.
Can't wait for us to discuss this when she gets back in 2 weeks.
 

FleshLight

Diamond Member
Mar 18, 2004
6,883
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Most colleges send the bill electronically but you can pay with cc/check/whatever online/in-person/through-the-mail.

edit: I'd ask him to log into his billing service so you can review previous statements to make sure you're not overpaying and stuff.
 

GeekDrew

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2000
9,099
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Has anyone asked the school if they will accept a third party check, addressed to the school? I've seen that cause problems before.
 

imported_Lothar

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2006
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Originally posted by: TallBill
Welcome to Anandtech, this is not a blog!

Welcome to my thread. This is my blog.

Originally posted by: GeekDrew
Has anyone asked the school if they will accept a third party check, addressed to the school? I've seen that cause problems before.

There's no need to ask.
I consider the issue already resolved by his "ok, bye" statement.