Ad Board Warns Students to Pay Or Leave College

Students who have not paid their term bills by noon on Tuesday will be required to vacate their rooms and withdraw for the semester, according to Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57.

"Students who have not met their financial obligations to the College were warned that they would have to meet those obligations or they would be required to withdraw from the College," Jewett said.

Students in arrears learned of the new deadline last week, after the Administrative Board met last Tuesday to discuss their situation. Jewett and the members of the Administrative Board declined to reveal the number of students who will be affected by their decision.

Director of Financial Aid James S. Miller said the Financial Aid Office has been working to ensure that students meet their financial obligations.

"We have been in contact prior to registration with everyone who is in this situation, some of them repeatedly. We have found they have not responded," he said.

Some students, however, said the Financial Aid Office failed to inform them of the stringent deadline and did not give them the help they needed to settle their term bills on time.

One sophomore said he was informed by his financial aid advisor that he would be given a grace period by the Administrative Board while he waited for a response to his application for a loan. But he was informed by his senior tutor last week that he had not been granted the extension, and that he would be required to meet the Tuesday deadline.

Another sophomore said her advisor neglected to send her an application for her aid package to be reassessed after her father lost his job last March.

Her financial aid advisor, she said, had given her the impression that her case would be considered by the Administrative Board. She said she had been in contact with her advisor during the summer and fall semester.

She said she was informed by her advisor on February 1 that her parents would have to file a petition with the Administrative Board explaining how she intended to pay her outstanding bills in order to register for classes.

She said that no one from the Financial Aid Office informed her of the Administrative Board's decision. She contacted her advisor on February 7, and was told by him that she should apply for Pell grant, she added.

She was shocked, she said, when her senior tutor called her last Tuesday night to tell her that she would be required to pay her outstanding term bills in a week's time.

"No one was telling me you could be kicked out for this," she said.

Both students felt that they had made a significant effort to meet the requirements of the Financial Aid Office.

Jewett, however, said that the Administrative Board had decided each student's case on the basis of whether the Financial Aid Office felt that the student would be able to meet the payment deadline without undue duress.

"We have no desire or any interest in peoplenot being able to be here. If there is anyconfusion we would like to get it resolved,"Jewett said.

But the growing number of students who fail topay term bills and file financial aid forms ontime has caused difficulties for the Financial AidOffice, according to Miller.

On January 5 of this year, Miller sent a letterto all students receiving financial aid sayingthat some students' failure to meet deadlines haskept the office from responding "to students whohave met their administrative and financialobligations responsibly."

Miller stressed in an interview yesterday thathis primary concern was for equity and fairness,not for financial considerations.

Miller said 99.9 percent of students follow theprocedures properly. "There is a group of peopleunwilling to meet deadlines and takeresponsibility," he said

"We have no desire or any interest in peoplenot being able to be here. If there is anyconfusion we would like to get it resolved,"Jewett said.

But the growing number of students who fail topay term bills and file financial aid forms ontime has caused difficulties for the Financial AidOffice, according to Miller.

On January 5 of this year, Miller sent a letterto all students receiving financial aid sayingthat some students' failure to meet deadlines haskept the office from responding "to students whohave met their administrative and financialobligations responsibly."

Miller stressed in an interview yesterday thathis primary concern was for equity and fairness,not for financial considerations.

Miller said 99.9 percent of students follow theprocedures properly. "There is a group of peopleunwilling to meet deadlines and takeresponsibility," he said