The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees approved a 4.6 percent tuition increase in July. In average terms, this means a student going to CMU for 30 credit hours this year (and not covered under the

CMU Promise, which fixed tuition for as many as five years for new students from 2005-08) will spend approximately $450 more to come to CMU.

Whether it is something with a big price tag, such as a PS3, or something as small as a few meals, $450 can go to many things.

Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe said families are trying to make ends meet, so the $450 means a lot to them.

“I think students and families have a tough time,” he said. “I think it takes real planning on the part of families and on the part of individuals to afford higher education today.”

Roscoe said he believes students will look for more work during the school year. He said he already saw more students contacting him, asking him about jobs in the area or on campus.

Roscoe said he is not sure the $450 increase will be a reason for many students to not come to CMU, but he said if other things happen in the future, many students might feel they are in financial jeopardy.

The plan offers automatic payment dates, which bills the student on the fifth of every month and offers account adjustment to student accounts any time changes occur to the account, such as bookstore refunds, dropping or adding a course or financial aid payments.

With the system, amounts charged to the account will be updated on a regular basis.

While enrollment for the fall semester ended July 31, students who wish to use it for spring can sign up Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

Is it for you?

The plan, however, is not recommended for everyone, especially students on financial aid, said Diane Fleming, associate director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.

She said the plan is not beneficial for students utilizing financial aid that covers the full cost of tuition.

Enrollment instructions can be found in the “Finances” tab of the Central Michigan Student Portal.

If students have more questions about the new payment plan, contact the Student Account Services and University Billing at 774-3618.

Yet, classes and college life are not the only things Rochester Hills freshman is anticipating.

And her feelings may be shared around the state.

“Since I am a freshman, I don’t have anything to compare (the previous tuition to),” Jacobs said. “However, it’s going to be tough starting out with higher tuition. I have some scholarships, but not enough to cover (it all), so I do have loans out, too.”

Jacobs represents about 51.4 percent of CMU’s student body not covered under the CMU Promise, which set a fixed tuition rate for students who registered between fall 2005 and summer 2008. Up to 8,900 students are on the CMU Promise.

Tuition was raised 4.6 percent for the 2009-10 academic year at the July 16 Board of Trustees meeting. Students without the CMU Promise now will pay $339 per credit hour, $15 more than last year.

Director of Media Relations Steve Smith said while the tuition increase affects approximately half of the CMU student body, this includes an increase in financial aid, which he said allows the university to strengthen academic programs and maintain basic needs.

“The board directed the administration to utilize $1.81 million dollars from the new tuition rate for increased financial aid,” he said. “That brings the university’s total financial aid budget to $28.6 million annually.”

The university budget, which includes more than $391 million in total expenses, is based off Michigan’s budget, which is not yet finalized but facing a $2 billion shortfall. The state House and Senate had a session Tuesday to discuss the state budget, which will go into effect Oct. 1.

CMU received an increase of more than $819,000 in appropriations last summer, a 1 percent increase from the previous year. In June, Interim University President Kathy Wilbur said CMU would be ‘lucky’ if appropriations remained at the same level.

Around the state

The average Michigan public university tuition increase was 5.65 percent.

Grand Valley State University increased its tuition by 5.3 percent for this academic year.

Michigan Technological University raised its tuition 5.45 percent, or $19 per credit hour, to $11,347 per year. Its budget is based on revenues that include a 3 percent cut in state funding, according to the school’s Web site.

Lake Superior State University increased its tuition by 4.6 percent. Tom Pink, director of Public Relations at Lake Superior State University, said many factors can affect the tuition increase and no one is exempt from the reach of this recession.

“That increase puts us at the middle of the pack for Michigan’s 15 public universities, and any time we raise tuition, we try to do it so that it has as little effect as possible on our students,” Pink said.
Oakland University Media Relations Director Ted Montgomery said the tuition budget for the 2009-10 academic year rose to 9 percent.

“We’re still going to have to make cuts to balance our budget,” he said.

OU considered an 11 percent increase at its July 24 meeting. After reaching a deadlock, OU trustees voted for the 9 percent increase.

Tuition at Saginaw Valley State University rose to 6.3 percent. J.J. Boehm, director of media relations at SVSU, said there is an expectation to see less money from the state, because there has been a steady erosion of state support of higher education.

“Michigan is in a very difficult financial situation, they have chosen to direct those resources elsewhere and naturally, we feel higher education is an investment in the future of our state and its people. And the future is educating our citizens,” Boehm said.

Amber Loomis, manager of the Student Service Court, estimated 750 students enrolled in the plan for the fall semester.

The number is significantly more than with the last plan, she said. About 200 used the old plan.

“Not many students took advantage of the last payment plan,” Loomis said. “We have a lot of freshmen using the new system. (But) we’ve got a good mix on all classes.”

Caledonia junior Katie Jonkhoff is using the new payment plan and said she wishes she knew about it sooner.

“Signing up was easy. (It) was all online,” she said. “The whole thing’s been helpful. It’s easy to check.”

The “CMU Payment Plan” is headed by the Office of Student Account Services and University Billing, formerly known as the Office of Receivable Accounting, and requires a non-refundable, $25 per semester fee.

Loomis said none of the money will go to the university. It will go directly to the new vendor, Nelnet Business Solutions.

The previous vendor, Sallie Mae Corporation, charged a $60 fee for the entire academic year, Loomis said.

Moving toward efficiency

While the university always offered a payment plan option, Loomis said she feels this plan is more efficient.

“(Nelnet) offers more flexibility for paying tuition and other semester charges,” she said.

The new payment is useful for most students. The earlier they sign up determines the amount and how many payments will be made.

Any fees incurred from CMU, such as tuition, bookstore charges, parking passes and anything charged to a university student account is eligible for the plan, with the exception of the first payment for fall residence hall fees, according to Student Account Services and University Billing’s Web site.

The plan offers automatic payment dates, which bills the student on the fifth of every month and offers account adjustment to student accounts any time changes occur to the account, such as bookstore refunds, dropping or adding a course or financial aid payments.

With the system, amounts charged to the account will be updated on a regular basis.

While enrollment for the fall semester ended July 31, students who wish to use it for spring can sign up Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

Is it for you?

The plan, however, is not recommended for everyone, especially students on financial aid, said Diane Fleming, associate director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.

She said the plan is not beneficial for students utilizing financial aid that covers the full cost of tuition.

Enrollment instructions can be found in the “Finances” tab of the Central Michigan Student Portal.

If students have more questions about the new payment plan, contact the Student Account Services and University Billing at 774-3618.

Thanks to the Office of Student Account Services and University Billing, working with it just got a little easier.

“We now have a new brochure called ‘Steps to Success,’ and we sent that to any new freshmen or international students,” said director Cindy Rubingh. “It also tells them what they need to do when they come to (Central Michigan University).”

When tuition is due, CMU alerts students to their new bill through their cmich.edu e-mail account. Students are directed to the “Pay my bill” link on the Portal’s left-hand menu.

One part which can get confusing is why the amount due on the billing statement is different from the actual amount charged to the account. But Rubingh said it is not hard to understand.

“That is when they would look at the current activity. We put everything on that account (in) real time,” she said.

The current billed amount is the amount charged in the last billing statement. The current activity screen shows what was charged to the student account as of the current date.

Student Services Court Manager Amber Loomis also said the inability to make payments over the phone adds to the confusion, especially for parents.

“Another big question is, ‘Can you take a payment over the phone?’ And we can’t. Our offices cannot process payments,” she said. “Students can set up their parents as an authorized payer.”

Students can use the Portal and click on Finances, then Grant Payment Access.

Though some students have trouble reading their statements, Plymouth senior Angie Schommer said she has not.

“To be honest with you, I just get the e-mail notification. My parents pay the tuition and they get an e-mail, too,” she said. “I guess we haven’t had problems with it, except they don’t take Visa anymore, and that’s the only card my parents have.”

For Kaitlin Carlson, buying books online just makes economical sense.

“I saved over $300 this year,” she said.

Carlson, a Fremont junior, sells her books at the end of the semester to recoup more of her investment.

Many students share her sentiment. As the state and national economy continues to struggle, college students are among the first to make changes to conserve their typically limited funds.

Regarding whether online book sales affected his business, CMU Bookstore director Barry Waters said in an e-mail the Web is helping his business well.

“Of course, but we are online as well, and we have seen nice increases from our own textbook sales on the Web,” he said.

A recent price comparison shows significant difference in costs for students willing to purchase online.

“Psychology” by David G. Myers, a required book for some sections of PSY 100: Introduction to Psychology, was priced at $129 for a new copy and $96.75 used at the CMU Bookstore. One eBay merchant was offering a new copy for $65.90, and several others were selling for a few dollars more.

Another difference was found in the prices for “Biological Psychology” by James W. Kalat, a required reading for PSY 387: Behavioral Neuroscience. While the bookstore was selling new copies for $163.25, another eBay vendor was selling the same book for $58.95, slightly more than a third of CMU’s price.

A new plan?

One potential compromise between the online booksellers’ discounts and the convenience of dealing with the local bookstore is semester-long book rentals.

Grand Rapids Community College recently enacted a plan in which students can rent a textbook for 42.5 percent of the retail price, then return it at the end of the semester.

Hudsonville sophomore Taylor Remy said he would rent books if he could.

“Oh, yeah, I’m not going to keep (my books),” Remy said.

However, Central Michigan University is not pursuing a similar plan partly because of logistical difficulties.

Waters said this is because there are difficulties creating a program with which the faculty and the CMU Bookstore are happy.

“A solid rental program is very complicated … the faculty have to commit to the same book for at least six semesters,” Waters said. “That is a long time for a faculty member to be tied to the same book, especially with the frequency of updates the publishers are pushing out.”

At the end of August, they can handle it online, said Mark Stevens, Isabella County director of the Department of Human Services.

Anyone applying can visit mibridges.mi.gov, which Stevens said will work by the end of the month, to fill out the online application and e-mail, fax or mail financial documents to the office. They will be contacted for a phone interview and the department will determine eligibility.

“I think it will be a lot more convenient for students instead of coming into the office and waiting,” he said. “Since students are so much more tech-savvy, I think it will be much easier for them.”

Michigan’s Food Assistance Program needed a waiver, which it received earlier this month, from the U.S. government to create the Web site.

To qualify for a Bridge Card, applicants must meet income guidelines. The department examines income, back accounts and shelter and utility expenses, Stevens said.

Bridge Cards work like debit cards at grocery stores or the farmer’s market, he said.

Frankenmuth junior Kraig Haubenstricker applied for a Bridge Card for the first time this summer.

“Eating food is the biggest part of my budget,” he said.

Haubenstricker said applying online would make the process easier because of convenience, and he had trouble finding the office.

“I wouldn’t have to drive several miles out of town,” he said. “And I have access to a fax machine, scanner and e-mail.”

However, he also believed the application process would be more complicated because he had a lot of questions.

Troy senior Jamie Clark is a Bridge Card user and believes the online application would be useful.

“The hours (at the Isabella County DHS) are not the best for students. It would be very convenient and they are very hard to get a hold of,” she said.

Each cardholder has a case- worker, and each case-worker has hundreds of people to deal with, so it can take them a long time to get back to her, Clark said.

“Online is always easier for all involved,” she said.

The changes began in January 2009, when about half of Central Michigan University’s campus was still using an older version of the system. When the fall semester starts, the entire campus will use the new system.

“It’s more user-friendly and easier for the managers to get previous data that’s accurate,” said Leigh Bartholomew, manager of auxiliary operations at Auxiliary Services. “It saves us a lot of time and effort.”

Before the upgrades, locations not using Timelink had to use a complicated and often inefficient system to keep track of the hours employees worked.

Employees wrote down the time they started and ended work each day on a paper time log, which they handed in to their supervisor each week. Supervisors then entered these hours into a computer program and sent them to the central payroll office.

With the new electronic systems, students clock in and out of work by swiping their student ID card and the supervisors approve the electronic log before sending it to the payroll office.

“They swipe in and out and they’re done,” said Mary Hill, assistant controller for financial services and payroll. “They don’t have to worry about forgetting to write it down or losing their log sheets.”

On the new electronic system, records from past pay periods are stored, so dated records can be accessed at any time, something the old system could not do, Bartholomew said.

Upgrade cost: $294,000

The upgrade, including hardware costs, software licenses and professional services, cost about $294,000, Hill said. There are 86 automated time clocks that included scan guns that needed to be updated.

Not only can students clock in and out of work on them, but workers can scan in labor costs for work orders on them, she said.

“Of course it’s a change, and there’s a learning curve,” Hill said. “It’s hard because it’s new, but once people learn to use it, we get a lot of positive reviews.”

Sophie Lashuay, executive secretary in the art department, said the biggest problem student employees have in her office is forgetting to clock in.

“Once they figure it out, they’re fine,” Lashuay said. “It takes some getting used to.”

Duane Kleinhardt, manager of IT Communications, said since it is a part of Blackboard licensing, CMU is eliminating the contract with Turnitin.com, which cost $23,329 last year.

“SafeAssign performs the same function as Turnitin, and is included in the licensing of Blackboard,” Kleinhardt said.

The purpose of the service is to help educators prevent plagiarism by detecting unoriginal content in student papers.

“The university saves the extra cost of the Turnitin licensing,” Kleinhardt said. “The Online Learning Environment executive team made the decision to change from Turnitin to SafeAssign following a year of consideration, careful comparison of the two products, including a two-phase pilot implementation, and a survey of the user community.”

Though it is a new Blackboard service, it is based on technology Blackboard acquired from Sciworth Inc., formerly MyDropBox, and enhanced to offer better stability, performance and integration with other Blackboard products.

In SafeAssign, instructors can set up SafeAssignments in their Blackboard courses and let students submit papers to these assignments, in a way very similar to the one provided currently by Blackboard Learning System.

As students submit papers, they are checked against SafeAssign’s comprehensive databases of source material. The papers then will be delivered to instructors through the Blackboard Learning System with the originality reports and the results of the matching process attached.

All material submitted to SafeAssign is checked against the following databases: A comprehensive index of documents available for public access on the Internet; ProQuest ABI/Inform database with more than 1,100 publication titles and about 2.6 million articles from the ’90s to present time, updated weekly; institutional document archives containing all papers submitted to SafeAssign by users in their respective institutions; and the Global Reference Database, which contains papers volunteered by students from Blackboard client institutions to prevent cross-institutional plagiarism.

For more information on the Blackboard plagiarism service, go to SafeAssign.com.

National City Bank

National City Bank, which has three locations in Mount Pleasant, provides students with a lot of options, said Consumer Banker Edmund Price.

“If they work for the college, we have the Work Perks Package,” he said.

In that package, students are eligible for free savings, free checks, free non-national city ATMs and a lot of extra sides, including assistance with loans.

Students also have the opportunity to receive free checking and free savings.

Chemical Bank

Chemical Bank, which has two locations around town, offers an array of deposit and investment products, said Marketing Director John Hatfield.

Students have the options of free checking, the MI Savings Account that requires no minimum balance and a preferred rewards debit and MasterCard.

“You use it just like cash. It reduces the need to carry around cash, and when you sign for any transaction, you get points,” he said.

Chemical Bank also has a robust electronic banking system, he said, and students can use the Web site to check their account balance and pay bills.

Users are notified with an e-mail when they have a new bill, he said.

“We also have two offices in Mount Pleasant and we’re able to serve students and are also on campus from time to time,” he said.

Fifth Third Bank

“We have several products that are specifically geared toward college student,” said Jennifer Ranville, spokesperson for Fifth Third Bank, 1114 N. Mission St.

It offers options with minimum balance requirements, online banking, free checks, five free non-Fifth Third ATM transactions and one free incoming wire transfer for parents to send students money, she said.

Students who open an account before Sept. 30 are automatically entered in a scholarship sweepstakes, which offers a grand prize of $10,000 and 10 $1,000 scholarships.

Fifth Third also is promoting its viral campaign “Don’t Be That Guy,” meant to help students make good decisions.

Ranville said Fifth Third Bank also has a Goal Setter Savings Account.

“If you are trying to save up for something specific, you get special incentives for reaching your goal such as get higher interest rates,” she said.

Isabella Bank

At Isabella Bank, which has five locations in Mount Pleasant, students are eligible for free checking and savings accounts.

“We do have Anywhere Checking, you can do banking from pretty much anywhere,” said Community Relations Director Mary Olivieri.

Isabella Bank’s online banking offers bill pay, touch-tone banking by phone and e-statements so students do not have to have statements mailed to parents, she said.

The bank has more than 20 ATMs in the mid-Michigan area, including Meijer, 1015 E. Pickard St.; Central Michigan Community Hospital, 1221 South Dr.; and Kroger, 4080 E. Bluegrass Road, and five offices in Mount Pleasant.

“If students have questions, we will certainly take the time to answer them,” Olivieri said.

Isabella County Credit Union

The Isabella County Credit Union, which has two locations in Mount Pleasant, was established as a student-centered credit union, said Heather Harris, vice president of community development and marketing.

“No question is ever too silly,” she said. “We try our best to help students manager their money.”

Once students establish a membership savings account, they have access to other products, as long as they are eligible. Members do not have to pay fees on most products and are eligible for free loan applications.

Students have access to free checking, free ATM usage, two Mount Pleasant locations and online account access, she said.

“You can get to (your account) from any computer. It’s a breeze to use,” Harris said.

The online account includes options to check account balances, transfer funds and pay bills.

Harris said many people use the online account access and, once a member, people do not even have to come in.

“Everything stays within our community. We reinvest in our community,” she said. “We try to give back in any way we can.”

Central Michigan Community Credit Union

Vice President of Operations Beth Brown said Central Michigan Community Credit Union, 4976 E. Broadway St., offers debit cards, Visa cards, loans and free checking.

“We do have a program when they open account, we have a free gift,” she said.

CMCCU offers online banking, she said, which includes free bill pay, audio response to make transfers and check balances.

They are not impossible to understand — just time-consuming and boring.

Simply put, most students do not want to talk about the interest-rate driven expenditures, yet many have no choice but to take them on to attend college, said Muskegon senior Anthony Crawford.

The worst part is students will just ask for the money without understanding what it means, said Diane Fleming, associate director of client services in the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid at Central Michigan University.

“Everyone’s future income will be significantly cut by the amount. They need to borrow what they need, not what they want,” Fleming said. “There isn’t any quick and dirty way to avoid reading up on financial aid and student loans. A student paying rent $500 a month, atop car, mortgage, insurance, utility and phone payments, won’t want to worry about large sums of money for their college loans.”

At CMU, 70 percent of on-campus students receive at least one loan. On average, a CMU student will take out $24,236 between federal and private loans, according to the Office of Institutional Research.

Grand Rapids junior Shanna King said she has no clue how to read a loan or what it would take to pay them back. She said she is loan-free, but will most likely get a loan for her senior year.

“I am able to get by with two jobs right now, paying for rent and books,” she said. “A lot college students don’t save money, that’s the problem. They don’t know how to put money away into savings accounts. It’s nice to work toward a cushion to fall on when you need it.”

‘Live cheap, work’

Crawford accumulated $7,000 in student loans in his first two years on campus. Not wanting to be buried in debt after college, Crawford decided to stop taking out loans his junior year.

Instead, he works 40-plus-hour weeks in the summer and has a full-time job during the school year to pay for his tuition, rent, food and textbooks.

Crawford said he has not bought a book from a bookstore in more than a year. He buys used books off of friends and other students.

“It’s about living cheaper,” Crawford said, reviewing his first two years living in residence halls. “Once I moved out, I realized all of my expenses were actually cheaper. Apartments are less than living in the dorms, food is cheaper when you cook for yourself. I used my loans for all of that and wish I would have known that starting out. I wouldn’t owe so much in loans, and that’s unfortunate.”

Crawford details cars in North Carolina every summer to earn more money. He lives with his parents in the summer, something he said is not necessarily a lifestyle 20-somethings like to do, but a smart choice for people who do not want steep loan payments after graduation.

He said students do not realize how easy it could be to save yourself from loan debt by using easy resources.

“If you need loans to stay in school, do it,” he said, “but only do it for the bare minimum. Just try to cut back on everything you can. Most classes you don’t need textbooks, it’s a waste of money. Buy cheap foods. Just don’t spend money when you don’t have to. That will help.”

Fleming said setting yourself a budget is the best way to keep fund high and loan debt low.

“Once you’ve set that budget, you need to live within that budget, no excuses,” she said. “Ask yourself, ‘Do I really need this? Is it worth making payments on this for 10, 15, 20 years? If so, go for it, but more often than not, it isn’t worth the 12 percent interest.”