Good payment planning
Tuition bills can be daunting. Students need all the help they can get.
The university's new CMU Payment Plan will be an asset to students as they strive to make ends meet.
The plan will spread students' financial worries into monthly payments. This is in stark contrast to the current plan, which requires a few lump sum payments, often more than students can afford at once.
CMU deserves credit for starting the new plan. It will be especially useful to students who, unfortunately, struggle with finances month-by-month. By not forcing them to pay a huge sum upfront, the university will allow them to pay by monthly job paychecks. The plan syncs better with students' pay schedules.
It does not reduce the price of tuition, nor is it a loan. And it should not be used to make higher tuition prices seem more reasonable.
But it is one additional form of assistance to help make tuition bills more bearable. For some students, it might mean the ability to buy groceries for a week.
The payment plan requires a $25 registration fee. An additional fee is unwelcome, but the price is reasonable, given the logistics of putting the plan in place. The cost does have to go somewhere, and relative to tuition, $25 is not much.
We now hope the university takes every route to notify students that this is an option for fall. Several e-mails should be sent out via the student listserv as the registration deadlines for fall approach. The first deadline, which permits five payments throughout the semester, is May 31.
The plan also should be mentioned in each packet of financial aid information, and it should be mentioned prominently on the CMU Portal. As of Tuesday afternoon, the plan received only a link toward the middle of the page. As a new, significant item, it warrants bolder placement, perhaps even its own tab at the top.
Further, the university should make explicit in each payment notice that the plan needs to be renewed each semester so that students do not forget. The notice should also include the deadlines for the following semester.
For students, the CMU Payment Plan is a valuable option, and we applaud the university for trying it. We hope its implementation goes smoothly.
