th Annual PABUG Conference A/R E-Bill Diana Weaver

th Annual PABUG Conference General Announcements: Please turn off all cell phones/pagers If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible Please avoid side conversations during the session Questions will be answered ….. Thank you for your cooperation

th Annual PABUG Conference To receive CPE credits for this session (if eligible), complete the CPE Attendance Form on the PABUG Annual Conference website group-annual-conference/cpe-credits/ or via the PABUG conference app. For additional questions please contact Kim Fremont CPE - Coordinator CPE Credits - We’ve gone electronic!

th Annual PABUG Conference Lehigh University Private Not for Profit University 5,200 UG Billed per Term 1,400 GR Billed per Term 12 employees in the Bursar’s Office

th Annual PABUG Conference Steps Taken Create Committee Research Approval Communication Plan Completion

th Annual PABUG Conference Create Committee Consist of representatives from all areas of the University Create a document to present to all committee members that included – Goals – Participants – Role – Background of the project

th Annual PABUG Conference Sample: Working Group to Plan Reduction of Paper Billing Statements GOAL: Present a plan to Lehigh Senior Management for the reduction/elimination of paper billing statements to students PARTICIPANTS: In addition to various Bursar’s Office Staff, other Departments represented are: Admissions, Dean of Students, Enrollment Management/Provost’s Office, Office of First Year Experience, Financial Aid, Graduate Life, Registrar, Four Colleges, Distance Ed/Summer Sessions, Office of International Affairs, LTS YOUR ROLE: Your primary role on this working group will be to: Provide input in planning program design, timetable, and communications Help to identify potential issues and questions prior to implementation Keep your departments informed as to the progress of this project Provide feedback during the implementation phase Your interaction with students and faculty and your familiarity with University systems and procedures, positions you to identify issues that may be overlooked by Bursar Staff. You are also in a position to keep your Department informed about the project’s progress which will have a significant impact on the success of any plan ultimately approved for implementation. BACKGROUND: The Bursar’s Office generates and mails approximately 34,000 paper billing statements at a cost of $40,000 annually to students. Three years ago Lehigh purchased software from TouchNet Information Systems, Inc. that enables the Bursar’s Office to generate and store an electronic billing statement on a secure server. An notification is sent to each student’s Lehigh address whenever a new electronic billing statement has been generated. Students can log in using their Lehigh User ID and password and view the billing statement. This software also has the feature that enables the student to grant other individuals, such as parents, access to their online billing statements. Those individuals will also receive an notification whenever a new electronic billing statement has been generated for the student. These individuals, referred to as “Authorized Users”, log in using their address as their “ID” and a password that is initially randomly assigned by the software which can be changed by the “Authorized User”. Converting from paper to electronic billing statements is the current trend. While many billing agents “encourage” their customers to voluntarily sign up for electronic billing statements, a majority of our peer institutions in higher education have mandatory electronic billing statements. Currently both paper and electronic billing statements are being generated for Lehigh students.

th Annual PABUG Conference Research List Functional Challenges List Benefits Create a list of Peer Institutions Create questions: – Do they have mandatory ebills? – How many years? – How did they implement ebills? Create follow up questions: – What methods of payment do you take online? – Do you charge a fee for CC usage? – How do you handle sending s to international students? – How do you handle students with no address? Flow chart of when a student obtains a Lehigh Address

th Annual PABUG Conference Proposal Requirements Process that ensures all charges to current and former students are billed in a timely manner Comply with FERPA Functional Challenges: Getting billing statement to the person that actually “pays” the bill. Bills for majority of UG students are paid by parents/guardians. Estimate approx. 50%- 70% of UG students have set up an “Authorized User” to be able to access ebills. Active Address to send ebill – Timeliness of how soon non-traditional UG students assigned account Re-admitted undergraduate students Summer Session only students General College Division students (non-degree seeking) Exchange students – Timeliness of how soon Grad students assigned account Newly admitted Grad students Distance Ed students COE International – Termination of access after withdrawing/graduating (frequently get misc fees from some Depts after students withdraw/graduate) Some Lehigh students, especially part-time Grad and Summer Session only students, don’t read their Lehigh (Bursar’s Office receives returned s because mail box is full.) During “breaks” from attending Lehigh, failure of student to respond to LTS s could result in premature termination of account. Parents who won’t access billing statements either because “computer challenged” or ultra-concerned about computer security. While few, there are still some homes without internet access (domestic or international). Loss of convenience of mailing inserts that enhance collection results (Bursar Pymt Worksheet, return envelope, etc) Benefits: Students still have ability to “print” a paper copy of the bill online Bills for prior months are stored and available to view or print. “Ebills” are “green friendly”. “Ebills” are immediately available for viewing/printing as soon as generated. No delays for folding, inserting, mailing, etc. This feature is especially important for international students. Student still receives bill even if not at home address. Paper copy bills are mailed to the student’s home (HO) address as listed in BANNER. However during most billing cycles the student is not residing at their home (HO) address and therefore do not receive their paper bill. Parent or other 3 rd Party can view or print “ebill” with authorization from student. Once authorized, the parent automatically receives notification whenever an “ebill” has been generated. Multiple parents or guardians can be given access to view or print “ebills”. This is an important convenience for students with divorced parents. Access to the most up to date balance information. By accessing ebills online, students and parents can also see recent activity such as financial aid posted after the monthly ebill statement was generated. “Ebill” is more secure that paper bills. Ebills are password protected. Only the student and individuals the student specifically grants access can view an ebill. Potential saving of $40,000 by eliminating the mailing of paper bills to Students.

th Annual PABUG Conference

th Annual PABUG Conference Approval Present the final report to the senior leaders for approval

th Annual PABUG Conference Communication Plan Get a list of existing communications from everyone on the committee Work with communication department to come up with a plan. – Update Website – Posters – distribute to all departments for posting – Announcements – Signature line of s – Updated message on the ebills – Added a checkbox on our pre-registration survey – BRM – sent an automatic to anyone who registers. – Ad in Lehigh’s Brown and White – Add an item to the checklist for FYS – to all existing students and authorized users through touchnet – Had a table at Earth Day event – Post Cards to home address “to the family of”

th Annual PABUG Conference Completion Create FAQ’s for staff, internal and helpdesk Trained staff to make sure they felt comfortable saying “No” to just print the invoice for me.

th Annual PABUG Conference Open to the Floor Questions Comments

th Annual PABUG Conference Please take time to complete our Conference and Session evaluations. YOUR INPUT MATTERS!!!