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S P The
Serving Southern Miss since 1927
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Volume 94, Issue 1
Student loan refunds go gold this spring Meryl Dakin Printz Writer
Students will receive refunds in a new, extensively more efficient way this spring. Southern Miss has partnered with Higher One, a company that provides colleges with a more streamlined approach to refund distribution. In the past, students have received checks for the remainder of their unused scholarships. Like many students, sophomore West McKellar, religion major from Hattiesburg, said he found problems with this method of refund disbursement. “Although the leftover money is calculated almost immediately at the beginning of the semester, I have personally never seen the check until weeks and sometimes months later,” he said. Kaycie Hall, junior English
major from Jackson, agrees that the process of receiving refund money in recent years has been problematic at best. “One semester I received only a portion of the money,” she said. “I didn’t see the rest until weeks and many trips to the Business Office later.” On its website, Higher One explains how it handles thousands of student refund cases to diminish the difficulty of that process for a university. First, the university identifies which students are eligible for a refund and the amount of each refund. Then USM will send a file to Higher One with an identifier for the student and the amount of the disbursement. USM wires Higher One the money, and Higher One distributes each refund to the students. The company also handles all exceptions and customer service. Chris Cook, assistant bursar at USM Business Services,
said that they have been working on implementing this new program for two years. “We got requests from students for more options when it came to receiving refund money,” he said. “This method will cut down on costs and time.” Cook added that because of the new options, the strain on university administration to print checks, mail them, and deal with delays and wrong addresses will be eliminated. For the students, the process is even simpler: the same day Southern Miss releases the disbursement amounts, Higher One will mail a card to the student. Cook explained that these cards are the “keys” to the refund money. Upon receiving them, students will be presented with three options: check, direct deposit or debit. “Students will see checks in about five to 10 days, direct deposit in 2 to 3 days, and
Custom textbooks hinder buybacks At the turn of each semester, college students face the familiar errand of purchasing costly textbooks. Southern Miss officials, faculty and managers of the campus Barnes and Noble bookstore are looking for ways to keep cash in students’ pockets. University administrators recently increased the credit limit for students to purchase textbooks on their student accounts to $900. Barnes and Noble General Manager Kathy Haymen said a student can use up to $900 of that credit to purchase textbooks, but only $150 for general merchandise, and $200 for supplies. Students can return textbooks purchased for the spring semester for a full refund before Jan. 20 if they present receipts. By comparing the prices of textbooks sold on campus, near campus and online, one can see that the Barnes and Noble prices are, typically, slightly higher than the alternatives. But Haymen said her store would match the price of any “brick and mortar” bookseller as long as the price can be verified. Provost Robert Lyman said that part of the higher cost could be attributed to convenience, since the store is located on campus, and textbooks can be charged to student accounts. Another possible contributor to the higher prices, Lyman said, are custom textbooks required for certain courses. “In most cases, customized textbooks are just maybe a buck or more than non-customized texts, and that doesn’t seem to be the real problem,” Lyman said. “The inability to sell them back, I think, is probably the largest problem.”
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David Jackson/Printz Junior nursing majors Willetta Thompson, Myranda Jackson, and Renae Berry check their mail in the Hub.
the key card can be activated as a debit card within 2 to 3 hours,” Cook said. The debit cards are accepted anywhere MasterCard is taken. In order to accommodate students who want to receive cash quickly from the refund money, Cook said that three
automated teller marchines are being installed on the Hattiesburg campus so that students won’t have pay ATM fees to another bank. Cook said that over 200 universities are already participating in the new method of loan refund reimbursement.
Jason Tomlinson, vice president of finance and administration at the University of Louisville, described the energy saved by switching to the new program. He said the decision to sign with Higher One “was a push from the Bursar’s Office really, but it came out of both the desire to become more efficient as well as to accommodate student requests for electronic methods of collecting their refunds.” Now, with Higher One handling every step, students receive their money faster and the problem of tying up Louisville’s administration with the check refund system is fixed, a situation USM’s students and faculty may see this semester as well. Cook added that USM is one of the first colleges in Mississippi to make the switch to Higher One.
Lesley Walters News Editor
Lyman addressed this problem to the faculty senate in November, when Haymen came to speak on behalf of Barnes and Noble. Both encouraged faculty members to exhaust all other alternatives before “adopting” texts that were ineligible for sell-back. During the meeting, Lyman described the issue of custom textbooks as “a festering wound that would not heal.” According to meeting minutes, Lyman explained that, “Departments use them at USM to package sets of articles or chapters from various venues; not to make a profit.” Haymen agreed that some of the customized texts that Barnes and Noble -- as well as other booksellers -- cannot buy back are necessary for many courses, in which case, there is nothing wrong with adopting those texts. Haymen said Barnes and Noble gave nearly $600,000 in cash back to Southern Miss students before Winter Break, but that number has been steadily in decline over the past few years because of package-deals and customized texts. “That’s just money that doesn’t go back into the pockets of students,” she said. Barnes and Noble will reimburse 50 percent of a textbook’s cost to students at the end of each semester when they are returned. Students can return the textbooks purchased for this semester by Jan. 20 for their full price if they present a receipt. “It’s a market-driven process,” Lyman said, “and I can understand that [Barnes and Noble] would want to buy back books that they can then re-sell.” David Jackson/Printz Cherilyn Collins, a freshman biology major, searches the book store for her required reading. See page 3 for more on textbook prices.
Bike theft a problem during break Andie Szabo Printz Writer
Several bikes were stolen from Hillcrest Residence Hall during Winter Break. Students returned from break to find broken chains on the bike stands where their bicycles had once been. Haley Massey, a sophomore English major from Brandon, was one of several students who discovered her bike was missing. “I definitely plan on going to student government about a more efficient security system, about security cameras around the dorms or more isolated ar-
eas,” she said. “These kinds of things shouldn’t be happening on campus.” Lieutenant Dickinson of the University Police Department offered advice to prevent future bike theft on campus. The chain on the bike may also be important. He advises buying a metal U-bolt bike lock instead of the traditional chain. If your bike is worth enough money, it might be wise to invest in an expensive chain that cannot be as easily broken. “In our experience, bikes are usually stolen during a break by non-students,” he said. He added that during holiday breaks, it is a good idea
for students to find a place to store their bikes, like in a dorm room or at home. Another victim of bicycle
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it in my room,” she said. “I drive a VW Beetle; I couldn’t exactly bring it home.” Dickinson urged students
I definitely plan on going to student government about a more efficient security system, about security cameras around the dorms or more isolated areas
theft, Tamara Doyle, a sophomore forensic science major from Biloxi said it was “physically impossible” to bring her bike home during the break. “I thought there was going to be security and that it wouldn’t be necessary to put
’’
-Haley Massey, sophomore
to write down a bike’s serial number and keep a record of it in case the bike is stolen. Bikes that are found on campus and turned in are kept for 90 days before they are discarded. The Department of Parking Management provides bike
permits for $10 that remain valid as long as one is enrolled at Southern Miss. To apply for a permit, one must provide the serial number, color, make, and model of the bike. The benefit of the parking permit is that if a bike is stolen, Parking Management will have a record of the serial number that they can report to police. Officials agree that once a bike is stolen, recovering the bike can prove difficult. The important thing is prevention. Keeping track of a bike’s serial number is the only way the police can identify a stolen bike.