Every semester the Faculty is relied on to submit their attendance rosters to Records & Registration after the 4th week of classes. For the Fall 2007 semester, the attendance rosters for full term courses must be submitted to Records & Registration by October, 2 2007.
The College has recently been experiencing delays in the submission of attendance as numerous rosters have been submitted days, weeks and even months past the due date. This may be due to a number of reasons including the use of a new computer system. While the delays in the past may be understandable at times, it is very important that you know why we must have these rosters on time. An accurate census at this point in the semester is critical when planning revenues and related expenses throughout the year. Even more importantly, the College is at great risk of losing money due to late attendance reporting as further explained below.
Financial Aid (FA) is systematically awarded approximately 10-14 days following the attendance reporting due date and approximately 55% of our students receive FA every semester. However, students must attend classes in order to be eligible for FA and your attendance data is used by the Financial Aid Office to determine aid eligibility. When a student is dropped from even one class for non-attendance after FA is awarded, there is a good possibility that they will no longer qualify for the aid already received. If the student is no longer eligible then the College, not the student, is responsible to pay the aid back to the government; the College will then bill the student for any aid that was paid back.
Unfortunately, last spring offers many examples of what can go wrong when attendance is reported late. Since FA packages (loans included) can far exceed tuition and fees, some students owe the College more than $5,000 for just the spring semester which is extremely difficult to collect. It is estimated that over $250,000 in FA was reversed this past year due to late attendance reporting which was paid back to the government and billed to the students. In many cases, these students will be sent to an outside collection agency and prevented from future enrollment until their balance is paid in full. Past experience proves collection of these types of balances very unlikely.
If attendance is reported to Records & Registration after the due date, there is a high probability that the FA eligibility of a student in your class will be affected. Not only does this cost the college money, it also negatively impacts future enrollment. The timeliness of the attendance reporting is critical so please remember to report on time.
Please contact Betsy Ripton in the Records & Registration office at extension 2243 should you have any questions about the attendance reporting process.
Michael Quinn
Controller
09/28/2007 |