Some SIUC students will have to dig deep to pay their debt if they want to enroll in classes in spring.

The Bursar’s office announced last semester it would revert to a former policy on registration holds for past-due balances, and students with a Bursar balance of more than $200 will not be able to enroll. The new policy was enacted Oct. 1, and some are finally starting to feel the effects as registration draws near. 

“There are a lot of students who have negative feelings towards this new $200 policy,” said Michael Smith, a junior from Chicago studying political science.

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Smith started a Change.org petition last week asking Interim Chancellor William Bradley Colwell to raise the threshold back to $1,000 for registration holds. Nearly 400 people have already signed, including SIUC Student Trustee Allen Shelton. 

“As the student trustee, my job is to cater to the student needs … if [the policy] could be a hindrance to their registration, it’s something that needs to be addressed,” Shelton said. 

Multiple signees have commented on the site, some claiming to be students who will not be able to attend next semester if the limit is not increased. The change in policy will impact minority students the most, Smith said, as they already show disproportionately low retention rates in higher education.   

University spokesperson Rae Goldsmith said the threshold was initially increased to $1,000 a few years ago in effort to help student retention, but the university has noticed the opposite effect.

“We had more students digging into holes that they couldn’t get out of to stay in school,” Goldsmith said.

Since the increase in Bursar limit, the university had seen more students writing off bad debt, something Goldsmith said is bad for both the university and students. The $200 limit is tied to federal financial aid guidelines on past-due charges and reflects the policies of many other Illinois colleges and universities, she said.

“We knew that it would be tough and we did what we could to give students as much advance notice as possible, but our real goal is to help students be financially sound,” she said.

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Goldsmith said the university encourages students who are experiencing financial difficulties to visit the financial aid office to explore options. In regard to the petition, Goldsmith said students are encouraged to express their opinions and the matter will be addressed when the university receives the petition. 

While Smith accepts the university’s position on reducing student debt, he said the new limit is unreasonable given the financial straits some students are in.

“It was hard enough going to school when you were working off paying that Bursar bill to under $1,000, but now students are going to have holds put on their account and they won’t be able to register for their next semester,” Smith said.

Bill Lukitsch can be reached at [email protected]