The “purge” may have happened to you or someone you know — urging students to pay their tuition sooner.
The policy, nicknamed “the purge,” was instituted at the beginning of fall semester and makes tuition due weeks sooner than past semesters. If a student hadn’t paid tuition by the deadline, all of their classes were dropped for non-payment. For spring semester, the deadline was Jan. 4, one week before classes began.
Josh Puchlik, a sophomore business administration major from St. George, said he wishes the school sent out more notifications when the deadline drew nearer.
“It’s a busy time of year for many students, and the policy change is still fairly new,” Puchlik said. “I prefer more communication over less when it comes to my finances.”
David Roos, executive director of enrollment management, said one reason administration made the change is because class seats fill up quickly, and they only want students who are serious about attending to have priority. Having students signed up for a class they have no intention of actually attending impacts the university and students negatively in a number of ways, Roos said.
Roos said the purge affected enrollment numbers for fall semester.
Students had three weeks after the start of the semester to pay for classes before the change. Students who were accustomed to having a few weeks to get things in order had to make adjustments, while it has had little impact on newer students, said Dominic Terry, a freshman pre-engineering major from Pomona, California.
Terry said he got a head start on the early deadline.
“I like to get things done early so I don’t have to be in a rush like some people,” Terry said. “It had no effect on me.”
Roos said students have access to what they owe for tuition relatively early, and they should have had time to plan ahead and make arrangements with financial aid, if necessary.
“The deadline would be okay if they communicated better and more often,” Puchlik said. “But they don’t.”
