All students living in residence halls will have to pay for an additional portion of their rent next month because of a Residence Life computer glitch.
Campus residents received an e-mail yesterday explaining the charge that will show up in their Bursar's bill in the near future.
According to the e-mail, Residence Life charged students less for their spring rent when they were billed between Dec. 20 and Jan. 7 because of an error in the housing database.
When students were billed, an incorrect start date for spring semester was used causing one night's rent to be excluded from the bill.
"Given the proximity to the start of the spring semester, the disbursement of financial aid and the continuing registration for classes, we decided, in collaboration with the Bursar's Office, to wait until January 28th to process the accounts," said Pam Obando, associate director of marketing services at Residence Life, in the e-mail that was sent to students.
When the rebilling process occurs tomorrow, students will be charged $10-$20 depending on the residence hall and room type. This fee will show up on the Feb. 14 Bursar's bill, which is due by Mar. 8. A failure to pay this on time will result in a 1.5 percent late fee, as is customary with all late payments.
Tammy Swanson, philosophy junior, appreciates Residence Life's honesty in the matter.
"I don't have a problem with it. I'm glad they are letting us know exactly what is going on."
By waiting until tomorrow, Residence Life is avoiding a conflict with financial aid distribution. The payment date also negates the possibility of a student being dropped from classes due to nonpayment.
Kelly Hegarty, pre-pharmacy and art sophomore, said she was not concerned with the extra fee.
"Its not a big deal; we are paying what we owe either way," she said.
"We apologize for the inconvenience to students. It was just a temporary computer error, and we had a lot of Bursar's factors to work around. Everything will be cleared by Wednesday," Obando said.