Although students no longer receive paper U-Bills in the mail, ISU treasury officials said they have seen no difference in the amount of unpaid bills in comparison to previous semesters.

Since July 31, 80 percent of ISU’s billing has been paid through online transactions as a result of a new online billing system issued by the treasurer’s office.

The electronic billing process was initiated due to budget cuts and is expected to save the university $100,000 annually.

ISU Treasurer Joan Thompson said having electronic billing made sense for the university.

“We are the university of science and technology — therefore, we need to eliminate paper and put the [payment] process into the hands of students,” Thompson said. “They register online, check their grades online — they should have the option to pay their bills online.”

Students are informed through ISU e-mail accounts when university bill status has been updated on AccessPlus. They may pay bills online through electronic check transfers or print the bottom portion of the page to mail in their payment.

Students who wish to receive university bills in the mail can do so by paying a five dollar fee per semester. This service is available under the third party authorizing option on AccessPlus.

Jessica Clinton, junior in community and regional planning, said she prefers to not pay her bills online.

“I like to see where my check goes,” she said.

Thompson said the university has been more lenient with late payments this semester. Students were given an eight-day grace period to pay their bills before a $20 finance charge was added to their balance, she said.

Clinton Nelsen, sophomore in pre-business, had problems with the new system because he did not check AccessPlus during the summer and found out about his bill two days before it was due. However, he said he did not think receiving a bill in the mail would have made a difference.

“I’m really bad about paying [bills] anyway,” Nelson said.

Brad Dye, assistant treasurer, said the largest amount of complaints the office has received has been from parents of freshmen students.

Parents want to have better access to information regarding their children’s billing information, but because of the Family Education Right of Privacy Act information is only released to parents after students authorize the release of that information, he said.

University officials are working on a solution to this problem, with an option to issue parents a random identification number with a parent PIN, Thompson said.

This option would allow parents to access their children’s AccessPlus information. However, students would have to authorize parental access and would have control over what their parents would be able to view, whether it be grades, U-Bills or class schedules, she said.

“We have been working on this option for quite some time, and hope to have it available by spring semester,” Thompson said.