Finance charges: unjust student expenses

When I received my financial aid offer from CSB+SJU, I was thrilled.

It was the first offer that made higher education truly affordable for me, and I know this is the case for many of my peers.

My parents were not able to start a college fund or save money for my education.

And I did not want to be in debt for the rest of my life, taking out loans that would follow me for most of my adulthood.

I knew I wanted to continue my education after my undergraduate studies, with the goal of attending law school next.

But I had been working long hours at our local meat market since I was 15, and I felt that between the offer I received and the money I had saved, I could successfully graduate with little or no debt.

Before fully committing, I met with a financial aid advisor at CSB, and we walked through the offer and totaled up my outside scholarships.

I was offered work study hours, which were part of my financial aid offer.

It was a great deal, and I fully committed to start fall of 2023.

In August, I got the email alerting me of the first charges to my student account, and the deadline to pay before the semester started.

I met again with my financial advisor, confused about the finance charges I would face if I did not pay the full amount before the semester started.

When we calculated my financial aid award for the semester, we included my work study and outside scholarships.

I had a work study job that I would be starting as soon as the school year began, but I would get my work study award in a bi-weekly addition which would go straight to my student account.

As for the outside scholarships, I had earned them but had no control over when the organizations gave me the checks.

Some of them came addressed to me, some to the school, some I had to pick up in-person, some came in the mail.

I was perplexed at how I was supposed to pay before the semester started, when I was not able access the work study award until I worked the hours and had no control over the outside scholarships.

In the meantime, I was looking at large finance charges every month to my student account, which I had not budgeted for at all.

My financial aid advisor explained this was part of the new system, and while she could see about getting some of the fees waived, I would just have to accept them.

I could avoid them by paying the full amount before the semester started, but how was I supposed to pay with my work study award when I couldn’t start working until the semester started?

I was offered and I accepted a work study award as part of my financial aid package but would be penalized for not paying on time when I had no access to the money until I started working.

Over the past four semesters, I have paid a total of $120 in finance charges to CSB+SJU.

While this number may seem miniscule to a school with millions of dollars in endowments, that is almost a full two weeks of work study paycheck for me.

And I am only halfway done with my degree at CSB+SJU.

Let me offer some more context. I am a white, English as a first language, educated woman with a family who has a long history with CSB+SJU. I grew up down the road from St. John’s, I am an active member of St. John the Baptist Parish, my parents attended CSB+SJU, my grandfather worked on the stained glass at the Abbey and was a graduate, our house was built with the bricks from the quad, my great-great aunt was a sister at CSB and my grandmother was a nurse at SJU.

I may not come from a large financial background, but I am forever intertwined with the school due to my family and community history.

I am speaking out against the unjust finance charges that the school imposes on students not only because they affect me, but because I can only imagine how someone from a different background has been affected by them.

I have the support of my family, my race, my department and my supervisor in navigating these systems. Not everyone is that privileged.

But I don’t believe in identifying problems without offering solutions. Without a solution, there will never be any change.

I know students like myself would be more than happy to sign a contract with student accounts at the start of the semester promising to work their full hours and have my full bill paid by the end of the semester.

I would be happy to make a presentation detailing my history of paying on time and in full, working my full hours and using all of my work study money to pay for my tuition.

CSB+SJU messages an individualized, liberal arts learning experience.

There is no reason financial aid should be one-size-fits-all.

As the cost of college tuition rises across the country, it is more important than ever for schools to be transparent about financial aid. I know the school is struggling with enrollment.

Maybe more students would be inclined to choose or continue at CSB+SJU if the financial aid and student accounts departments were more transparent.

Had I known about these charges, or what my financial aid award really meant, I may have chosen a different school.

I have approached student accounts about the finance charges, and the response that I received was to take out more loans.

That is not a solution.

There is no reason that I should take out loans to pay for my semester up front to avoid finance charges, when it will be covered through my work study hours.

It is the easy response to make up excuses for why the system can’t be replaced or tell young adults with the rest of their lives ahead of them to sign onto more loans just because you had to.

Change is never convenient. But it is necessary.