Paris blocks 320 students on financial hold

With just two days left to add classes, many students are scrambling to call PARIS and finalize their spring semester schedules. But hundreds of students have yet to enroll in a single course for the spring term – because PARIS won't let them. As of last week, about 320 students who still remained on financial hold since October could not register for classes through PARIS, Associate Vice President for Finance Frank Claus said last night. These students' predicament is the result of a move by Student Financial Services to address the problem of students amassing large, overdue bills, often totalling thousands of dollars each. In October, the University placed an estimated 2,305 students with balances exceeding $1,000 on financial hold. Since then, more than 2,000 have been taken off hold, Claus said, adding that no additional students have been barred. Students who found they could not register for spring term courses consulted with Student Financial Services almost immediately to take the action necessary to remove the hold. "The University has received close to $5 million from students so far, and I hope that's a conservative amount," Claus said. "This was one way to get their attention," he added. "We had thousands of students a week coming in to get help with their accounts." Of those students still on hold, Claus said he thinks most are graduate students, since they usually register later than undergraduates. But as the struggle to make payments to the University continues, soon students may have to go through the whole process again. As early as next month, Student Financial Services will again be gearing up to flag students with outstanding balances over $1,000. This time, students on financial hold will be denied access to fall term advanced registration, which begins in late March. In addition to not being able to register, these students will not be able to receive transcripts or receive degrees until they pay their bills or work out payment plans with Student Financial Services. Claus said he hopes students will act earlier this semester, keeping the numbers placed on financial hold this spring at a minimum. "Right now, the ball is in the students' court," he said.