A new webpage has been launched to provide Brock students with a one-stop shop for details of their financial history with the institution.
The new page went live Aug. 20 and allows for students to review both a summary and detailed breakdown of their tuition costs, residence fees, financial aid and various payments, as well as scholarships and other grants.
“Before, it was literally just a bank statement that showed all your transactions,” Patti Malton, Manager, Student Financial Services and Accounts Receivable, said of the old format that many students and their families had difficulty navigating. “Now, it shows you for the academic year how much you were or will be charged in spring, summer, fall and winter. It tells you what’s due now, whether past due or due within 30 days, and gives you due dates for upcoming payments.”
Meant to be more user friendly and to aid with budgeting, the new page aims to address many of the common questions received by the University about student financial history. It replaces Brock’s online fee calculator that once allowed students to estimate their costs, as well as the old student financial history page, and is available by logging into my.brocku.ca.
“Your financial history is summarized so you don’t have to sort through 10 pages of details — although it’s also there if you want to,” Malton said of the new format.
The webpage includes information about financial assistance — how much a student is receiving, when it will be dispersed and whether it is being sent to the student or directly to the University — along with links to useful external sites, such as OSAP. Help prompts are also available throughout the page to explain what each segment means.
The page will continue to be fine-tuned as feedback is received.
Malton said the new process will also be beneficial for Brock as it provides real-time assessment data rather than data on a per-term basis. “That means more accurate financial forecasting for the University, which will help Brock to make decisions at an earlier time in the year,” she said.
The project was prompted by Brock’s role as a pilot school in Ontario for net tuition billing, which outlines how much a student is receiving in non-repayable assistance, as well as how much they will be required to pay after that assistance is deducted from tuition costs.
The provincial government is requiring all Ontario colleges and universities to provide net tuition billing beginning in 2018.
