The Biola University accounting department will be installing new payment plan options for all Biola students beginning in the fall of 2014 in hope of making tuition more affordable.

The new plans, which range from one full payment to four individual payments, spread from July to October, will offer students more time and flexibility when it comes to paying tuition. Each payment plan will include an enrollment fee and any late payments will be charged a 1.75 percent monthly rate, according to university bursar Ketha Boespflug.

Payment plans over several months have been growing in popularity at many university campuses, according to Boespflug. It would be more affordable to pay overtime instead of one lump sum.

“The down payment amount is dropping by 10 percent. We have moved from using finance charges to a payment plan fee. Parents and students prefer that because it is a known amount they can budget for,” Boespflug said.

NEW PLAN, MORE TIME

Biola’s accounting department has created a fresh plan in hopes that students will have more time to make the payments, according to Gwen Schwartz, collection specialist.

“The accounting department is hopeful that these new options will allow students time to plan to make the payments,” Schwartz said. “As we looked at these options we thought it would beneficial for students and parents to determine what their payments were going to be.”

Input from parents and students inspired the changes made to the payment plans, said vice president of business and financial affairs Michael Pierce. There was a large amount of research put into creating a new payment plan, which involved interviewing students, faculty and alumni.

“It was really all driven from complaints and concerns from parents and students on how the payment plans were structured … we did a lot of research to find the best way to meet the needs of the students and the university,” Pierce said.

MORE BENEFITS

While students think that these new plans seem to have setbacks and could add on work for the accounting department, they believe the plans will bring many benefits.

“Even though you are still paying a large amount overall, it makes it more feasible when you can make multiple payments,” said sophomore business major Stephanie DePauw.

The efforts made by the university to help make college more affordable for students have not gone unnoticed.

“Biola is trying to accommodate different students … I think it will help many people and will probably be very beneficial,” said senior Christian ministries major Brooke Weakley.

Biola has been working to provide more options to make college more affordable, hopefully allowing more students to be able to attend and preventing current students from having to leave due to lack of finances, according to Pierce.

“There is a concerted effort … to make a Biola education more available to students. The payment plan is one of many things we are doing to address college affordability,” Pierce said.