One-time note will lessen paperwork

by Rima Thompson
Assistant Editor

The University of La Verne student accounts department recently updated its payment process. Upon registering next year students will sign a master promissory note. The note says students will pay whatever financial debt they have to the school, and this will ideally carry throughout their time at the University.

"Currently students sign a promissory note on the back of every registration," said Lori Gordien, controller. "The master promissory note is a mechanism so that if students are registering online and making payments, potentially they won't have to come into Woody Hall."

The goal of this service is to provide a faster and more convenient way for students to register without having to stand in long lines, Gordien said.

The original driver of the master promissory note is the web registration that will begin later this year, Gordien said.

"There has been a lot of research done, and a tremendous amount of work has gone into this for months and months," she said. "Students have been involved with the testing to make sure that the system can handle (a large) volume of students at one time."

Like the master promissory note, web registration is also a way for the University to relieve some of the stress and inconvenience of serving long lines of students. Students can register, pay bills or setup payment installment plans in the comfort of their homes or at any computer lab on campus.

Students will not be the only ones benefiting from these changes. Instead of policing long lines and the frustration usually attached, office staffers will now be able to focus their attention on processing documents more accurately and timely.

As staffers prepare for the changes, all concerns are being addressed.

Steven Catano, director of student accounts and a driving force behind the web registration, said that in case the system crashes, the Office of Information Technology will have everything on backup.

The hope is that the move on the master promissory note and web registration will be a positive step to a more efficient way of doing things.