University to bill rent to PSU accounts

Rent and other fees associated with housing will be directly billed to students’ university accounts starting March 1, when Portland State assumes control of the on-campus student housing from College Housing Northwest.

Rent will appear on each student’s PSU account alongside tuition and fees when Portland State assumes control of the on-campus buildings. Students previously paid their bill to the College Housing Northwest (CHNW) office in the Broadway Housing Building.

Portland State is ending its contract with CHNW on March 1, after the non-profit housing provider maintained and controlled rent for university housing for almost 40 years.

All current CHNW on-campus residents that made security deposits should have received a rent credit in the amount of the deposit for their January or February payment. Students that have current housing contracts will not be affected by rate changes until the start of fall term 2008.

Auxiliary Services, who handles PSU housing, is working to restructure the billing process to reflect the academic terms and to reduce confusion for student residents. University Housing Services manager Mary Cloos said that the housing contracts will be scheduled to cover an entire term.

“By fall term of 2007, we want all billing for housing to be set per term rather than monthly,” Cloos said.

The on-campus resident halls and dormitories that PSU offers students include the Broadway, Ondine, Blackstone, Stephen-Epler and West Halls, Montgomery, King Albert, Parkway, Saint Helens and Stratford.

The billing shift comes as part of an effort to streamline payments to students’ university account and beginning in March, payments for housing can be conducted via Banweb. Students will still have the option to pay their bill at the cashier’s office in Neuberger Hall or by mail.

The current regulations for housing contracts will stay in place, Cloos said. Chief Housing Officer John Eckman said that students who receive financial aid or make automatic payments will have the payments streamlined through their university account.

Eckman said that he thinks this new system will be easier for students to manage. Students who previously had to make payments to both CHNW and PSU for housing and tuition will now only have to pay to one source. Students that fall behind on their payments would also have fewer debts to worry about, Eckman said, once the new system is implemented.

“In some ways, I think it’s an easier system (because) students will have one debt,” Eckman said. “The only downside is that if someone cannot pay their rent, it will affect their eligibility to register for classes.”

Holds on the university account may occur if students fail to pay rent. Currently, the holds on student registration begin for in-state students once they owe $1,000 and $2,000 for out-of-state.

Debra Brackeen, assistant bursar to accounts receivable, said that PSU has not yet defined the criteria for holds on university accounts for next year. Brackeen said that she expects deliberations for the new holds policy will take place before the end of spring term.

Students who currently live on campus are not going to see immediate consequences from the change. Ondine resident Marcy Zavala, 18, said that she does not feel as though CHNW has affected her experience.

“I think it sounds like it’ll be simpler if PSU handles all the billing,” Zavala said. “If I only have to pay the university, it’ll be much easier than paying one group for tuition and another for housing.”

Zavala said she had no particular opinion about the ResLife program that oversees the resident assistant positions in on-campus housing. ResLife will continue to operate on campus, and current resident assistants will retain their jobs.

CHNW will still have housing buildings on and near campus, though their affiliation with PSU ends at the end of February. Housing Northwest, CHNW’s parent company, will still own such buildings as the Clifton, Palladian and Goose Hollow Plaza and Tower, among others.

Vice President of Housing Northwest Dan Potter said that he expects to sustain a functional relationship with students who seek affordable housing near campus. He said that the procedure to set housing rates will no longer be coordinated with PSU.

“We are not working with PSU to set our rates and fees-we will set our rates for the next academic year independently, probably around the end of February,” Potter said.