Money @ MIT (The Archives) : 8. About the Bill

The Blog is Dead. Long Live the Blog.

barkowitz — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 23:22:00 GMT

This blog is officially closed and will now only exist as an archive of past posts.

Please visit the new blog at http://daniel.mitblogs.com.

Self Help Redux and an Update

barkowitz — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:32:00 GMT

Hey all!

Sorry for the long delay in posting but life has been crazy for me... Since we last spoke:

I've traveled to Philadelphia for a 568 group meeting. We've started discussing proposed changes and refinements to the methodology we use to determine financial aid (look here for a more detailed discussion of our methodologies) and the meeting was an attempt to try to build consensus of some of these issues.
I've traveled to Fenway for a terrific Red Sox win over the Pirates. My father's day gift was seats at the game on Sunday, and a great game it was! The Red Sox won 8-0. After the game, we got to participate in the annual Father's Day Catch (where they let dads and kids on the field and hand out soft (very soft) balls, which with you can play catch with the kids). It was a BLAST! They even changed the sign on the Green Monster (the scoreboard) to honor fathers (a photo follows - note that I don't know anyone in the photo).
We all have been busy reading, reading, and doing more reading. At this time of year, we are trying to finish reading all currently completed upperclass student files so that you can have a financial aid award prior to the July 10^thbill. At this point, there are still about 200 complete files we are reviewing and we hope to have these decisions out the door in the next two weeks.
Reading and packaging Graduate Students. We have also been working with the application files of Graduate Students and notifying you of your eligibility for loan funding. At this point, we have awarded over 500 Graduate Students with more award packages on the way weekly. (As a point of information, we are adopting an email-only notification policy for Graduate Student award letters -- make sure to open the Word document we send you and print it for your records). A photo of our Graduate process manager, Elizabeth Barnes, in which she expresses joy at this move, follows:
We have been hard at work processing Self-Help forms. At this point, we have processed all of the Self-Help forms we have, assigning you the best programs for term-time work and student loans for which you are eligible. I hope in the rest of this post to expand on what you need to do now for follow-up on these programs.

So, now it is time to turn to the steps you need to take to finalize your loans and term-time work:

If you asked for student loan funding, you were awarded one (or more) of the following three loans: Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, or MIT Subsidized Technology Loan. I will talk about the differences between these programs below, but first let's address what you need to do to take advantage of these programs.

For any of these programs, you must complete an online Entrance Interview. Your Entrance Interview can be completed through WEBSIS by following this navigation path: For StudentsàFinancial RecordàLoan Entrance Interview. All students who plan to take a loan during their academic career must complete a Loan Entrance Interview prior to any funds being disbursed to the student account.
For the Federal Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, you must complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN). Students can access an online version of the MPN here. In order to access your MPN online, you will need your PIN used during your FAFSA application process. Alternatively, you can wait until Loan Signing sessions in the Fall (see below) and sign your MPN in person. Once you sign an MPN, you will no longer need to sign annually; instead, your award letter from us will identify the amount of your new disbursement under this program.
For the Federal Perkins Loan, you will need to sign your Master Promissory Note (MPN) when you arrive on campus in the Fall. We will announce loan signing dates and locations in the Fall. At that time, you will complete an MPN which will allow us to offer you loans under this program in later years without having to resign loan notes each year.
For the MIT Subsidized Technology Loan, you will need to complete a MIT Technology Loan Cosigner Application (these forms are not yet ready, we will send you one once they are complete and ready for distribution). The MIT Tech Loan is a cosigned loan so you will need to have someone serve as your cosigner. Once they have been approved as a cosigner, we will then send your cosigner a Promissory Note for them to complete and send back to us; we will then notify you that you need to come sign the same Promissory Note.

Now for some details on the loans themselves:

The Federal Perkins Loan is a subsidized loan (meaning that no interest accrues on the loan while you are in school) and features a 5.00% fixed interest rate. There are no borrowing fees on the loan. Repayment on the loan begins 9 months after graduation (or when a student withdraws or drops below half-time). The repayment period is 10 years and there is a minimum monthly payment of $40. There are specialized deferment and cancellation provisions which will be identified on the MPN.
The Federal Subsidized or Unsubsidized Stafford Loan is a loan featuring a variable interest rate (capped at 8.25%, and set annually on July 1). The loan will either be subsidized (see definition above) or unsubsidized (meaning that you can either pay the interest while you are in school, or have the interest added to the loan principal you repay). For July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006 the in-school rate for Unsubsidized loans is 4.7% and the repayment rate for all loans in 5.3%. Fees are deducted from the loan you borrow (a 3% origination fee with a 1.5% rebate given back), and repayment begins 6 months after graduation (or withdrawal or less than half-time enrollment). The standard repayment period is 10 years with a minimum monthly payment of $50 (there are other repayment options available). There are deferment and forbearance provisions which will be spelled out in the MPN.
The MIT Subsidized Technology Loan is a subsidized loan. The interest rate is 7% fixed and repayment begins 6 months after graduation, withdrawal, or less than half-time enrollment. There are no borrowing fees, and the standard repayment period is 10 years. The minimum monthly payment is $50.

So let's talk about work:

If you asked for term-time employment, you were awarded one (or both) of two funds, either Federal Work Study or MIT Work. In either case, the majority of terms are the same; the only difference pertains to who pays your wages (either all from MIT or shared between MIT and the Federal Government). I will be providing a much longer post on Student Employment (when it is more timely) and highlighting what you need to do to find a job on campus, but at the present time, I will just briefly discuss several items of which you may want to be aware.

If you want to access the jobs that are currently available, click here. Some jobs for the Fall are already listed, but many employers will add jobs in August knowing at that point what their needs are and that you won't until August be able to apply for the jobs anyway. Think of this as kind of an “online bulletin board” for available positions.
If you were awarded Federal Work Study you may want to consider Community Service as a way to meet your term-time employment. Community Service is only available to Federal Work Study recipients; these jobs are off-campus assignments in the community at large where you can direct your passion for public service into positive use by working in a local non-profit agency and getting paid to do so. Again, much more information on Community Service jobs for 2005-2006 will be available as we get closer to the Fall. (If you didn't receive Federal Work Study but you want to participate in Community Service, you may still be able to if you received a Federal Perkins or Subsidized Stafford Loan. If this is the case, all you need to do is complete a modified Self-Help form, indicating your changed decision as to your Work / Loan distribution, and indicate your interest in participating in Community Service on the form. Make sure to return the form to us and indicate on it that it is a revised form by checking the box at the top.)
Regardless of which program you have, be sure to bring your original documents with you in the Fall to prove your eligibility to work. As you may be aware, before anyone can work in any job, we must prove your eligibility to work by completing an I-9 Form. Part of the I-9 Form, asks us to confirm your citizenship status by examining your actual eligibility documents (such documentation can include your Passport, Social Security Card, Birth Certificate, Driver's License, etc). You must have your original documents with you at MIT at the time you complete the I-9 Form, so be prepared to bring these with you to campus in the Fall.

So much more to discuss, but so little time. I need to get back to reading. Questions? Comments? General feedback?

Sometimes You Get What You Don't Pay For...

barkowitz — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 15:56:00 GMT

What a warm weekend in Boston -- humid, hot and sticky. It's nice that summer has arrived, but I would prefer to have my heat without humidity! This weekend was my choir's end of year performance. We were in a room with no A/C; and I had six or so costume changes (some including a woolen tuxedo and another with a heavy leather jacket). I'm ready for a break in the weather!

One event I happened to miss during my visit to Aspen last week was the annual Dean for Undergraduate Education Infinite Mile Award Reception. The Infinite Mile award is to recognize staff who undertake “outstanding achievements” in their support of students, staff and faculty. Take a look at this year's award winners; you may recognize some of the recipients (especially the three named at the end of the page).

Off to the main purpose of the post: for those of you who may be looking for ways to limit your out-of-pocket expenses, may I suggest you consider “Student House” as an option?

Student House is one of the members of the FSILGs (the Fraternities, Sororities and Independent Living Groups) at MIT. The FSILGs as a group are residence alternatives for upperclass students (Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors) who want to live in an independent residence, but with MIT presence (in the form of a residence-based advisor). While each of the FSILGs represents a great opportunity to form a close-knit, cohesive bond with a group of MIT students, I want to focus this particular post on Student House because of its unique history and its relevance to the work we do in Student Financial Services.

Student House was originally established as a residence for students with financial need. In its organizational structure, it is established as a cooperative residence; students do work (light cleaning, cooking, etc) during the semester in exchange for a significantly reduced living expense. There are about 30 students who live in the residence, both men and women, and the student rooms vary from singles to doubles to triples.

So, financially, what is the benefit? Since your monthly rate to Student House (at least for 2004-2005) is about $350 a month, and that figure includes room and board (dinner every day, lunch and breakfast available for you to take with you, combined shopping list for food), by living at Student House you wind up reducing your out of pocket expenses by about $5500 (coincidentally the amount of the student self-help award). Since we don't reduce your financial aid budget if you live in less expensive housing, you can certainly save the cost of your annual self-help by living at Student House.

If you are interested, you certainly do need to be willing to be an active participant in the maintenance of the house, but in this case, if that appeals to you, you can certainly get what you don't pay for. Rush will occur during the Fall of your Freshman year, although Student House is pretty flexible about Rush (I think they even still have a very small number of vacancies for this Fall for current upperclass students who may be interested).

Do any current or former residents of Student House want to comment on their perspective on Student House? Any comments about other FSILG residences?

Waive and Cosign (or is it Wave and Cosine)?

barkowitz — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 16:07:00 GMT

Hey all! Several items of update.

First off, I am back in Cambridge, having arrived during an eventful Wednesday evening thunderstorm. It was great to be in Aspen, but it is even greater to be home. The presentation in Aspen was a great success, and I even did a live demo of the blog highlighting some of your comments. I'll be doing another presentation on the blog to a different audience in the beginning of July (I'll post an update on that as we get closer).

So, to the message.

Waive: I have been receiving many questions about when you can start to provide health insurance waivers for the Fall. I called over to MIT Medical and was informed that the online waiver process will begin no later than July 11. As you all are aware, I'm sure, MITPAY statements will be produced by July 8 (the last workday before the 10th of the month), so you will all see health insurance charges listed on your bill. Once you waive the charges (by filling out the online waiver), you should deduct the amount of the health insurance from the bill you owe by August 1. Remember that you only need to waive the health insurance annually (based on what you choose), so once you have done this for the Fall, you should be able to see the credit on your account (using WEBSIS) and not need to submit a waiver for the Spring.
Cosign: In the next several days we will begin processing self-help forms for domestic freshmen and all upperclass students. As part of the process this year, we will be awarding (depending upon your eligibility for these programs) one or more of the following loans (in this priority order): Federal Subsidized Perkins Loan, Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan, Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, and/or a subsidized MIT Technology Loan. If you request work funds, we will award (again in the following order and based upon your eligibility) one or both of these programs: Federal Work Study, MIT Work Study. The MIT Technology Loan does require a cosigner and the terms have been changed since the publication of Making MIT Affordable. The MIT Technology Loan now features a 7% subsidized interest rate for the life of the repayment period, and standard deferment and forbearance provisions (all of which will be in the promissory note you receive when you sign for the loan). You and your cosigner will need to sign an application for the MIT Technology loan (they are not available at the present time). We will send you an application in a separate mailing.

Well, it is nice to be back. Much more news to come in the next few days.

Rising Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors -- Your Award Letters are in the Mail

barkowitz — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 20:27:00 GMT

Well as one year ends, another begins...

Today we are sending out nearly 1200 upperclass student award letters. This is the first round of award letters for upperclass domestic students for 2005-2006 (we started sending international upperclass student award letters several weeks agi). This mailing (with some small exceptions) will include everyone who completed by our priority deadline of April 15, 2005 (and will include many of you who completed through April 29, 2005).

Enclosed with this mailing will be one or both of the following forms (depending on your eligibility for them):

The Self Help and Outside Award Reply Form (upperclass student version) -- On this form you identify to us how you want us to break out your self help into work and/or loans. Additionally, on this form you identify any outside scholarships of which we may not be aware. Please note that if you received an outside scholarship last year and told us it was a renewable scholarship, it will be included in your financial aid award letter and will have already been subtracted from your Self Help. If our information is in error please note that on your form when you return it to us.
The Student Information Review Form (upperclass student version) -- This form assists us in matching your MIT Scholarship with a “named” donor fund. Your completion of this form is crucial as it ensures that we are able to offer need-based scholarship funding while meeting expressed donor preferences.

Both forms are due back to our office no later than July 1, 2005, although you are encouraged to send them sooner. Remember that the first bill for the Fall semester will be produced on July 10, 2005 and only by submitting these forms and having us process them will your aid be present on the bill.

For those of you who are not in this first round of award letters because you completed after our priority deadline, we will continue to read and send award letters on a weekly schedule for the next several weeks (at least until the first bill is produced and mailed). At this point, we have another approximately 500 files completed pending a financial aid officer's review. This includes all of you who completed your applications through today.

For those of you who are stll not complete, you need to immediately take any necessary steps to complete your file. We would like to get all upperclass awarding done in the next month so that we can turn our attention to helping you with the next part of this process, and that is:

Processing of your Self-Help and Information Review forms -- Beginning in the next several weeks, we will begin to process submitted self help forms, removing the “Self Help Award” from your award letter, determining (based on your expressed preferences and your eligibility) from which loan and work programs you may receive funding, and providing detailed instructions on how to do what is necessary to receive this funding. These letters should start to be sent in the next two to three weeks (Freshmen and Upperclass). Keep an eye on the blog for an update!

If you want a sneak peek at your financial aid award, take a look at WEBSIS as of Monday morning. By then, our update program will have run providing you an online view of your 2005-06 award letter.

In the meantime, here is a closing shot of our upperclass student project leader, Jason Shumaker, expressing his joy at the fact that the letters are on their way out the door!

Welcome to the e-bill.

barkowitz — Tue, 17 May 2005 18:30:00 GMT

It's time to talk about the bill.

A couple of definitions to keep in mind first:

MITPAY - MITPAY is our online billing presentment and payment system. Through MITPAY, you will receive your most recent bill, be able to make online payments using the ACH-Clearinghouse system (automated withdrawals from your checking account), print a paper copy of the bill to attach to a paper check to send in for payment, and view past bills. MITPAY access is limited to students and authorized payers (see below for a definition of authorized payers).

WEBSIS - WEBSIS is the online access to the Student Information System. WEBSIS access is limited to the student using their Kerberos certificate. WEBSIS information available includes a current view of the student account, financial aid forms, student loan information, student loan entrance and exit counseling, and registrarial and academic information.

Authorized Payers - Students will need to set up parents and other appropriate parties as authorized users for them to be able to view, pay, and -- if necessary -- print the bill.

Keep in mind that the bill is an ebill; we do not present a paper bill to you. Let's talk about how this works.

Once a month (generally on the 10th, or the last workday before the 10th) we prepare an ebill which summarizes all charges and payments since the last bill was presented. This bill is entered into your MITPAY account, and you can view, print, and pay the bill from MITPAY. Bills are due by the 1st of the following month.

Whenever you like, you can view current account activity by looking at your WEBSIS account. Remember that there is only one day a month when your WEBSIS and MITPAY accounts will agree; when the bill is produced. The relationship between the two is kind of like your checkbook register and your bank statement; your bank statement will be accurate as of the date it is printed, the checkbook register (assuming you keep it up to date) will be as of the date you look at it.

Fall charges will not be posted to your account until just before the July 10 bill. Therefore, payment will be due for Fall charges as of August 1, 2005. Your Fall bill will also include financial aid pending credits (assuming you have completed all necessary paperwork), and will be net the difference. Your July bill will only be for tuition, fees, health insurance (if you haven't already waived it), and an average housing charge (this amount will change when the final residence is determined). Once you establish a meal plan or take Tech Cash, these amounts will be listed on future bills.

So you don't really need to worry about the bill until July. I would make sure you have a plan in place to cover the Expected Family Contribution (whether by paying direct payments to the bill, making sure your alternative loans are in place to cover your balance, and/or setting up an MIT Monthly Payment Plan).

But very important, and something you need to do right now is to set up an Authorized Payer. If you (and by this “you” I mean “you, the student”) are not going to be the one paying the bill on a monthly basis, you need to be sure that your parents (or whoever will be paying the bill) are set up in MITPAY. You do this by logging in to your WEBSIS account and, using your Kerberos certificate, accessing the MITPAY link. (Also note: if your bill will be paid by an outside agency [sponsor], then please keep in mind you will not be able to set them up as an authorized payer, instead you will need to contact your Student Account Representative to set up the direct billing of the sponsor).

Once you have done this, you can add an Authorized Payer. You will need to specify the email of the person you are adding as well as creating a user name and a password. After creating an authorized payer, an email will be sent to the person you create asking them to log in and change their password. They then will be ready to access your student account bills and make payments to these bills.

Do this now, before you forget, and make sure to do it... When the July 10th bill is ready, we will send an email reminder to all of you, but do it today. Make sure to share the temporary password you assign with the person you create (or else they will not be able to log in).

Also remember that new bills will be posted on the 10th of every month (and due on the 1st of the next month).

More to come on this I am sure. Let me know if you have any questions on this that I can answer.

Also, my sincere thanks to Anthony who served as a Guinea pig today during testing of this functionality for new students. For a brief moment, I was his authorized payer. How cool to have the Director of Financial Aid as your authorized payer (even though it was only for a brief 5 minutes)! I didn't try to pay his bill though, I must admit...

Whose education is it anyway?

barkowitz — Fri, 13 May 2005 19:04:00 GMT

Several updates before I begin the main thread of today's post.

First: Today I created two mailing lists. The first is moneyman (or moneyman(at)mit(dot)edu) and the second is barkowitz (or barkowitz(at)mit(dot)edu). Don't know why it took me so long to realize that I could create a mailing list with one member and by default it would serve as an alias for me with email (must be my extremely slow-headedness this time of year), but this serves several awesome purposes. It allows me to have a way for people to respond to me from the blog (use moneyman if you want to) and allows me a way to deal with those people who like to refer to me as Mr. Barkowit (leaving off the “z”) since my email address at MIT only has eight letters. So, anyway, next time you need to reach me try one of these out.

Second. Ben told me today that I broke his RSS portal. I guess my creative use of images in my page header is wreaking havoc with his new portlet. So, in the interest of being a global citizen, I am moving the Money @ MIT image off the header of the page. (Oh goodie, even more stuff to clutter the side of my page.) So, Ben, this jpg's for you!

And now on to the point of the post!

I know many of you have asked me to talk about the online billing process we use here at MIT (a process also known by its name, MITPAY). But before I can do that, we need to speak for a moment about the topic of “whose education is it anyway?”

Much of what we do at MIT operates under the principle of student privacy and student responsibility. The MIT education is the student's education, and so are all of the associated responsibilities and priveledges. This is not to say that parents, spouses, family, friends, are not important partners in securing an MIT education, but the education is not theirs.

By that same token, the records that pertain to that education belong to no one else but the student (and, of course, MIT). So grades, course notifications, financial aid statements, medical information, and bills are all sent to the student. Correspondence about the student's education is addressed to the student (even information about the financial aid award), since this is in keeping with this policy.

Now, before those of you reading this who are parents begin to think you aren't important, let me assure you -- you are! But MIT's privacy policy clearly states that the records pertaining to your son or daughter's education belong to them; not to you, to them (see here for the MIT policy as written).

While our policy is explicit, it is actually in keeping with the Federal policy on privacy as well, the so called “FERPA” Law (Federal Educational Right to Privacy Act). FERPA provides for the same level of privacy as pertains to student records, going so far as to require student release before any information can be shared about a student. FERPA is the same law that allows parents whose children are in high school or elementary school access to these educational records, but recognizes that when a child reaches eighteen or begins to attend college that parental rights to the information cease.

So what does this mean to you and the bill? Well, if you haven't gotten here (logically) already, you won't be surprised to find out that the bill is the student's bill, not a parent bill. Therefore, students receive bills from us. Parents, who -- let's be serious -- we all know pay the bill, can get access to the bill, but only if their students authorize it. The particulars of why and how I will save for my next post.

Of course, I also need to say that just because you have a right to privacy, this doesn't mean you give up the need and/or right to ask for help when you need it. MIT has many support offices and procedures to make sure that students get the guidance and help they need when (and if) they fall into any difficulties.

For the moment, though, I am curious to see your feedback on the privacy policy. What do you think about it? Does it err too much on the side of protecting a student's privacy? Is this a difficult transition for you parents reading this to make? For you students, do you think this is too much control over your own fate?