University students could be left with $2 charges on their student accounts without notification after the HOPE Scholarship has been applied.

Morgan Catalina, a senior from Alpharetta, said she had to pay a $50 late fee for a $2 charge she was not notified about.

“The HOPE check came like it normally does and I usually don’t have to do anything after that, but I looked on my student account and found a $2 charge and was unaware of it,” said Catalina.

She was then popped with a $50 late fee on her student account due to not paying the $2 charge on the claimed due date.

“HOPE doesn’t cover $2 of the students’ [expenses],” said Shannon Lay, department manager of Student Accounts.

HOPE covers tuition and fees, and students are given a book allowance of $75 if they are registered for five or less credit hours or $150 if registered for six or more hours.

“Some students give us permission to apply [their] book allowances to [cover] what HOPE doesn’t cover,” Lay said. “After the book allowance is applied, there is a $2 charge left.”

“HOPE has caps on its student fees that are at the 2003-2004 rates,” said Bursar Lisa McCleary, which leaves the excess $2 uncovered.

In the 2003-2004 school year, student fees totaled to $435. This year, student fees were increased by $152. After a book allowance of $150 is applied to one’s student account, the student is left with the $2 charge, McCleary said.

If students fail to pay the $2 charge – or any charge for that matter – they are assessed a $50 charge in addition to the current charge. When Catalina approached the Student Account office to confront them about the charge, the fee was waived.

She was granted one of three waivers offered to each student by the Bursar’s Division of the University.

“I think to make things more fair the University should send an e-mail informing students of the [charge],” she said. “I think they should make it more known about the three fee waivers in your career at UGA. Apparently people don’t know about them.”

If students fail to pay the $50 charge after the end of the drop/add period, the late fee increases to $100.

If the charge is not paid by the due date, students’ schedules will be cancelled.

To have your schedule reinstated, charges must be paid in full, in addition to a $150 reinstatement fee.

The Bursar’s Division holds sessions at summer orientations – including undergraduates, transfers and graduates – to inform students about the student account system and how it works, McCleary said.

“It is very difficult to give you a break down of exactly what happens because each and every student has something different going on with their account,” she said. “The basic information that needs to get to students is that they will receive e-mails when there is activity on their account.”

McCleary suggests that students check their account activity and determine what transaction has occurred and take action by the due date of the charge.

“Only a small percentage of students were impacted because students received more than the HOPE Scholarship and tuition and fees are not all that flow through the student account system.”

Fall semester was the first term the fees exceeded HOPE scholarship award amount for students, McCleary said.