On Wednesday, Oct. 25, the Student Senate discussed various topics, one of which is a change in the deadline for student bills. 

This deadline for student bills payment has been moved to January 12. If a balance remains in the student’s account after the deadline, numerous consequences will be realized including dropping the student’s classes for spring semester. 

This change can be especially concerning for students in certain majors. UWL Student Association Vice President Lauren Mason expressed concern for those who are on the pre-medicine and educational tracks.  

“It is scary for us because we want students to graduate on time, we want to keep our students and this is something that could jeopardize that.”  

According to the UWL Cashier’s Office, the deadline for the spring 2017 semester was Feb. 3, nearly a month later than the new deadline.  

The reason for the change as explained to the Student Association is that the Feb. 3 date was not compliant with UW System standards. 

This change could affect what students take in the future and it could be especially hard for students who are on waiting lists. Some students may have waited to take a class they need for their major but are not able to take it due to the student bill deadline changing. 

UWL Student Association President Jacob Schimmel is concerned with how the new deadline could affect first generation students. 

Schimmel stated, “The first thing I think about this is just our first-generation students, and our other students that just aren’t going to have the money by the early deadline.” 

The first-generation students are often the ones who have the least amount of money readily available. The Student Senate priority is to assist these students as much as possible from admission to graduation. 

“We want to make sure students are given every opportunity to succeed while at UWL and this policy seems to jeopardize that,” explained Schimmel. “We plan to work with administration further to find a solution that works for all parties.” 

Senate is working on understanding how this will impact students of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds and majors.