By Nicole Parry
Staff writer

Students can now pay their tuition bills online anytime: day or night.

This new application on Eagles Nest was put into effect on July 31. With this process in effect, students will no longer need to stand in line at the financial office to pay a simple bill — they can open their laptops and easily get online. It saves the students time and it helps out the financial aid office.

To get to this application is simple and easy; students will need to log in on Web Advisor (http://solomon.cornerstone.edu) and click on “Students.” There will be three options in the lower right corner: “Make a Payment,” “Account Statement” and “Bank Information (U.S.).”

The balance on “Make a Payment” may not be accurate as they are still working out the minor bugs in the system, students should rely on the “Account Statement” for their current balance. MasterCard credit/debit, Discover Card, American Express card, and electronics checks are all acceptable ways of payment. A 2.5% service charge will be applied to any and all credit card payments made online. If a student wishes to use the electronic check option, they will need to enter their bank information, but no fee is applied to the charge.

“Currently this program is outsourced to another company, FACTS,” said Scott Stewart, controller and director of student financial services. “I have the desire to bring the program in house which might be possible in the next year or two.”

Bringing the program in house would mean students, when getting online to pay their bills, wouldn’t have fees from the company FACTS to use their system. All the students’ money would go directly to the student’s tuition bill.

“I want to make the process as easy as possible for students,” Stewart said. This process was Stewart’s idea. “I wanted to do it for a few years” Stewart got the idea from going to seminars and conferences and seeing other schools using the online tuition paying program.

The resources to put this program into action came to Cornerstone University in fall 2008. The school has been working on the program since then.

“This program makes it easier for students to see what they owe,” says Sally VanHorn, “[and] students are getting more technologically savvy.”

This generation of Students relies on computer for a lot of things. They use it for communication, turn in assignments, do school work, play games, and apply for jobs, among other things. Now, they can rely on a computer to pay their tuition.