After the fall semester, some Carleton students received an unpleasant surprise when they tried to check their grades but were unable to because of a financial hold placed on their account due to a systems glitch.
The glitch resulted in scholarships not being included in fee payments before financial holds were placed.
Carleton puts fees, interest charges and financial holds (which prevents students from accessing academic records) on student accounts when payments are received after the posted deadlines.
Given the typically tight financial situations of most students, Carleton could have done better to notify students about the glitch, so as to not cause unnecessary stress or panic seeing an unforeseen unpaid amount on their account.
Carleton should do more to inform students ahead of time that there might be financial issues on their accounts—even if it’s over the holidays.
Students who are not subscribed to the option to receive an email if their account balance is over zero, are left in the dark about any problems.
They should be informed in advance so that they’re able to deal with the issue and not have to pay extra fees or not be able to see their grades.
This helps students both save money and reduce the hassle for the university to issue fee deferrals.
