Financial Services - Housing Payments and Student Account Questions

For the Academic Year Rates please refer to the Academic Year Rate Sheet. For Birnam Wood rent rates for the academic year, please refer to the Birnam Wood Rate Sheet.

You are responsible to pay your tuition by the designated due date whether or not you receive an email billing notification. You may access your account balance online 24 hours per day. Or you may call the Housing Cashier at (360) 650-3744, the University Cashier at (360) 650-2930, or Student Accounts Office at (360) 650-2865, 8am - 5pm, Monday through Friday. (Please remember it will be necessary for the University to have an Information Release on file prior to providing account information to any other party besides the student, e.g. parents.)

If you plan to mail your payment, and have not yet received your email billing notification, please refer to the amount due on your housing rate sheet, or access your account information by referring to http://www.wwu.edu/ then clicking on the "Pay Tuition, Housing & Fees" icon, then View/Print/Pay, or call the Housing Cashier at (360) 650-3744 to find out the amount which you owe (please be sure to have an Information Release on file for anyone else other that yourself that may be calling with inquiries regarding your account balance). You may then enclose a check payable to WWU in the proper amount and mail it prior to the due date to:

WWU, Office of University Residences
Edens Hall, Suite 108
516 High Street
Bellingham, WA 98225-9195

Please write your student number on your check and enclose a note indicating it is payment for your student account balance. Please do not use campus mail for these payments, and do not send cash through the mail. Please allow mailing time for your payment to reach WWU by the due date. Payments mailed, yet not received at WWU by the designated due date will receive a late fee.

The WWU official late fee policy states:

Failure to pay charges may result in late fees and/or cancellation of your registration. A quarterly $75 late payment fee is applied for charges not paid by the deadline (reference Timetable of Classes for deadlines). A 1% interest charge will be assessed monthly on all past due accounts. The current amount due to the University on your online billing statement may be adjusted due to activity on your account after the billing date. You are responsible to pay all tuition, housing and fees on time. For a current account balance access Web for Students to View/Print/Pay your current balance.

The answer to this question will depend on (1) the number of days that you have lived in the housing system prior to the date of checkout, and (2) how much you have paid in comparison to the charges that were assessed to your account and (3) whether or not you will continue to attend WWU past your date of checkout. The amount to be refunded or still owed will be calculated as follows:

Calculations for Early Checkout

Amount owed for number of days in residence hall: Number of days in room X Room and Board daily rate (or Birnam Wood daily rate): __________ Total amount of payments made toward Room and Board (or Birnam Wood rent): - __________ Contract Breakage Fee (if continuing to attend WWU past date of checkout): Residence Hall = $5.25 per day X number of days which contract will not be fulfilled, not to exceed $400.00 Birnam Wood = $2.67 per day x number of days which contract will not be fulfilled, not to exceed $200.00 __________ Refund of $200.00 Security Deposit (provided there are no damages or outstanding charges): - ___$200___ Balance due on Room and Board or Birnam Wood rent as of ______ = __________

The important point to remember is that you will be charged up through the end of the day that you actually turn in your keys. It does not matter if you have moved your personal items out of the room or not. As long as your keys are within your possession you will be charged the daily room and board/rent rate. (This is due to the reason that we cannot rent the room to anyone else as long as a previous renter has the keys to the room.)

Your meal plan will also be in effect up through the end of the day that you turn in your keys. Flex Points (on all meal plans containing flex points), guest meals (on all meal plans having guest meals) and meals on the Bronze meal plan are prorated (e.g. if only here for half of the quarter then you are only charged for one half of the quarter's flex, guest meals, or Bronze meals). If you use your meal plan after the date of checkout (prior to account adjustments) or if you have overspent your prorated flex points, meals, or guest meals for the time which you held your contract, you will be charged separately for the overspent amount.

No. Anyone living in the residence halls must have a meal plan (Birnam Wood residents excluded). This is done for several reasons:

1. Our department believes the residential dining component is an integral element to the academic and on-campus experience; we hope the variety of meal plans makes this easier for you
2. Our dining services contractor, Sodexho, must be assured of a minimum level of meal plan diners in order to reasonably operate at WWU.

If there are no current or future bills on your account for the credit (resulting from the refund of a past payment or adjustment of a past charge) to apply, you may request a refund check from the Student Accounts Office in Old Main 360. If the refund check is not formally requested, the credit will remain on your account until the end of the quarter, and a refund check will be mailed at that time. You will need to provide address information to the Student Accounts Office as to where you would like the refund check mailed if that is different than what is currently on file with the Student Accounts Office.

You should check with the information desk of your building/area to get the appropriate check out material. Follow all of the instructions carefully. If you are leaving mid year, it is recommended that you have your roommate sign a roommate release so you are not held accountable for damages that occur after you leave. You should also return bed parts and rented refrigerators or sign them over to a roommate.

Once you have moved out all of your possessions and returned your room to its original condition, you must turn in the keys and the signed paperwork to the RD, RA on duty, or the desk attendant. Students should not leave keys and the check out paperwork in a mailbox, on a desk, etc.

If a student does not return the room key at the time of check out, the Housing Office may not rent the room to another student until the key is returned. If the key is not returned within a day, then the lock will need to be changed and the cost passed on to the student still in possession of the keys to the original lock. The charge for this is referred to as a "lost" key charge. This is a safety issue, as we cannot rent a room to another student if a previous student still has the keys to that room.

The cost for a replacement key charge is expensive due to the fact that the entire lock has to be changed. This cost is the amount the Housing Office is charged by the campus lockshop.

We recommend you see the Office of Student Financial Resources (OM 240, (360) 650-3470) to secure a short-term loan. Do this well before the payment due date to avoid a late charge.

University Residences allocated resources (i.e. staff, equipment, supplies, cost of operations, etc.) are based on the number of residential contracts. The room and board rates are predicated on the academic year projected operating costs. Thus, by leaving early and breaking your housing contract (withdrawing and graduating are considered non-penalized reasons for breaking a housing contract), the fixed costs have to be spread out among fewer students, therefore, creating a higher operating cost rate per student. Liquidated damages are what we (and in essence off-campus apartments) use to recover the cost of an unexpected departure. The contract breakage fee is listed in your housing contract that you signed.

To find out your account balance, please follow the following steps:

1. Access the WWU home page.
2. Select the "Pay Tuition, Housing & Fees" icon, located in the upper right side of the page.
3. The select: "VIEW/PRINT/PAY Account Online"
4. Log into Web4U

You may also ask the Housing Cashier Office in Edens Hall, the University Cashier in Old Main 245, or the Students Accounts Office in Old Main 360. You may also call the Housing Cashier at (360) 650-3744.

You may pay by credit card only if paying on line. WWU accepts Mastercard, Discover, or AmEx credit cards for on-line payments. On-line credit card payments are made via the "Web4U" WWU link. There is a transaction fee for on-line credit card payments. Visa Credit cards or phoned-in/faxed credit card payments are not accepted for student account payments. On-line "E-Check" payments are available for no fee via the "Web4U" link. Visa and Mastercard DEBIT cards, check, and cash are accepted over the counterfor student account payments.

You may go to the Housing Cashier Office in Edens Hall during their open hours, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or you may call the Housing Cashier at (360) 650-3744.