by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
Before school started, student Megan Goodin received two notifications to pay her tuition prior to disenrollment on Aug. 11.
One was sent through the mail and stated she owed $1,100. The other was sent to her LoboWeb account and stated she owed $5,900. Goodin said she chose to pay the lesser amount. As a result, she was disenrolled from all her courses.
"I was really stressed out, because it was a week before school started," she said. "It's (LoboWeb) just not as easy as it should be."
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LoboWeb was introduced to UNM in April when it replaced ITEL. The new program allows students to register for classes, set up promissory notes and make payments.
Despite running operations on the new program, UNM Bursar Leo Moya said this year's disenrollment numbers are average. About 1,700 students were disenrolled this year, compared to about 1,500 last year, he said.
Every year, the University is required to have a day where students must pay all their fees or set up a payment plan, he said. Because LoboWeb is a new program, students might experience difficulties, he said.
Moya said students can find their balance by logging into LoboWeb. However, the program has occasional difficulties calculating payment plans.
"We're not 100 percent sure if it is calculating it (the payment) correctly," he said. "We're taking a closer look to make sure it's working properly."
Moya said the University hired someone to work with the program.
"It's a matter of communication," he said. "With any new system, we're going to run into a few issues here and there."
LoboWeb is more beneficial to students, because it allows them to receive their financial aid through the mail or through direct deposit, he said. Because of the new system, there are no lines at the cashier's office like there were in the past, he said.
Teacher's assistant Michael Swierz said he almost had a bad experience with the program, but the problem was fixed almost immediately. As a teacher's assistant, his tuition is waived, but he received a disenrollment notification stating he owed the University thousands of dollars, he said.
"Some people were freaking out about it, but they took care of it," he said. "I haven't had any serious problems with it."
Moya said a lot of the time students are disenrolled because they forget to pay past due amounts, such as parking tickets from last semester.
"They didn't think they'd get disenrolled, and they do," he said. "They do get disenrolled, and it's something that happens every fall and spring semester."
Student Monica April said she hasn't experienced problems with the system. However, she said she has heard other students complaining about it.
"I've heard a lot of people stressing out about it, but I haven't had problems with it," she said. "I've been pretty lucky."
