In fall 2014, the LionPATH steering committee approved replacing Penn State’s current SCHED to REG process with a new enrollment process, which no longer includes SCHED status. Students will be considered fully registered when they enroll in classes. They may add, drop and late drop classes, and grades will be collected at the end of the semester.
Commonwealth campuses will have the option to cancel a student’s current term schedule if they have a delinquent current account balance and a delinquent converted balance from a prior semester. This cancellation will occur at the end of the fifth week of the fall 2016 semester. Cancellation of current semester schedules will not occur at University Park. A process will be developed to identify and cancel all students who have not attended classes for the semester.
What is the new enrollment process?
The new enrollment process has numerous automated and manual steps that will occur for all students. However, the timing and manner in which these activities take place may vary across populations.
The steps are:
- Term activation—allows students to be enrolled in the semester.
- Assignment of enrollment appointment—sets the first day for a student to enroll in classes.
- Placement of a registration hold that prevents enrollment prior to agreeing to the Financial Responsibility Agreement (FRA).
- Student signing the FRA—this step will be handled as part of a pre-registration activity guide in LionPATH that shows as a ‘to do’ item. The FRA will be presented to the student and the registration hold will be released when the student agrees to the agreement.
- First year students only: additional hold released when student participates in New Student Orientation.
- Enrolling in at least one class.
- Tuition and on-campus housing charges will be assessed when the bill is prepared; students will be legally obligated to pay these charges.
- Any financial aid that has been awarded and accepted will disburse into the student’s account 10 days prior to the student’s first day of classes.
How do students confirm their financial responsibility?
To ensure students understand their commitment to pay tuition, on-campus housing and meal charges, as well as any additional fees, they will be required to sign a Financial Responsibility Agreement (FRA) prior to enrolling.
This agreement is the student’s promise to take financial responsibility for payment of his/her account.
A student who fails to pay tuition, on-campus housing and meal charges, and any additional fees will be unable to enroll for future terms.
What is the impact of nonpayment?
To prevent future term enrollment by students who have not met their financial obligations, a registration hold will be imposed. Upon imposition of the hold, the student would also incur late fees, calculated as a percentage of what the student owes. The hold will have several impacts on the student:
- Future term enrollment will be prohibited, and those already enrolled will have their future term enrollment canceled.
- Transcripts will be withheld.
- Diploma will be withheld.
Following sufficient payment, the hold would be removed.
What is the Consent to do LionPATH Business Electronically?
While not technically a part of enrollment, this agreement will be presented to students before they are able to log into LionPATH, and will prevent all other actions until a student has clicked a box to indicate their agreement. Those students who do not agree will have to conduct LionPATH business outside of the system.
There is the possibility that a student who has not consented to do business electronically could need to perform a task that is only accessible through LionPATH, and not considered electronic business. The ALEKS exam falls into that category. The procedure in this case would be to ask the student to temporarily consent, use the system to access ALEKS, and then request that the Registrar’s Office remove the consent.