THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JULY 16, 2012
PAGE 5
CAMPUS
Students support new payment system
DYLAN DERRYBERRY
editor@kansan.com
Student employees will punch timesheets with the click of a mouse starting July 30.
They will no longer use paper time sheets to log the hours worked and instead will use one of two electronic methods: a time collection device or online web clock.
Student Assistant and Peer Advisor Chad Renner said that the change could help with "inaccurate" time keeping.
"As a student, it can be difficult to both be at school and keep track of your hours, but now we'll have a machine that can do it for you," said Renner, a senior from Louisburg. "It'll definitely be a lot more accurate statistically. There's times I may work ten minutes over. I may write down that I work 4.5 hours, but really work four hours and 40 minutes."
Recent graduate Abby Graszi, who is working in the Office of Study Abroad through the summer, agreed that the paper time sheets are often skewed because they are only filled out every two weeks.
"It would be more accurate, that's for sure," Graszl said. "Sometimes it's hard to remember if you don't write it down every day."
The University employs around 5,000 students each year through state and grant funding. student tuition, and other private sources depending on the position. Not all student workers will be affected by the change though.
Wichita senior Kimberlee Hinkle works for the Student Union Activities office and said that the Kansas Union is not technically a part of the University. Students who work there have already moved away from paper time sheets.
"The University is state run, and the Union is its own entity, so we won't be affected by the change," Hinkle said. "Currently, we use a clock-in device that scans our whole hand print."
One hundred and forty time collection devices will be placed throughout campus over the next few months for student workers to easily access the devices, which are either a proximity card reader or a biometric fingerprint reader. Students will also be able to access web clocks from any device with Internet, including personal computer and mobile devices.
"Time- and leave-reporting will be more accurate, and the complicated and time-consuming paper process, not to mention paper consuming, will be eliminated," Provost Communications Coordinator Gavin Young said. "This streamlines the process and puts the University in line with the best practices."
Edited by Megan Hinman
FINANCE
Online counseling tool aims to help students with debt
Student loan statements may seem like a hodgepodge of interest and principal numbers, but the U.S. Department of Education has launched a tool to help students manage loan debt.
Known as the Financial Awareness Counseling Tool, the online interactive website provides tutorials and resources on topics like FAFSA, loans and aid programs.
U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a news release that managing student loan debt is difficult and not easy to understand, which is why the Obama Administration has worked to find a way to not only
educate students and parents, but also assist them along the way with the interactive site.
The Obama Administration will continue to enhance the site by releasing a model financial aid shopping sheet, which can help students keep track of scholarship, grant and loan money.
"Students need to know up front how much college will actually cost them instead of waiting to find out when the first student loan bill arrives," Duncan said. "This new tool will help bring new transparency to the process of debt management on the front end and empower students to keep their school loan payments on track and on time after graduation."
—Roya Ibrahimi
Student employees will stop recording their hours on paper time sheets like this one, and transition to clocking in online or with a time collection device July 30. Students and administrators think the change will help prevent inaccurate time keeping.
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