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OU Bursar Homepage

Liberal Studies Financial Aid

CLS Scholarship Info

CLS Drop/Withdrawl Policy

Who do I contact if I have questions about my Bursar bill?

What is the free-drop policy for the College of Liberal Studies?

I have questions about my Financial Aid disbursement, who do I contact?

I received a Financial Aid disbursement, but now I have a bill. Didnít Financial Aid pay for everything before it was disbursed?

A third party will pay my tuition. How does that work?

I have Military Tuition Assistance, where do I send it?

I have an OU Faculty/Staff Waiver. What does this cover, and where do I send it?

What is the Military Waiver? Who is eligible, and how do I qualify?

When will my Third Party Billing, Military Waiver, Staff Waiver, or Tuition Assistance be processed?

I have a National Guard Tuition Waiver. How does this work, and when will it be applied to my account?

I just enrolled, and would like to pay for my courses now. Why does the Bursar’s Office and website not show that I have an account?

I am a Non-Resident student; why does my bill show charges for Resident and Non-Resident Tuition?

Besides Tuition, what fees do I have to pay?

I have multiple charges for the Academic Excellence Fee — is this correct?

I dropped a class, but still show a balance due. When will I see a credit on my bill?

I have a refund on my account. How do I get it?

Where do I make payments?

When are Bursar bills due?

Can I pay the balance in installments? What happens if I make a late payment?

Who do I contact if I have questions about my Bursar bill?
Please contact the College of Liberal Studies first. We can review your account and may have information available to us that the Bursar’s office does not have access to.

Undergraduate Students — Jennifer Gatlin, 405-325-3179 or jgatlin@ou.edu: Undergraduate Staff and National Guard Tuition waivers, non-military tuition assistance, third party billing, charge reversals, and Undergraduate student account reconciliation.

Graduate Students and All Military Students — Sheila Gibson, 405-325-6942 or sgibson@ou.edu: M.A. student waivers, M.A. Staff Waivers, and M.A. student account reconciliation, Military Tuition Assistance: Graduate and Undergraduate, Military Waiver: Graduate and Undergraduate.

What is the free-drop policy for the College of Liberal Studies?
The College of Liberal Studies has a one week free-drop period for all 8-week Liberal Studies courses, and a two week free-drop period for all 16-week Liberal Studies courses. Liberal Studies Independent Study courses have a one month free drop period. Any course that is dropped within this free-drop period will be eligible for a credit for 100% of the tuition and fees assessed for the course. Our full Drop/Withdrawal Policy is available on the CLS Web site.

I have questions about my Financial Aid disbursement, who do I contact?
Please contact the Liberal Studies Financial Aid office at 405-325-2929 or lsaid@ou.edu and they can assist you with any Financial Aid related questions.

I received a Financial Aid disbursement, but now I have a bill. Didn’t Financial Aid pay for everything before it was disbursed?
Your disbursement is applied to current charges on your Bursar account at the time of disbursement. Due to the monthly billing cycle that Liberal Studies uses, charges for one or more of your courses may not have been applied until after your disbursement. If you are not sure if all of your courses have been charged when you receive your disbursement, please feel free to contact our office, and we will be glad to let you know if you can expect additional charges at a later time.

A third party will pay my tuition. How does that work?
A third party is someone, other than yourself, who has agreed to pay part or all of your tuition. Often these third parties are companies or corporations (both U.S. and overseas), government entities, or scholastic programs separate from the University. Some third parties require a bill from the Office of the Bursar before they will make payment on tuition and fees. In such cases, the student should provide a letter from the sponsor, addressed to the College of Liberal Studies, requesting us to bill them. If for any reason the University does not receive payment, the student is responsible for the charges. The following information must be included in the letter:

Students should check in with the College of Liberal Studies to verify the remaining balance owed. The College of Liberal Studies must be notified about third party billing each semester and any time there is a change in the amount of the award or the party to be billed.

I have Military Tuition Assistance, where do I send it?
Send your approved Tuition Assistance form directly to the College of Liberal Studies. You can fax these forms to our office at 405-325-9032 or mail to:

College of Liberal Studies
(Attn: Sheila Gibson)
1610 Asp Avenue
Norman, OK 73072

Tuition Assistance will be processed following the free-drop period for your approved courses.

I have an OU Faculty/Staff Waiver. What does this cover, and where do I send it?
The OU Faculty/Staff Waiver covers 50% of your Resident Tuition (up to 6 hours for fall/spring semesters, up to 3 hours for summer sessions), and 100% of your Library Resources Fee for the semester.

**Please note that this waiver does not reduce the cost of your courses by 50% up to 6 hours. **

Please send your approved OU Faculty/Staff Waiver directly to the College of Liberal Studies for processing. Any forms sent to the Bursar’s Office (as instructed on the form) will be redirected to CLS, possibly delaying the application of your waiver to your account.

You may fax your waiver to (405) 325-9032, scan/email, or send via campus mail to “College of Liberal Studies, McCarter Hall, Attn: ____________”.

What is the “Military Waiver”? Who is eligible, and how do I qualify?
The College of Liberal Studies offers a Military Waiver to all Non-Resident students who are affiliated with the military or the Department of Defense (DOD). Please see our website for current rates with the Military Waiver.

All students desiring Military Waivers must submit separate evidence of military affiliation to the College of Liberal Studies. Non-Resident active duty service members using TA will automatically be given the Military Waiver upon processing of the TA form submitted to the College of Liberal Studies, and do not need to submit separate documentation.

List of Persons Eligible
Required Documentation
Active Duty Military Member
(USA, USAF, USN, USMC, USCG)		 Military ID Card (if not receiving TA)
-or- TA form
Active Duty Military Member- Spouse Military ID Card
Retired Military Member Military ID Card -or- DD Form 2 (Retired)
Retired Military Member- Spouse Military ID Card
Department of Defense Civilian Employee DOD Civilian ID Card
Department of Defense Civilian Employee- Spouse Letter from military organization
Military Department Civilian Employee Military Service Civilian ID Card
Military Department Civilian Employee- Spouse Letter from military organization
Contractors on a Military Installation Letter from contracting military organization
Full-time National Guard (Other than Oklahoma) Military ID Card
Full-time National Guard (Other than Oklahoma) –Spouse Letter from National Guard unit
Retired National Guard (Other than Oklahoma) Military ID Card
Retired National Guard (Other than Oklahoma) –Spouse Military ID Card
Full-time Military Reserve (other than Oklahoma) Military ID Card
Full-time Military Reserve (other than Oklahoma) –Spouse Letter from Military Reserves unit
Veterans who served in war zones DD-214 listing service
Other Federal Government Agencies serving on military stations or with military units Federal ID Card and Letter from Military Organization
Other Government Agencies as deemed appropriate by the Dean/Associate Dean of the College, i.e. USPS Case by Case Basis

This documentation will be good for three consecutive semesters, and will then need to be renewed in order for you to continue to receive the Military Waiver.

Please send this documentation to Sheila Gibson (sgibson@ou.edu or Fax: 405-325-9032).

When will my Third-Party Billing, Military Waiver, Staff Waiver or Tuition Assistance be processed?
All Third-Party Billing, Military/Staff Waivers, and Tuition Assistance are processed after the free-drop period for each session to ensure schedule accuracy. You may receive a bill for your total cost of tuition and fees from the Office of the Bursar before we are able to process your forms, this is common and not a cause for alarm—we will apply all billing, waivers, and TA as soon as possible each semester.

I have a National Guard Tuition Waiver. How does this work, and when will it be applied to my Bursar Account?
Only undergraduate students are eligible for National Guard Tuition Waivers. All Guard members will apply for their waiver at their unit, and then a list of eligible Guard members is generated directly from the National Guard. This list is sent to the Financial Aid office for review, and is then given to Jennifer Gatlin to post to your account. Unfortunately, we do not have a set time-frame for National Guard Tuition Waivers, due to the continuous application and approval process throughout the semester. If you are eligible for a National Guard Tuition Waiver, and it has not been applied, please contact your unit directly to make sure that your name was submitted correctly. The College of Liberal Studies will apply your waiver as soon as the information is made available, but will not process any waivers before the free-drop period has ended for that semester.

I just enrolled, why can’t I pay for my courses? Why does the Bursar’s Office not show that I have an account?
Tuition and fees for the College of Liberal Studies are charged on a monthly billing cycle. This cycle will typically place charges on your account on the night of the first business day of the month. Any courses that are added after a billing cycle will be charged the following month. The Bursar’s Office will not reflect you having a Bursar Account until charges are placed on your account; once you have been charged, that will prompt your account to be activated at the Bursar’s Office.

Independent Study Students: Our Independent Study courses are not set up on our monthly billing cycle. Upon enrollment, charges will be manually applied to your Bursar account, normally within five business days.

I am a Non-Resident student; why does my bill show charges for Resident and Non-Resident Tuition?
All students are charged the standard tuition and fees package, which includes Resident Tuition and all mandatory fees. Non-Resident students are then charged an additional Non-Resident Tuition Fee on top of the standard tuition and fees package.

Besides Tuition, what fees do I have to pay?
Mandatory enrollment fees are charges which fund the operation, maintenance and development of the University infrastructure.  These fees are designed to benefit students at the University level, not individual level.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education have authorized the following mandatory enrollment fees:

Academic Records Service Fee: This fee supports the costs of no-charge transcripts, diplomas, class schedule changes, commencement activities, and other academic records services for the life of each student. This is a flat fee that is charged once per semester, regardless of the number of hours taken.

Assessment Fee: This fee supports the university-wide general education program, which provides an annual assessment of the university’s academic and support programs.  This program is required for accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and mandated by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

Library Excellence Fee: This fee supports library-staffing, acquisitions of books and documents, subscriptions to scholarly journals and traditional as well as electronic access to books and journals. This fee will ensure that the library services will continue to increase without cutting access to electronic journals, acquisitions, hours of operation and other services.

Education Network Connectivity Fee: This fee supports the operation and maintenance of the university educational computer network services.  Services include student help desk operation, lab and curriculum software licenses, lab printing services, off-campus access to on-line student services and course information, HUB, the official student portal, computer security services, and email.

Academic Excellence Fee: This fee supports the costs to recruit and retain excellent faculty, plus their scientific and academic research including laboratories, classroom renovations, equipment, publishing costs and research assistants.

CLS Instruction Fee: This fee supports the cost of assistance activities for both onsite and online students, including the cost of CLS IT-support, faculty support, and semester based materials used in development and maintenance of courses. 

I have multiple charges for the Academic Excellence Fee — is this correct?
The Academic Excellence Fee is a tiered-rate fee. This fee ranges from a base rate of $11.70 per hour, up to our current new-student rate of $54.70 per credit hour based on the academic year that you entered the University. Currently, students are locked-in to a rate, and will not be subject to future additional Academic Excellence Fee increases in subsequent academic years. Depending on the academic year that you joined the University, you will see up to four charges for the Academic Excellence Fee per course (subject to change).

I dropped a class, but still show a balance due. When will I see a credit on my bill?
The College of Liberal Studies is not set up on an automated refund system based on enrollment activity. We have to manually reverse the charges for each course that is dropped within our free drop period. Please allow up to ten business days from the date of the drop for your account to be credited for a dropped course. If it has been longer than ten business days, please contact our office directly so that we may check on the status of your credit.

I have a refund on my account. How do I get it?
A refund must stay on the student account for ten working days after the last date of activity on the account. A refund list is then received by the Bursar’s Office. Allow two weeks for the refund to be processed after the student’s name appears on the refund list. Refunds will be mailed to the student’s current billing address. The College of Liberal Studies must authorize refunds before the Bursar’s Office can release the funds. If you see that you have a credit on your account, please contact Jennifer Gatlin or Sheila Gibson directly so that we may review the credit and authorize release of the funds, or make corrections to your account if the credit is not valid.

Where do I make payments?
You can pay your bill online at http://pay.ou.edu; you will need your Sooner ID number (This is a 9-digit number, listed as your Customer Account Number on your Bursar Statement.), 4X4, and password to access the payment page. Payments may also be made in person at the Bursar’s Office or mailed to:

Office of the Bursar
1000 Asp Avenue, Rm. 105
Norman, OK 73019-0430

When are Bursar bills due?
Payment deadlines are provided in two different places:

Can I pay the balance in installments? What happens if I make a late payment?
Your online statement will provide the total amount you owe and the minimum amount due. The minimum amount due is part of the University of Oklahoma’s Fee Payment Plan. If either or all payments are missed, the Office of the Bursar will assess a service charge of 1.5% of the total due per month (minimum of 50 cents). The service charge will be assessed on the first working day AFTER the 15th of each month. At the end of each semester an additional $50 penalty will be assessed on tuition and fees not paid in full. For further explanation of these policies, please visit the Bursar Payment page.

 

Liberal Studies Staff

Jennifer Gatlin, Bachelor’s Students

Sheila Gibson, Master’s Students

Financial Aid Staff

Rebekah Wiscount