Three Days to Pay

Three weeks after every University billing, some 400 men get the jolt of their lives from the Bursar. A notice, worthy of an absconding "guest," informs them that they have three days to pay their account with attendant fine, or face possible "disciplinary action." Unless they care to read the fine print on their term bills this is their first warning of the drastic methods Harvard uses against its debtors. One contact is enough to send most men scurrying to Lehman Hall.

Excuses are dealt with just as arbitrarily. If the wretch attempts to explain that he never received the notice, an official looks at the file; and if a duplicate is found, the student is considered to have received his copy, all protests to the contrary. Lehman Hall must send accounts to 15,000 men, and of these only 400, or three percent, ever receive the drastic second notice. Yet there is no attempt to cover possible margins of error by sending a simple warning before slapping on a fine.

There is all the less reason for the harsh treatment meted out to delayed payment because of the relative certainty that the University will receive its due. Every student must file a bond before entering, guaranteeing his accountability; he could not skip payment if he wanted to. In such circumstances, the University could afford to give its negligent members the benefit of the doubt and cease regarding them as potential chiselers. If it feels that extra fines are necessary to ensure prompt payment, a second notice would serve both as a warning, and as a partial cover for the errors even Lehman Hall must make.

Current treatment of those behind in their University obligations seems calculated to obtain the maximum bitterness. More consideration towards the student would show equal results with less resentment.