A bursar is an official at a college or university who is in charge of student billing and payments. He or she is in charge of student accounts, issuing statements to students in order to keep them informed about their outstanding bills, payment histories, and other financial concerns. The bursar is usually in charge of a large office with a lot of people working in it. Because student accounts can become quite complex, it is usually impossible for a single person to manage all of the student accounts for an educational institution.
Bursar, which means “treasurer of a college,” is a position that dates back to the 1500s. The word bursar comes from the Latin bursarius, which means “purse-bearer,” referring to the fact that bursars manage the purses of the institutions for which they work. A college usually has a chief financial officer who is in charge of all financial matters, such as grant money for college projects, payroll administration, and a variety of other things.
The bursar’s office keeps track of all students who are currently enrolled or on leave from an educational institution. It calculates how much money students owe for tuition, housing, dining contracts, health insurance, and other fees in collaboration with the financial aid office. The bursar’s office accepts funds from student lenders, applies them to the student’s outstanding account, and issues refund checks for any funds left over, as well as scholarship money and direct payments from students.
An individual student account can be extremely difficult to manage. Each account begins with a variable amount payable, which varies depending on the student’s academic standing and the types of school services he or she uses. To generate a statement with a balance due or indicating that the student is owed a refund, the amount payable is reduced the amount of funds the bursar has received on the student’s behalf, including student loan disbursements and scholarships.
Rather than demanding payment in full, the bursar may work with students who have large balances to develop a payment plan. Bursars also assist students with tax issues, such as issuing tax forms as required law and assisting students in obtaining tax credits and benefits to which they are entitled. People who work in the bursar’s office typically have accounting experience, as well as a working knowledge of computer systems used to track student accounts and issues unique to education, such as how student loans work and which tax benefits are available to students.