Every NYU Shanghai student knows that the Bursar office on the 10th floor is the financial gatekeeper of their time here. The most interaction some students will ever have with the Bursar office is through the infrequent emails sent out to notify students when important financial deadlines are quickly arriving. The Bursar office at NYU New York handles the reimbursement process for American students, while NYUSH is responsible for the rest of the students. This divide also dictates what currency students are being reimbursed in, USD for American, and RMB for the rest of the students. This semester a serious point of issue for Senior non-American students, is the delay in their refunds being distributed.. For American students, reimbursements are distributed one week before the semester begins. But for other students that reimbursement doesn’t take place until March. Senior Lana Kugli expressed great frustration at the Bursar office and this policy, “This semester I’ve been struggling to pay my rent on time because this refund has not come through in a timely fashion.” On top of this issue, Lana went on to talk about how she has experienced money transfer process. “I’ve had to email them several times about my bank information in order to get my money,” Kugli said. “This is information that hasn’t changed since freshman year, I don’t know why they don’t have it.” A member of the Bursar office said that the reason that the delay in refunds is because, rather than the entire team the New York campus has to process refunds, NYUSH only has one person. The representative emphasized that this involved going into 800 students’ individual bursar accounts and refunding the payments one at a time.The Bursar office also emphasized that the reason behind the refunds taking place in March has to do with not wanting students to have constant outstanding payments on their accounts. Rather than refunding students the money and then having them go back into their accounts to pay charges such as laundry cards and textbooks, they simply give the refund after all charges have been assessed. “The schedule is easily accessible on our website, and we highly recommend that students check their inboxes regularly,” the representative added, referencing this website. ” Hopefully the inefficiencies surrounding the Bursar office will be quickly settled, considering the school’s continuing expansion. This article was written by Alexandra Mathew. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: NYU Shanghai