Postal mailboxes no longer will be filled with envelopes for billing information from MSU.
Starting in the summer, all tuition and housing bills will be available only on the STUINFO Web site.
The deadline to sign up for electronic billing is July 19, in order to have everyone signed up before fall tuition bills are processed. After the deadline, students will be automatically signed up for the electronic feature.
"We're hoping a large number will sign up before they leave campus," Associate Controller Susan Waltersdorf said.
To get students to sign up early, a contest has been started by the Controller's Office. Those who enroll before the April 23 deadline will be entered in a drawing to win $25 in Spartan Cash. On April 27, 100 winners will be selected at random.
Waltersdorf said about 30 percent of students already have signed up for electronic billing.
"We've gotten a lot of positive feedback about how convenient it is," she said. "We've had lots of folks say they wish we would have offered this a long time ago."
Waltersdorf said the procedural change will help the university save money associated with mailing costs and increase convenience for students.
"We were looking at ways to respond to a reduction in budget, and students have been responsive to electronic commerce," she said. "There are other major business pieces of student life only being done electronically, so this is a natural move."
Zoology sophomore Amanda Silic said the electronic billing is a good idea to reduce the number of paper transactions the university does.
"It reduces a lot of the waste I'm sure we're making," she said.
But computer science sophomore Thomas Harning said only providing electronic billing limits options and might cause problems.
"I don't think it's a good idea to do only that," he said. "If someone's computer goes down, they might not be able to get to their bill."
Even though bills will be processed electronically only next academic year, payments can continue to be mailed to the university.
Electronic payment options include electronic checks and credit cards. MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards are accepted, but Visa is not.
Staff writer Joseph Clark contributed to this report.
