Owens said he immediately tried to contact the Office of Financial Aid. After being put on hold for 15 minutes, his call was dropped. He sent an email soon after but did not receive a response for several days.

“I was trying to figure out how I was going to pay for school if I didn’t get it fixed,” Owens said. “And it was just really concerning.”

He also received an email claiming that he had not met Satisfactory Academic Progress, or SAP, requirements to continue receiving federal financial aid. Upon getting in contact with a financial aid staff member, they said the email had been sent out mistakenly, and that they were working on applying the expected aid to his account.

Owens is still facing problems with his account but believes it will be resolved. He said he is more concerned with those who are relying on financial aid refunds to pay bills and other necessities.

“It's really upsetting to know that some people, they're relying on it to eat, they're relying on it for bills— and they can't get that money,” Owens said.

He wasn’t the only one with last-minute billing problems. Special education-learning disabilities junior Maddy Sexton logged into SIS the week before the beginning of the semester to pay her bill but found that she had been overcharged approximately $1500.

Sexton, who does not receive financial aid, paid the full bill due to fear of being unenrolled. She called the Office of Financial Aid on Jan. 6 in order to clarify why her bill was higher than expected.

“I was on the phone, on hold, forever," Sexton said. "I got transferred to a million people. So it was just a really frustrating process.”

Sexton eventually learned that she had been incorrectly classified in SIS, causing her bill to not reflect her correct tuition rates. Her account is now being remedied but said the process caused her significant stress.

“If anything I was stressed about getting unenrolled in my classes,” Sexton said. “But (my parents) were definitely stressed because we didn't budget for that amount.”

She’s also concerned for students who may not realize they are being overcharged.

“I want just now people to know about it," Sexton said. "Because if I didn’t check with my friends how much they were paying, I might not have even realized.”

According to posts in various MSU student Facebook groups, these billing issues were relatively widespread. Many comments reported financial aid not applying and overcharges on bills, in similar veins to Owens and Sextons’ experience.

Both Owens and Sexton said that the financial aid representatives they talked to were helpful, and in both instances were told the errors on their accounts were the result of problems with SIS.

MSU deputy spokesperson Dan Olsen confirmed that SIS was to blame. He said that the university is aware of about 4% of the student population having a delay in the processing of their spring semester financial aid.

Olsen said the university has addressed this issue, and that students’ financial aid and corresponding refunds should be being dispersed now. 

“That issue was a result of an implementation of a new module into the system,” Olsen said. “So we wanted to be extra cautious and be sure that disbursements and refunds of access were accurate before they actually went out.”

For other billing issues, such as incorrect classifications, Olsen said the university was currently addressing them. He emphasized that no student will be disenrolled as a result of these problems.

“The important thing to note here is that no student is going to be disenrolled from their classes while we work through this financial aid disbursement issue,” Olsen said. “If they've gotten a letter that says that they would be disenrolled because of the financial aid challenges or an outstanding balance on their account, please disregard that.”

This is not the first time SIS issues have caused delays in the disbursement of funds. In September, graduate students faced difficulties regarding health insurance and pay due to system-related problems. 

Olsen said that many of these complications simply come with the difficulties of implementing a new system. 

“There are always challenges with any new implementation system," Olsen said. "Certainly, there are issues that we don't wish to see happen. But when they do occur, we're working around the clock to address them so that we're creating less issues as we go forward into future semesters.”