UBC incorrectly applied tuition and fee assessments to some student accounts before the payment deadline on September 4.
On August 21, students received an email informing them that UBC had encountered issues with applying fees and tuition.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, Rella Ng, associate vice-president, enrolment services and registrar said the issues were largely caused during the transition from the old SIS to Workday Student. On May 21, UBC launched its new student portal Workday Student.
“Challenges like this are typical and are the result of the transition from the old system to the new system. Addressing and correcting these are a normal part of system implementation,” wrote Ng.
Ng also stated that fewer than 1,500 student accounts were impacted by tuition and fee assessment issues related to term 1, and around 8,000 students were affected for term 2.
Ng wrote moving to Workday Student marked an “important milestone” on UBC’s journey to renew its enterprise platforms and ensure it meets its strategic and operational goals.
"Like many institutions, our enterprise system had reached its end of life and needed to be replaced," wrote Ng.
UBC had been seeking a replacement solution since 2002. The implementation of Workday Student began in 2017 to serve as UBC’s core platform for human resources, finance, payroll and now student services. "As with any new system, we anticipate some challenges and are equipped and prepared to respond," Ng also noted.
Moving ahead, Ng wrote UBC anticipates these issues related to tuition and fee assessments will be resolved ahead of the tuition payment deadlines on September 4, 2024, for term 1, and January 8, 2025, for term 2. Ng stated that with all financial records now in Workday, further transition-related errors are not expected.
"We are continuing to closely monitor these issues and are taking measures to ensure that no late fees are applied to student accounts as a result of these problems. Course registrations will not be impacted."
She also wrote that UBC did not incur any additional costs fixing this error and that there were no financial impacts on students. According to Ng, if students see any incorrect charges and/or changes to their account balances, they should be assured UBC is working to resolve these issues.
“We deeply appreciate students’ patience and understanding while we work to address these issues.”
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