AVPES clarifies retention fee complaints raised by students

Last May, the account balances of some DLSU students reflected a certain “retention fee” that was supposedly charged for special adjustment services availed during the special term. In an interview with The LaSallian, the Office of the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services (AVPES) responds to the questions raised by students regarding the fee.

At first, there was confusion as to what the fee is actually for. Anabel Ong (II, FIN) initially posted a complaint regarding the fee in a Facebook group composed of DLSU students. She shared that after getting in touch with the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) to inquire about the fee, she was told to wait for an e-mail response addressing the concern. Later, without receiving any reply, she claimed that her account “suddenly became cleared” without having to pay the fee. A number of students expressed having experienced the same case. Some students, however, recounted that they had already paid the fee to have their accounts cleared.

According to Section 4 of the Student Handbook, the amount charged for the retention fee is based on when courses are dropped:

• 10% of total tuition and fees on Week 1
• 20% on Week 2
• 100% after Week 2

Moreover, students pay differing amounts because the fee is calculated based on the following:

• The applicable tuition and fees for a particular student, which is a function of the college and year level to which a student belongs.
• The number of courses a student is dropping, and how each course is assessed.
• The time of the term the course was dropped.

University AVPES Kai Shan Fernandez clarified, “There was a system error encountered during Term 3 [in academic year 2014-2015], when it failed to distinguish dropping due to special adjustment [with adjustment pass] from a regular dropping process [without adjustment pass].”

She further stated, “I will appreciate getting the names of the affected students as well as the OUR personnel who did not respond to students’ inquiries” in order to pinpoint any inefficiency in the My LaSalle (MLS) system’s processing of accounts.

She mentioned that the OUR was already aware of the system’s glitch when some students raised their concerns during the third term, and their staff members were also able to explain it to the students.

In light of students whose accounts were cleared without paying the retention fee, Fernandez explained that they were cleared because the OUR recognized the error in assessment and the charges were reverted immediately. Meanwhile, students who already paid will be given a refund, said Fernandez.