The Office of the Bursar will no longer send bills to Penn State students via the U.S Postal Service, beginning next semester.

After tuition and fees for 2006-07 are decided at the July meeting of the Penn State Board of Trustees, the bursar will send e-mail messages to students, notifying them that they can view their bills over eLion. Students will also be able to access printable vouchers from eLion that they can mail to the bursar with their payments.

The decision to stop mailing bills to students' homes can be seen as a cost-saving measure, since the university will no longer have to pay for postage to mail the bills, Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said.

"We've been taking a look at implementing it across the board for a while," Kendig said. "You're billed and pay for credit cards online. You should be able to be billed and pay for your higher education online as well."

Students whose parents pay their bills need not worry.

There are provisions in the system to authorize a parent or legal guardian to access and make payments to an account, Kendig said. He said students would be able to set up accounts for their parents on eLion that would grant them access to the bills.

"This is just a feature that makes it easier for students whose parents pay their Penn State bills," Kendig said.

Each time a bill is paid online with a credit card through eLion, a 2 percent convenience fee will be charged.

"That's something that's been in place for some time now regarding electronic payments," Kendig said. No fee will be assessed to payments made by the printable vouchers.

Some students interviewed about the new policy said they would not be affected by the change.

"Usually, my parents handle the bill," Robert Robillard (sophomore-supply chain and information systems) said.

He said he liked the idea of being able to print the bill from eLion.

"If my dad had to print something off, I don't think it'd be a big deal," he said.

Camille Saxberg (senior-chemical engineering) said her mom currently uses the bill that is sent to her house via the Postal Service, but the change would not make much of a difference.

"To me, I have to pay the bill anyway, so it doesn't matter to me whether I pay it online or pay it on paper," she said.

Paul Goodwin (senior-psychology) disagreed.

"I'd think that they should have it available through snail mail, especially for people who aren't so technically inclined," he said.