New online payment method allows parental access

Students will soon be able to give third parties access to their EKU financial accounts thanks to a new bill paying system being set into place by Student Accounting Services. The new system, CASHNet, is scheduled to go live tomorrow. Director of Student Accounting Services, Rochelle Seals, said CASHNet will replace the current system, but will try to mimic e-Bill as closely as possible.

The biggest difference students will find when using CASHNet is they can now authorize other people to see, and make payments on, their private EKU financial accounts.

Seals said Student Accounting Services does not encourage students' to give out their account passwords to anyone, not even their parents. By implementing the new system, Seals said students' will be able to protect their privacy by keeping their EKU Direct accounts secure.

Students are now allowing their parents to have access to their EKU Direct accounts to make payments on bills the students may have, Seals said.

Seals said the new system was chosen because students may not want other private information found on EKU Direct, such as grades, to be seen by anyone other than themselves. With CASHNet, routing through EKU Direct will be "circumvented" Seals said.

"Students can give their parents access without letting them see other private information on EKU Direct," Seals said.

She also said that accessing CASHNet once the system "goes live" will be an easy thing for students to do. They will simply log-in to EKU Direct and click on "Make a Payment." Students will automatically be taken to the CASHNet system.

Seals said all steps to pay a bill will basically be the same at this point, the only difference being some minor aesthetic changes.

"The look of the page will be slightly different," Seals said. "But students don't have to do anything different.