Financial Services is helping the university go green. Receiving student bills online through the university’s new e-Z Bill service will completely replace printed bills in June, the university controller said.

Cheryl Wilson, university controller and associate vice chancellor for Financial Services, said e-Z Bill will grant parents additional access to their bills so they can get them earlier.

“It cuts out all of the time we normally spend on printing and mailing the bills,” Wilson said.

In order to allow parents or others paying student bills to access bills online, students will have to provide an e-mail address to grant them access to view student account information.

“You can see your old bills at one place, and you have 24/7 access to your bill so you can print your bill any time,” Wilson said. “Students can grant access to up to three other parties.”

Wilson said students who grant access to a parent or other responsible party by Jan. 25 will be automatically entered to win an iPhone.

She said e-Z Bill is the online version of the printed bill students get now. When it comes to students who don’t pay, she said, this may not encourage people to pay but will remind them the payment is due.

Financial services uses more than 10,000 pieces of paper each month, Wilson said. With e-Z Bill, the office will be joining the conservation effort of several departments on campus, some of which have stopped handing out paper syllabuses.

“We are also trying to be part of that initiative about eliminating paper and helping save trees so we can do our part in going green,” Wilson said. “Many colleges and universities have already moved student billing online. TCU is just joining the trend now.”

According to their official Web sites, Southern Methodist University, Baylor University and the University of Texas at Austin have started online billing services.

“It won’t make a big difference to me,” said Maria Paula Bermudez, junior communication studies and psychology major. “My parents are not used to checking bills online.”

Wilson said the online bills can be formatted in a printer-friendly version for those who wish to have a printed version of the bills.

She said Financial Services will send both the student and the parent or responsible party an e-mail about the eighth day of each month indicating the student bill is available online.

“Our hope is to have everyone signed up for e-Z Bill in the next couple of months,” Wilson said.