Talking Stick - March/April 2014 - 52

Conversations

Spreading the Cost of Facility Damage
Beginning on Facebook and ending in the Talking Stick, this
conversation reflects a discussion about damage billing.
Participating in this conversation are Stacy Oliver-Sikorski, associate director of
residence life for student success at Lake Forest College in Illinois, on Twitter at
@StacyLOliver; Brandon B. Barile, associate director of residential education at Hobart
and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, on Twitter at @bbarile; Kathryn
Magura, assistant director of operations at Oregon State University in Corvallis, on
Twitter at @Kmagura; and Mandy Martin, associate director for administrative services
at Florida State University in Tallahassee, on Twitter at @mandymartin488.

MANDY MARTIN
Stacy Oliver-Sikorski: I work really hard to

KATHRYN
MAGURA

Barile: We have a large pool of students who

make sure our students never get billed for
things outside their control. Common area
damage billing involves checking occupancy
rosters to verify residency; for individual
damages, we try to err on the side of staff
mistakes. It takes hours, lots of coffee, and
some headaches, but it's always worth it in
the name of being fair. We should do an open
session at ACE to talk about this. There has to
be a better way. Has to.

study abroad one of the two semesters or
graduate early. By billing room damages and
community damage in December and in May,
we bill closer to the actual date of damage,
which makes appeals a little easier for our staff,
and it is easier to bill students in the building/
floor for a specific occupancy date. Similar for
community damage - it reduces the "but my
student wasn't there this past semester" phone
calls. End-of-semester community billing allows
for charges to be deducted from the student's
deposit if they're departing the campus fully.
Otherwise, it would create a bill that may be
difficult to collect. We also hope that spring
damage is reduced since the returning students
have received their bills over the January break
and have had conversations with parents and
us about the damage, which creates a more
proactive approach for the spring.

Brandon Barile: I'm feeling your pain. Let's do

BRANDON
BARILE

STACY OLIVERSIKORSKI
52

Talking STick

it! I'm sure there are plenty of ideas out there to
streamline damage billing and appeals. We also
use occupancy dates for community damage,
although our housing management system
helps me a lot with that.

Kathryn Magura: Not billing mid-year is
helpful. We do our damage charges at the end
of the year, and that makes it more manageable.
Can either of you help me understand why you
would charge mid-year? Do you actually get
all the damages fixed before spring semester
begins?

Oliver-Sikorski: I'm just going to ditto
Brandon. Most of what I'm billing is
community damage and has already been
repaired. We have a huge contingency of study
abroad students who depart in December;
I need to capture them financially and be
authentic in their responsibility.
Talking Stick - March/April 2014

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