Students waiting for an answer to tuition and financial aid problems will have to keep waiting, although both the Office of Student Financial Aid and the Office of Student Accounts and Cashiers said they expect to have the problems under control in the next few weeks.

The University planned to send tuition bills to students Sept. 1, but the new system delayed the process about 12 days, said Roger Pohlmann, director of Student Accounts. The University extended tuition due dates from Sept. 23 to Sept. 26 to compensate for the problem.

"This is not a problem we expected since we envisioned this as a smooth undertaking, but it just didn't turn out that way," Pohlmann said.

He also said about 6,500 students on campus may not have received their tuition bills because of an unknown computer error that resulted in a random group of students possibly being overlooked. He said everyone who has received a tuition bill should have had enough time to turn in the bill by today though.

Miki Kurita, sophomore in FAA, said she is still waiting to receive her tuition bill. Kurita said she went to the Henry Administration Building but did not have the time to wait in line for help.

"I was just concerned I would have to pay a late fee," she said. "But I would like to know how much I owe them so I can pay and get it taken care of."

The University charges students 1.75 percent of their total bill if they do not pay on time. Pohlmann said the University will try to work something out for those students who did not receive their bills on time.

"I don't think it would reflect well on the University if they made us pay late fees since it was their fault we didn't get our bills on time," said Sarah Kocher, junior in LAS who has not received her tuition bill yet.

Students who have not received tuition bills should call or go to the Student Accounts office in the Henry Administration Building, but they should expect to wait in line for help.

"Right now we are simply bombarded with so many questions, we don't have time to answer them all as promptly as we would like," Pohlmann said.

He said he expects no billing problems in future months.

"We're experiencing the same problems that we have every semester but they've been compounded by the new Banner system," he said.

Ginger Velazquez, assistant director of student accounts, said the billing mistake was just that, a mistake.

"It just happened," she said. "We're still researching which students it impacted."

Velazquez said Thursday afternoon that she expected to have the problem fixed by the end of the day, and that the office would mail the remaining bills immediately.

Orlo Austin, director of student financial aid, said the University got behind on financial aid and tuition billing not only because it just received the tuition estimate in June, but also because everyone is still adjusting to the Banner system.

"We've made short-term loans available to students and we'll send notes to the University recommending their fees be waived until they can pay them," he said.

Austin said the financial aid office is caught up with state and federal grants but behind with parent and unsubsidized direct loans. He said he expects the office to be largely back to normal by the end of next week.

"If students can't pay their tuition bills because of financial aid problems, they should come talk to our office and we will advise the University not to make the student pay until they are able to," Austin said.

Students can check the status of their financial aid online at UI-Integrate, the new Web site where students can check on their FAFSA and other forms they have submitted, credits to their accounts and awards they are waiting to receive. Students cannot make payments online but should check the Web site before going to the office, especially with the constant waiting lines to talk to staff.

SAFARI, the former financial aid Web site, has been replaced by the Banner system, but students can still use SAFARI to get their financial aid refunds directly deposited to their bank accounts.

"It's just a good idea to get familiar with our Web page because that's where we link to all our scholarship services and where we have a lot of information for them," Austin said.

He said students who do not need funds immediately should wait a couple weeks before they come to the office, but everyone will get the funds they need as soon as possible.

"The point we want to make is that if this is causing students to worry about their financial situation with the University, we want to apologize and let them know we are getting funds out as quickly as possible," he said. "We're behind and this is not the kind of service we like to offer."

Austin said the University has been working to switch to the new Banner system for almost two years.

"Unfortunately, two years sounded like enough time but, looking back on it, we could have used another year to plan and organize," Pohlmann said.