Bursar

Navigating College Finances as a Parent

Follow the Bursar Roadmap to help your student reach Financial Success!

1. For an estimate on your students’ educational expenses for the semester, you can use the Tuition and Fee Estimator. For tips on how to use the estimator, follow this tutorial.
2. It is important that your student knows their Bank’s routing number, and their account number (not their debit card number), when enrolling in Direct Deposit for refunds and setting up a payment profile on QuikPay.
3. Work with your student to establish your third-party authorizations for online account access, as well as permission to contact specific campus departments directly. To utilize both methods of access, your student must complete the following to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)):
   1. Establish you as an Authorized Payer through QuikPay (Nelnet) - This will grant you access to view student account activity, make an online payment via ACH(e-check), or credit card, see transaction history of payments made through QuikPay, save a payment profile, view/print a billing statement, as well as receive billing notification when a new bill is uploaded to Nelnet. 
   2. Establish you as an Authorized Proxy (Third-party) User (CougarNet) - This will grant you access to view your student's accounts on CougarNet, as well as contact selected campus departments. 
4. Know your student’s SIUE student 800-number and your Third-Party Proxy passphrase.
5. If your student has established you as an Authorized Third-Party Proxy to view their student account information, you have access to view and print the Form 1098-T Tuition Statement. Directions to access the 1098-T are found on the Tax Information
6. Bookmark the Pay My Bill and Payment Due Dates pages for ease of access.
7. Have your student check their account often via University Email, CougarNet, and SIUE app with notifications on for any updates.
8. Additional resources can be found at our FAQ, and video tutorials on navigating CougarNet, and other Bursar related portals at our Students and Parents