Sponsored Billing is the process whereby Georgia Southwestern State University bills an outside organization (sponsor) for a student’s tuition and/or fees, etc. Sponsored Billing is unique in that the sponsor requires a bill from the institution before remitting payment. If you are expecting a third party to pay your tuition and other fees, you need to make special arrangements with us to bill this sponsor.

Student Responsibilities

As a sponsored student, you have the following responsibilities:

• Contact us before the semester begins to let us know you are a sponsored student. A billing authorization from your sponsor must be received at least two weeks prior to the payment deadline. If we do not have your authorization on file by the deadline, we cannot guarantee that your classes will not be dropped for non-payment.
• Provide your sponsor with the correct GSW Student Account contact information (see below).
• Pay any charges not covered by your sponsor by the payment deadline to avoid being dropped from your classes for non-payment.
• Check your student account balance regularly via your RAIN account or the Touchnet portal. If your sponsored charges have not been paid, either we did not receive the billing authorization, it is incomplete, or it has not yet been processed. All billing authorizations received at least two weeks prior to the payment deadline will be processed within five business days from receipt.

Billing Authorization

We must have a billing authorization from your sponsor on file. An authorization letter or voucher on your sponsor’s letterhead, including the original signature of an official authorized to obligate payment by the company/organization.

Send at least two weeks before the fee payment deadline to the attention of:

Georgia Southwestern State University
Office of Student Accounts
Attn: Sponsored Billing
800 GSW State University Drive

Americus, GA 31709

or via email to:
stuaccts@gsw.edu

GSW requires authorization from your sponsor in order to establish a billing contract to bill your sponsor directly for payment of your student account charges. This billing authorization must:

1. Be written in English under the sponsor’s official letterhead.
2. Contain no restrictions or contingencies (for example, if the sponsor requires grades or transcripts prior to payment, the transaction does not qualify as Sponsored Billing so the student is responsible for payment by the billing due date then must seek reimbursement from the sponsor);
3. The authorization letter or voucher must itemize the type of fees and charges that the sponsor will be responsible for like tuition, housing, meal plan, mandatory fees, health insurance, etc.  **If the sponsor is paying for books and/or supplies on the student’s behalf, a Sponsored Billing Authorization will need to be provided directly to the GSW Bookstore (Contact the GSW Bookstore for more information: https://www.bkstr.com/gswstore/).
4. Stipulate the exact begin and end dates of the period for which the sponsor will pay the student’s charges (note: if the sponsor wishes to continue payment after the end date, the sponsor must submit a new Authorization). The voucher will only be valid for one academic term. Your sponsor must submit a voucher each academic term in order to continue the authorization process.
5. Indicate the student’s full name and GSW ID.
6. Indicate the name, billing address, telephone number and email address of the contact person at the company/organization that is responsible for payment.

Conditional Credit

Upon receipt of a valid billing authorization, Student Accounts will apply a conditional credit to the sponsored student’s account, then bill the sponsor after the add/drop period. Students whose sponsor has not authorized full payment of all tuition and fees are responsible for paying all un-sponsored charges by the payment deadline.

Students whose sponsor fails to pay the authorized charges within 60 days from when they are billed will have their conditional credit reversed and be billed for the unpaid charges. A financial hold will be placed on the student’s account until the balance is paid in full. Students are encouraged to remain in contact with their sponsor until the terms of the billing authorization have been met.

Examples of Sponsor Companies/Organizations

• Prepaid College Plans
• Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
• Hospitals
• Independent Living Program (ILP)
• Veteran Affairs