By Hannah Lilienthal

Time is running out for Wartburg students to pay the required $200 housing deposit.

With payment deadlines scattered throughout March, Todd Parsons, data coordinator in the business office, wants students to know when their payment is due before it is too late.

The deadline was March 1415 for students living in Löhe or The Residence next year. It’s March 21 for those planning to live in Knights Village and March 29 for all other residence halls.

Submitting a housing deposit is the first step in the process of finding a place to live for the next academic year. If the deposit is paid before the deadline, students receive a random lottery number used to determine the residence hall where they will live the next year.

“Whether or not you pay the housing deposit, you have been assigned a number based on a formula created by residential life,” Parsons said. “When you pay the housing deposit, we notify residential life, and they send you your number.”

Parsons said students should get their deposit in as soon as possible, but not before checking their account balance. For students to pay their deposits, their account balance must be below $1,000.

“We’re trying to keep the balances to a manageable level,” Parsons said. “Since we’re a smaller school, we try to be more lenient and understand that circumstances do come up. We’re willing to give you that cushion.”

Having the $1,000 “cushion” is meant to be helpful, said Parsons and Chief Business Officer Richard Seggerman, who urge students to keep their balances low to avoid digging themselves into a financial hole early on.

“If students have balances larger than $1,000 already, then we’re simply adding more charges in the future,” Seggerman said. “It’s not helping the student or the institution.”

No matter students’ ability to pay, Parsons and Seggerman want to make it clear that the financial aid and business offices are there to help.

“We’re here to work with students. We want you to graduate. We’re trying to help you along the way so that you don’t have more complicated things to deal with in the future,” Parsons said.