A group of students in the Museum Studies Program was double-charged for their classes due to a computer glitch, a University spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.
All of the about 130 graduate students in the program – which moved off campus to a Metro Center office building from its Foggy Bottom townhouse in January – were affected by the glitch, University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard said.
“We were made aware of the issue late last week, and we are working to remedy the situation as quickly as possible,” Sherrard said.
She said the University is still determining the cause of the glitch.
Kym Rice, director of the museum studies program, deferred specific questions to the Student Accounts Office, but said, “We’re one of the first academic programs to move off campus and it is possible that they might have screwed that up in the accounting office.”
The program’s tuition rate for the 2011-2012 academic year is $1,235 per credit hour.
Jacob Goldstein, a second-year master’s student in the program, said he learned last week that his account was charged $3,700 in tuition fees he had already paid while trying to pay a small fee remaining on his bill. He visited the student accounts office and the charges have been reversed, he said.
“I went to talk to them in person and it was fairly easy, actually, once it was actually resolved,” Goldstein said. “I guess the biggest complication was the fact that they didn’t know about it, so when I initially went, they were just confused.”
The glitch did not affect any other departments or programs, Sherrard said.
Students in the program received a warning about the error Saturday, advising those with incorrect tuition bills to contact the Student Accounts Office.