What You Can Expect From Campus Financial Services

Understanding the financial aspect of college can be overwhelming. Colleges have different offices that handle various aspects of student finances, and they are all there to help you. This guide breaks down what you can expect from the financial services office, how it differs from the offices of financial aid and student employment, and what tools are available to help you stay on top of your payments.

What is the main role of campus financial services?

Campus financial services is an office that provides information and answers to questions regarding student accounts and payment plans. At Luther, we call this service “student accounts.” This office plays a key role in helping you manage tuition payments, view account statements, and set up payment plans.

What’s the difference between financial aid, financial services, or student employment?

Financial services, financial aid, and student employment work closely on administering student finances and helping students pay for college. Sometimes more than one office may need to be involved in answering a student’s question.

In general, here’s a way to tell the offices apart: 

• Financial aid: This office administers financial aid awards for students, based on federal and state regulations. Financial aid awards encompass money that you can use to pay for college that does not come from your own earnings or savings. The financial aid office also certifies student and parent loan applications. Finally, they offer financial counseling for students and their families. Read more about the basics of financial aid. 
• Financial services or student accounts: Once your financial aid plan is in place, your accounts and payment plans will be managed by financial services — at Luther, student accounts. 
• Student employment: This office connects students with work-study jobs on campus. At Luther, student employment is part of the human resources office. 

Can work-study money be used to pay my tuition?

This can vary by institution. At Luther, we do provide this option to students. You can use your work-study earnings to pay your tuition bill and/or use it for your own personal spending. If you want to apply some or all of your work-study earnings to your tuition bill, you need to fill out a payment plan form.

How do students see charges and pay their tuition?

How students are informed about charges and pay their bill can vary by institution. At Luther, students can access their account statement at any time through the Norse Hub portal. Statement activity is real-time and includes an itemization of charges billed, financial aid awarded, and payments received.

Are payment plans available?

Payment plans are available from many institutions. Some options include making payments annually, by semester, or monthly. In some cases, certain payment options may require a fee to participate in the plan.

Luther offers a 4– or 5–month installment payment plan. You can enroll in the payment plan by filling out an electronic form before the start of the semester. A payment plan requires use of the autopay feature, which means that Luther will process the payment on your behalf. There is no enrollment fee to participate in the payment plan for the 2025–26 academic year.

What’s the best way to stay on track with my payments? 

Scheduled payments. It’s important to know that Luther’s student accounts office counts scheduled payments as reducing your balance before late fees are assessed. In other words, you are subject to late fees only for the part of your balance for which you do not have a scheduled payment plan. Therefore, being proactive in setting up a plan will help you avoid late fees. And you don’t want late fees, because they can result in registration holds for future semesters.

What’s good to know

Whatever charges you may incur during your college years, there are staff members that can help you with finding ways to manage them. If you have questions about a college expense, contact the office you feel can help you best answer your question. If they can’t provide you with the help you need, they’ll be glad to point you in the right direction.

The Luther student accounts team is happy to help you and discuss payment options with you. Stop by our office in Main, or call us at 563-387-1015.