Student Councils, Orgs Adopt E-receipt System For Safekeeping Payment Slips

𝐁𝐘 𝐉𝐎𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎

A new way of safekeeping payment slips was adopted by the university student council, college student councils, and student organizations for their financial transactions starting in late January.

The new technology was developed by Quarta BU student developers in cooperation with the BU University Student Council (USC) to enable student organizations to use electronically generated receipts.

Clarence Janna Nieva, the Quarta BU president, and USC finance officer said that the new receipt system would make use of electronically-generated financial records in the safekeeping of the payment slips of students and a transition from the physical receipts of the student’s fees such as but not limited to, the collection of membership fees, USC and CSC fees, ID validation fees, and student insurance premiums.

“Firstly, it will be less costly on the part of them [CSCs], and then mas portable siya kasi it’s not [anymore] physical, it’s here [in our phones which are] always with us. Also, we’re transitioning [into a] digital ecosystem. Why not BU, as a world-class university di ba, jump into a digital ecosystem din when it comes to our [receipt] system?” Nieva said.

Convenient and cost-efficient

As of writing, 17 organizations signed up already in the system including CSCs and university and college-based organizations, and the charge of the receipts will be from the organization’s fund.

According to the agreement, every 200 receipts cost P150; 500 receipts cost P375; and 1086 receipts cost P750. A single e-receipt costs 75 centavos which the 25 centavos would go to USC, Quarta BU, and Quarta BU student developers.

“The e-receipt system talaga [provides] more organized keeping of the payments ng bawat student, so in that sense, mas mapapadali ang trabaho ng mga treasurer… mas mapapadali ang pagkolek ng CSC fee ng mga students,” Jan Carlo Bagasbas, the College of Engineering CSC treasurer said.

Moreover, students can also easily request receipts for their payments and the treasurers could validate their requests, which will be sent through their emails.

“It’s about time to use this method. I fully support the e-receipt system for better organization, less paper trail and the loss of paper receipts will be prevented,” said Mar Francis Lotivio, BUCSSP Political Science Club treasurer who adopted the e- receipt system.

Some reservations

On the other hand, according to BU Polangui Campus (BUPC) CSC President, Tricia Kaye Moya, they did not sign- up in the system as they were able to purchase and issue physical receipts at the start of their term.

“It would be convenient po sana if do’n po sana sa start ng term namin, pero if ngayon medyo late na po and ‘yung kumbaga ire- recommend na lang po namin siya sa next na council para po easier din sa kanila,” said Moya.

Also, BU College of Science (BUCS) CSC still uses physical receipts, thus not yet adopting the e- receipts system.

“In addition, in terms of priority rin po of fund utilization…since ‘yun nga po mayroon pa kami na physical receipts and we are using the fund po to our advocacy project, the [up]coming LitViMusDa event and other proposed [projects] of the council,” said Jericho Bigtas, BUCS CSC president.

Bigtas added that it’s not that they do not want to use the e- receipt, but they are still finding a way to utilize it in the council.

Student views

Furthermore, Jerwin Casabuena, BSED English 2 student of the College of Education (CE) said the use of e- receipt instead of the usual physical receipt is more convenient and less hassle as it lessens the expenses such as the use of ink and paper.

“I believe it [e- receipt] is more of a positive [side] because we use technology advancements, which may be an indication that we’re becoming somehow a [more] world-class university,” said Daryll Callo, BA English 3 student, College of Arts and Letters (CAL).

According to Angelica Pantua, BS Nursing 2, BU Tabaco Campus, using both kinds of receipts, the physical and the e- receipt is good, however, if the new system makes the work easier, I think it would be best to use it since BU e-mail will be used to assure the security of the payments.

“On our part as students, there is an instance that we need receipts, especially when complying with our requirements, scholars for example, it is also an easy way to find such receipts and apart from that, it requires less effort,” said Casabuena.

System updates and security
During the simulation of the system last October 2022, it has been announced that November was the original launching date which was eventually moved to January 2023 to have more time to prepare for the system and other USC projects.

“It was really an idealistic time to have planned it on November, however after the event [simulation], maraming nangyaring events ng USC so we might as well make time for other projects. We made time for other projects din so we saw January as the perfect time to launch it, so we had prepared for four given months,” said Nieva.

The access to the system was solely connected to the organization’s BU e-mail as a primary security tactic.

“So far the billers database only will be given access, the organization will only be given access to their own database. It means na kapag different organization ka, hindi mo ma-a-access yung database ng kabilang organization, so ‘yun may mga security system naman na installed into the system,” Nieva said.

Additionally, Noel Chris Hernandez, one of the Quarta e-receipt system tech developers, said that their developing team put layers of security in the system that could not be easily accessed by other unauthorized persons.

“First of all, you will not be given the e-receipt if we did not receive your payment. Your payment will still be reliable if you have the OR [official receipt] number of the online payment that you used,” said Mar Francis Lotivio, BUCSSP Political Science Club treasurer who adopted the e- receipt system.

Meanwhile, the Office of Students Affairs and Services suggested adding more layers of identity.

“With the consultation with OSAS, we added more data into the receipt like the course of the students. We created a more comprehensive receipt that is complete,” Nieva said.

The developers envision the full adoption of the e-receipt by all organizations and share the project with other universities.

Written by

Joanne Borromeo is a Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English student at the BU College of Education. She joined the Universitarian in 2020- 2021 as a staff writer and as a public relations staff in 2022.

Photo by

Levi Ivan Delgado is a BS Geodetic Engineering student at the BU College of Engineering. He joined the Universitarian as a photojournalist in 2022.