At the beginning of the fall semester, Emory & Henry College finalized its switch to a new self-service system called Jenzabar. Students use this service to access important information, such as scheduling and financial aid, but many have reported extensive issues ranging from financial aid inaccuracies to academic scheduling conflicts.

Emilie Davis, a senior at E&H, experienced these new problems firsthand when she attempted to view her financial aid information. Even after she was able to access this section of Jenzabar, the information she found listed was incorrect.

“I have had a fluctuating total due for my tuition balance. It once told me I owed $30,000,” Davis explained.

Danielle Babock, a sophomore at E&H, reported having similar issues accessing her financial aid information within the new system.

“I have experienced multiple issues with Jenzabar, especially with the financial aid aspect,” she said. “I had so much trouble logging in and seeing my costs versus my scholarships and grants.”

Babock, like many E&H students, also has a work-study position at the college, and the information for this program is also located within Jenzabar. Babock has had difficulty getting this aspect of the system to work properly, as well.

Both Davis and Babock expressed that they felt Jenzabar was more difficult to use and created more issues than the previous self service system that E&H had been using for years.

However, it is evident that the issues with Jenzabar cannot be attributed to students having a difficult time switching form the old service to the new, since first-year students have also reported having problems, including Aubin Jefferson.

“I had some trouble with the system at first. Some of my login information glitched and my schedule kept changing itself,” Jefferson said. “ Some of my friends had trouble with scheduling too.”

Jefferson did note that although she and other first-years were having problems, especially with scheduling, the faculty and staff at E&H were quick to try and remedy the issues.

“IT and my advisors were all very helpful and fast getting back to me. My friends also got great help pretty quickly,” she said.

Davis emphasized that she was not a fan of the new system, and thinks if it continues functioning in this way, it will contribute to long term, negative effects on the relationship between faculty and students, especially when money is involved.

“It is not very user friendly in my opinion. It is even worse that my advisors and professors do not know how to work it either,” Davis said. “It has created trust issues.”

The Whitetopper staff reached out to faculty members who contributed to the decision to switch from the old self service system to the new Jenzabar system but were met with no response.