Southern expects its employees to model good stewardship through effective management of resources and financial responsibility. Upon accepting employment at the university (or at any time during their employment), if an employee has an outstanding Southern Adventist University student account balance, he/she should make every effort to bring their account current or to a zero balance. Employees are requested to meet with the Student Finance department to address this matter by entering into a payment plan as needed.
If the payment plan or student account balance has not been addressed despite attempts by the university to collect the debt, the employee may be subject to payroll deductions for this purpose. This form of repayment under federal and state law is acceptable in order to collect debt that is owed to the employer so long as acknowledgement has been established by all parties. Wage reduction will not exceed 15 % of the employee’s disposable income (amount remaining after taxes and other mandatory charges have deducted), or fall below the minimum wage. Employees should make every attempt to pay off the student account within 12 months from the time of hire (or from the time the account goes past due; if this occurs outside of early employment when normally this may be addressed), to include additional voluntary payments outside of the payroll deduction schedule.
This method of settling a student account via payroll deduction is not intended for balances owed for additional courses beyond what is provided via the employee benefit (tuition-waived courses) nor would be applicable to pay for spouse or dependent student accounts.