E-BILLING AND ON-LINE ACCESS TO THE STUDENT ACADEMIC RECORDS SYSTEM (STAR)
The College of the Holy Cross offers a student academic records system (STAR) that allows students to grant internet access to their tuition bill, grades, and financial aid award information to parents and other authorized users. While students will use STAR for grades, course enrollment, and financial aid, the College has also provided two portals for parents and other authorized users. The Parent Portal includes grades and financial aid and is hosted by the College. The second portal, hosted by TouchNet Bill+Payment, includes the student bill and payment options. Students will also have access to a TouchNet account.
The student determines who has access to each portal and what information they may view in order to be complaint with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), a federal law enacted to protect the privacy of students. Students will need to grant access to others by creating an authorized user account in both STAR and TouchNet Bill+Payment. Students, parents, and authorized users will receive e-mail notification when new information, such as a new billing statement, is available to view in TouchNet.
Students take the first step by granting access. Students will be able to access STAR once they receive their Holy Cross email address in late May and at this time should complete the consent process:
- review each authorized users’ contact information (please note that an email address is necessary to receive communications from the College),
- review their security profile, and
- authorize access by agreeing to the consent statement.
If access was not yet granted to a parent or other authorized user during the acceptance deposit process, please take the time to review your current setup and consider granting access. The process should not take more than five minutes of your time. We urge you to complete this consent process promptly to avoid any interruptions to service once the billing cycle starts in mid-June. Please keep in mind that the Bursar Office can only speak with those individuals that you, the student, have granted access.
Once access has been granted to STAR, the student will need to do the following to grant access to TouchNet Bill+Payment:
- Click on TouchNet Bill+Payment under Finances in STAR
- Click on Authorized Users
- Click on Add Authorized Users
Parents and other users authorized by each student will receive a separate communication with a link to configure both their Parent Portal account and their TouchNet access.
If you do not grant access to a parent or other authorized user or if your parent or other user chooses not to activate their access to TouchNet Bill+Payment, it will be YOUR responsibility to share your grades and ensure that bills are forwarded to the appropriate party so that payment arrangements can be made by the due date. Students, whose parents or other billing sponsors do not have access to e-mail, will be responsible for printing a copy of their bill and delivering it to the responsible party.
The College of the Holy Cross is pleased to provide this service to our students and their families. Many colleges and universities across the nation have successfully implemented electronic services for their parents. It is a secure, cost-effective, environmentally responsible means of communication that will allow students, parents and other authorized sponsors to receive information in a timely manner.