The honor system may be effective at combating plagiarism, but as ITSS has discovered, it doesn’t pay the bills.

ITSS, which stands for Information Technology Systems and Services, has decided that enough is enough for students who haven’t paid their bills in months, and it will soon begin enforcing stronger penalties and cracking down on those who are more than 60 days overdue in paying a balance of over $100.

Students can pay late bills until April 30, after which ITSS may disconnect their phone or in-room Internet connection services, place them on academic hold — preventing them from registering for classes or receiving a transcript — or even turn them over to an outside collection agency.

ITSS administrators said they hope the severity of these consequences will make students think twice before throwing out the little pink envelopes that show up in their P.O. boxes each month.

In November, The Daily reported that many students do not pay their monthly ITSS bills due to the absence of such consequences. In the article, Economics Prof. David Johnson said that it makes sense for students to postpone bill paying so that their money can earn interest in the meantime.

Associate Controller Allison Baird-James, who has been tracking the the number of students who pay their bills, said the article may have exacerbated the trend of late-payment.

“Once The Daily’s report came out, it took a steep dive,” she said.

The University has only been using an honor system for the last few years, Baird-James said, and by enforcing penalties on students, ITSS is merely “reinstituting policies that have been there in the past.”

Jay Kohn, executive director of shared services at ITSS, said that giving students until the end of month to pay is “something of an amnesty program,” considering that actions should probably be taken immediately.

Kohn said that ITSS has been trying to inform students of penalties by including notices in this month’s printed and electronic bills. She said that students with especially large balances may also receive a warning over the phone.

As for the strictest of the penalties — the use of a collection agency — Baird-James said that this action would be considered only as a last resort in cases where students have graduated and left Stanford with outstanding debts.

Being turned over to a collection agency can impact a student’s credit rating for up to seven years, which could keep them from receiving a loan to buy a car or a home.

Despite efforts to communicate these repercussions to students, many have not gotten the message, ITSS administrators said, perhaps because so few actually read through their bills.

Like many students, sophomore Kate Clevenger has not even opened her ITSS bills for several months, letting them pile up among the clutter on her desk.

Clevenger said that she has “no clue” how much money she owes for her Internet services, but that the new penalties have convinced her to change her ways.

“This is going to make me pay my bill,” she said.