Stephen Cacace has been the Bursar at Bronx Community College (BCC) since January 2022.

He graduated from Brooklyn College in 2009 and was assistant Bursar there since 2013. His work there in collections and communications, where he and his team won the CUNY Productivity Award in 2015 for his efforts working with students to solve questions about their outstanding balances. He achieved a 98.6% success rate. Stephen plans to use what he learned at Brooklyn College to help students at BCC.

The start of the pandemic in 2020 meant that many BCC students had problems paying their tuition. “Different options are available to students that they may not be aware of because many of them are first-time students straight out of high school. I work with them about their options including scholarships, payment plans and financial aid,” he noted.

Stephen believes that the Bursar’s office needs to build relationships with students. He does this by contacting them by phone, letters and email encouraging them to contact his office to explore all their options.

He enjoys his job because of the many success stories he has with students at Brooklyn College and BCC. “To see a student succeed and graduate makes all that we do worth it,” he said.

The biggest challenge he faces is when he doesn’t hear back from a student. He said: “We work closely with financial aid. We want to change the perception of the Bursar’s office as a place for putting a hold on student’s classes or having their account go to collections,” he said.

Stephen encourages all BCC students who are having problems paying tuition to contact the Bursar’s office at  http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/campus-resources/bursars-office/ to discuss their financial situation. “We are here to help,” he said.