By Marley Sledge, Photographer

The University of Montevallo has started using ‘buy now, pay later’ service Klarna.

The university’s use of Klarna is a new effort to combat its $8 million debt discovered in spring 2025. 

Due to budget shortfalls, the university has hired Joblarna “Fisher” Fisher, a first-year economics student, to be its Klarna associate.  

“I can’t believe this degree actually got me a job. Honestly, I just chose economics ‘cause I wanted to fish,” said Fisher. 

A statement from the university read: “We chose Joblarna to bring back the tried and true ‘hands-off’ approach to finances that our country runs on.” 

“The university asked me to make the first payment, and I had like $20,” Fisher said about his financial process. “So naturally, I clicked the $20 option and there you go it dropped the debt to $20 just like that.” 

Experts say that the $20 Klarna option would take 400,000 years to pay off. 

When told the 2026 debt of $20 was paid off, university officials said they would now seek to buy back the University Lake to “dump more trash in it.” 

Students were shocked by the news of the lake, with one student commenting “We have a lake?”

In an apology issued by the university, they stated that the statement about trash was a typo.  

“We care deeply about Shelby County’s environment, and we want to assure everybody that the previous statements about putting trash in the lake were a typo. We plan to build an AI data center inside the lake for our non-English majors,” the university said. 

Fisher commented on the statement: “I can’t believe how well the Klarna debt project has turned out. Without having to write papers and worry about money stuff, college can go back to what it was meant to be: fishing.” 

In an anonymous statement from the English department, someone wrote: “Why?” 

A response is expected in the coming weeks as the Klarna situation develops.