Refund Policy Guidelines
These guidelines are designed to facilitate an understanding of the refund policies set forth in the Amendments to Education Law Section 5002 passed in July 1990. On November 15, 1990 the Board of Regents approved final regulations defining an instructional week, quarter, and term.
Week: The number of hours of instruction offered to a student within 7 consecutive days. This figure may range between 2 and 30 hours. Upon educational justification from the school, a week of more than 30 hours may be approved provided the students are offered at least a one hour break each day. For programs of six or less weeks of physical length, one week equals 15% of the total clock hours of the program.
Mini-Course: 1-6 weeks
Quarter: 7-14 weeks.
Term: 15-18 weeks inclusively.
Semester: See Term.
Schedule: Any schedule name used by a school to separate different weekly offerings of the same program (i.e., full tune, part time, evening, etc.).
Clock Hour: An instructional unit of time consisting of a minimum of 50 minutes and a maximum of 60 minutes.
REFUND POLICIES
There are three general New York State refund policies: (1) Quarters Refund Policy; (2) Terms Refund Policy; and (3) Mini Program Refund Policy. Besides these general policies, the federal government requires its own return to Title IV policy for all Title IV eligible programs.
DETERMINING QUARTER OR TERM BASED REFUND POLICIES
School owners or directors must determine the appropriate refund policy for each program and each schedule of each program. In many cases, schools may opt for one of a number of refund policies. To assist in making this determination, see the Refund Policy Calculations Worksheet.
Instructions for Completing The Refund Policy Calculations Worksheet
IMPLEMENTING THE STATE REFUND POLICY
Once you have determined your refund policy, tuition liability will be apportioned according to that schedule. For example, if you have two terms or quarters, students' tuition liability will be divided in half. The more terms or quarters you have, the more the tuition liability will be divided. The various refund policies are listed below.
Many proprietary schools are concerned about the incompatibility of the State refund policy with those required by various accrediting agencies. Part 126.7(e) of the Regulations of the Commissioner states in part that "a school accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency may use the refund policy of such agency only to the extent that such policy offers the student less tuition liability than the provisions of subdivision 3 of section 5002 of the Education Law and is approved by the commissioner." In order to comply with State and accrediting agency policies, schools must compute student liability from the student's last date of physical attendance by all applicable refund policies. Whichever results in less student liability is the policy to be used. Since the best refund policy will vary depending upon the date that the student last attends, enrollment agreements and catalogs must set forth the State policy and make reference to the possibility that a student may receive a larger refund if the accrediting agency provides for such as of the date of last physical attendance.
ENROLLMENT AGREEMENTS
The Regulations of the Commissioner of Education require that refund policies be listed on the student's enrollment agreement. In developing new enrollment agreements, the schools must be aware of the following:
- A school cannot combine programs having quarter refund policies with programs having term refund policies on the same enrollment agreement.
- Enrollment agreements must be written in the same language principally used in the sales presentation pursuant to Section 5002 of the Education Law.
- Accrediting agencies may require that member schools list their refund policies on the enrollment agreement. In such a case, fully listing both the State policy and the accrediting agency policy may confuse the student. To prevent this, the State policy must be listed in its entirety with the accrediting agency policy listed by name only.
CATALOGS
When the school submits its catalog for approval, all refund policies used at the school must be included with an indication of which programs are covered by each refund policy. Education Law also requires schools to include a weekly tuition liability chart for each program that indicates the amount of refund due the students in the event of withdrawal.
SCHEDULE CHANGES
Many times a student finds that the original schedule, under which he/she enrolled, is no longer practical or desirable. A different schedule of the same program may have a different refund policy. If the school changes the student's schedule, the refund policy of the new schedule will be that which is in effect for the student. If a new schedule is approved, an enrollment agreement for the new schedule must be completed in full and attached to the original enrollment agreement.
REFUND POLICY LANGUAGE-QUARTERS
- A student who cancels within 7 days of signing the enrollment agreement but before instruction begins receives all monies returned with the exception of the non-refundable registration fee.
- Thereafter, a student will be liable for
- the non-refundable registration fee plus
- the cost of any textbooks or supplies accepted plus
- tuition liability as of the student's last date of physical attendance. Tuition liability is divided by the number of quarters in the program. Total tuition liability is limited to the quarter during which the student withdrew or was terminated, and any previous quarters completed.
- First Quarter
If termination occurs school may keep
Prior to or during the first week 0%
During the second week 25%
During the third week 50%
During the fourth week 75%
After the fourth week 100% - Subsequent Quarters
During the first week 25%
During the second week 50%
During the third week 75%
After the third week 100%
- First Quarter
- The student refund may be more than that stated above if the accrediting agency refund policy results in a greater refund.
REFUND POLICY LANGUAGE-TERMS
- A student who cancels within 7 days of signing the enrollment agreement but before instruction begins receives all monies returned with the exception of the non-refundable registration fee.
- Thereafter, a student will be liable for
- the non-refundable registration fee plus
- the cost of any textbooks or supplies accepted plus
- tuition liability as of the student's last date of physical attendance. Tuition liability is divided by the number of terms in the program. Total tuition liability is limited to the term during which the student withdrew or was terminated and any previous terms completed.
- First Term
If termination occurs school may keep
Prior to or during the first week 0%
During the second week 20%
During the third week 35%
During the fourth week 50%
During the fifth week 70%
After the fifth week 100% - Subsequent Terms
During the first week 20%
During the second week 35%
During the third week 50%
During the fourth week 70%
After the fourth week 100%
- First Term
- The student refund may be more than that stated above if the accrediting agency refund policy results in a greater refund.
REFUND POLICY LANGUAGE-MINI
(6 or less weeks in duration)
- A student who cancels within 7 days of signing the enrollment agreement but before instruction begins receives all monies returned with the exception of the non-refundable registration fee.
- Thereafter, a student will be liable for
- the non-refundable registration fee plus
- the cost of any textbooks or supplies accepted plus
- tuition liability as of the student's last date of physical attendance. Tuition liability is determined by the percentage of the program offered to the student.
If termination occurs school may keep
0 - 15% of the program 0%
16 - 30% of the program 25%
31 - 45% of the program 50%
46 - 60% of the program 75%
After 60% of the program 100%
- The student refund may be more than that stated above if the accrediting agency refund policy results in a greater refund.