Undergraduate Tuition Refund Committee | Terms of Reference

Background

The academic calendar states that students become responsible for their course or program fees upon registration. These fees may be adjusted only if a student officially drops courses, withdraws, cancels registration or changes status.

Students are responsible for knowing the courses in which they are registered. Students are required to formally drop courses, most often by using Online tools - Student services, rather than rely upon instructors or academic units to drop them due to non-attendance.

Mandate

The university's Undergraduate Tuition Refund Committee adjudicates requests from students to refund or reduce tuition fees for courses dropped due to unexpected and unavoidable circumstances, conflicting responsibilities, or administrative error.

Principles

The Committee will apply an equity-informed and intersectional lens in reviewing all requests, recognizing that experiences of systemic discrimination are shaped by multiple and intersecting identities, structures, and systems of power, privilege, and oppression.

The Committee will:

• Ground its review of requests in an assumption of good faith on the part of students, in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary.
• Consider intersectional experiences and multiple forms of disadvantage and privilege.
• Recognize historical, structural, and systemic factors that contribute to inequitable outcomes.
• Assess both intended and unintended impacts of policies and practices.
• Seek perspectives from affected communities and relevant campus partners where appropriate and consistent with the mandate of the Committee.

Authority and scope

The Committee has authority to approve, partially approve, or deny requests to refund or reduce tuition fees for dropped courses.

The Committee does not consider requests to refund fees paid for any other purpose, including but not limited to application fees, acceptance deposits, and co-op program fees.

The Committee does not adjudicate matters of an academic nature (e.g., academic standing or concessions, student concerns with course content or structure or delivery, etc.). Academic matters are the responsibility of course instructors, departments, faculties and the Senate. Students should refer to the Appeals section of the University Calendar for more information about resolving appeals of an academic nature.

Status

The Undergraduate Tuition Refund Committee is a standing committee that reports to the Registrar.

In adjudicating requests, the Committee operates as an independent body and renders decisions based on the criteria established in these Terms of Reference.

Membership

The membership of the Committee will consist of 5 voting members:

• Associate Registrar, Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management (Chair)
• A representative of the Tuition Fees office
• Manager, Student Support Services (Vice Chair)
• A representative of the Office of Student Life
• An elected representative of the University of Victoria Student Society (UVSS)

Quorum shall be three voting members, including the Chair or Vice Chair, and either the elected representative of the UVSS or the representative of the Office of Student Life.

A representative of the Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management will act as the recording secretary.

Committee procedures

• The Committee will meet as needed to consider all requests in a timely manner, on average once per month. Upcoming meeting dates and deadlines for submissions will be posted on the Undergraduate Tuition Refunds website.
• At each meeting, the Committee shall consider all pending requests prior to considering other business.
• The Committee may defer a decision pending receipt of more information and may request additional documentation from the student.
• Members shall declare any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest and recuse themselves from consideration of a request where such a conflict exists
• The Committee shall determine its decision regarding a request by voting. A simple majority of the voting members present must be in favour for a request to be approved. In the event of a tie vote, the request will be denied.
• A record of the minutes of meetings and decisions made by the Committee shall be kept in the Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management, as well as a record of best practices to support consistency in its decisions.
• Documentation and discussions regarding requests shall be held in confidence. Committee members shall not discuss the substance of a request outside Committee meetings.

Tuition refund request process

Students requesting a refund or reduction of tuition fees for dropped courses based on the grounds for refund below must submit both a Tuition Refund Request form and documentation that supports the grounds upon which the request is being made. The supporting documentation must demonstrate the impact of the situation on the student’s studies within the specific academic term in which the courses were dropped.

Should the Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management anticipate that the request lacks sufficient supporting documentation, the student may be advised and given the opportunity to supplement the request before it goes to the Committee.

Students will normally be informed in writing of whether their requests have been granted in full, in part or denied within ten business days of the Committee meeting at which the request was considered. This written notice will include the rationale underlying the decision and, in the case of a request that has been denied, outline the grounds and process for appeal.

A student whose request has been granted in full or in part will have the approved amount credited to their tuition fee account. The credit will be applied towards outstanding tuition fees or future terms in which the student has registered and been assessed tuition fees.

Grounds for refund

A student may only request a refund of tuition fees for dropped courses on one or more of the following grounds:

1. Unexpected and unavoidable circumstances, including, but not limited to:
   
   1. Illness, trauma or bereavement,
   2. Personal or family affliction, including responsibility to care for a family member, or
   3. Indigenous cultural or community obligations; and
2. Conflicting responsibilities, including, but not limited to,
   1. Service in the armed forces or emergency services,
   2. Representing the university, the province or the country at an academic event, an athletic competition or an artistic performance
3. Evidence of incorrect advice or errors of administration by authorized University personnel, with evidence that the student’s ability to make timely decisions about their registration was adversely affected as a result.

A student who has been approved for a Request for Academic Concession may submit a Tuition Refund Request to the Committee but is not guaranteed to be approved for a refund. In most cases, a student who has been approved for a Backdated Drop will normally be eligible for a full tuition refund.

Grounds not accepted

Students who have completed all course requirements will not be eligible for a refund.

A change in employment or financial situation is not in itself normally grounds for a refund.

Dissatisfaction with University regulations, lack of awareness of dates or deadlines or failure to meet published deadlines, and unsubstantiated technical difficulties will not constitute grounds for a refund of tuition fees.

Considerations and criteria for decision-making

The Committee will evaluate requests based upon written rationale statements provided by students, along with the supporting documentation, and in accordance with the guidelines established above. The Committee will not consider requests submitted without supporting documentation.

The Committee’s review of requests will include consideration of the following:

• length of time the student remained registered in the course;
• timing of the circumstances giving rise to the request in relation to published registration and tuition fee reduction deadlines;
• whether the circumstances were beyond the student’s control and could not have reasonably been anticipated or mitigated;
• the extent to which the circumstances directly prevented the student from completing course requirements, or dropping the course in accordance with published deadlines;
• the nature, severity, and duration of the circumstances, as supported by documentation;
• whether the student took reasonable steps to seek assistance or resolve the situation when the circumstances arose;
• the interests of fairness and consistency with previous decisions made under this policy.

The Committee will assess each request on its individual merits. Approval of a refund in one case does not establish a precedent for future decisions, and all requests will be evaluated based on the specific circumstances and evidence provided.

Time limit for submitting a request

A student must submit a request for a refund within two (2) years of the end of the term in which the course was dropped.

If the request is submitted after two years have elapsed, the student must provide documentation to support the delay in requesting a refund. In exceptional circumstances, the Committee Chair may consider whether the reasons warrant an extension of the time limit.

Appealing a decision of the Committee

In cases where new information becomes available which, despite the exercise of due diligence by the student, could not have been presented at the time of the original decision, the student may submit an updated request to the Committee. The new information must be relevant and significant enough that it could reasonably have changed the decision if it had been submitted with the original request.

If a student alleges that the Committee has not adhered to these Terms of Reference or has otherwise acted unfairly in denying a request, the student may appeal the decision of the Committee to the Registrar. Dissatisfaction with the decision of the Committee is not grounds to appeal the decision.

In considering appeals of decisions by the Committee, the Registrar will consult as appropriate with the Director of Budgets before rendering a decision.

Students will normally be informed in writing of whether their requests have been granted in full, in part or denied within fifteen business days of submitting an appeal to the Registrar. This written notice will include the rationale underlying the decision.

Decisions of the Registrar are final.

Resources

The Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management will provide administrative resources and support to the Committee, unless otherwise agreed by the Committee.

Annual report

The Committee will prepare an annual report for the Registrar, copied to the Provost, by June 30th of each year. The annual report shall contain aggregate and anonymized information regarding the number, nature, and outcome of requests.