South Carolina Code of Regulations
Chapter 62 - STATE COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Article I - LICENSING NONPUBLIC POSTSECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Section 62-18 - Cancellation and Refund Policy
Universal Citation: SC Code Regs 62-18
Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 3, March 22, 2024
Institutions that the U. S. Department of Education has approved for eligibility for Title IV Student Financial Aid must comply with the federal regulations governing institutional refunds. The following applies in other instances:
A. Each institution must maintain a cancellation and refund policy that must provide a full refund of monies paid by a student if:
(1) The student cancels the enrollment
agreement or contract within seventy-two hours (until midnight of the third day
excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after the enrollment contract
is signed by the prospective student;
(2) The applicant is not accepted by the
institution.
(3) For home study and
combination home study/resident institutions, if lessons are distributed before
the applicant is accepted by the institution or before the expiration of the
seventy-two-hour cancellation period has expired, and the applicant is not
accepted or cancels the contract within the cancellation period, a full refund
will be made, even if a lesson (or lessons) have been completed.
B. The institutional refund policy shall provide for a pro rata refund calculation, except that this paragraph will not apply for any student whose date of withdrawal is after the sixty percent point (in time) in the period of enrollment for which the student has been charged.
(1) Pro rata refund is a refund
for a student attending the institution for the first time of not less than
that portion of the tuition, fees, room and board, and other charges assessed
the student equal to the portion of the period of enrollment for which the
student has been charged that remains on the last day of attendance by the
student, rounded downward to the nearest ten percent of that period, less any
unpaid charges owed for the period of enrollment for which the student has been
charged, and less an administrative fee not to exceed one hundred
dollars.
(2) The portion of the
period of enrollment for which the institution charged that remains shall be
determined:
(a) in the case of a program that
is measured in credit hours, by dividing the total number of weeks comprising
the period of enrollment for which the student has been charged into the number
of weeks remaining in that period as of the last recorded day of attendance by
the student;
(b) in the case of a
program that is measured in clock hours, by dividing the total number of clock
hours comprising the period of enrollment for which the student has been
charged into the number of clock hours remaining to be completed by the student
in that period as of the last recorded day of attendance by the student;
and
(c) in the case of a
correspondence program, by dividing the total number of lessons comprising the
period of enrollment for which the institution has charged into the total
number of such lessons not submitted by the student.
(3) After the student's first period of
enrollment, a refund as provided in this section, except for room and board,
must be made for students who withdraw in subsequent period(s) of enrollment
due to mitigating circumstances. Mitigating circumstances are those that
directly prohibit pursuit of a program and which are beyond the student's
control: serious illness of the student, death in the student's immediate
family, or active duty military service, including active duty for
training.
(4) After expiration of
the seventy-two-hour cancellation privilege, if the student does not attend,
not more than one hundred dollars shall be retained by the
institution.
(5) All efforts will
be made to refund prepaid amounts for books, supplies and other charges unless
the student has consumed or used those items and they can no longer be used or
sold to new students, or returned by the institution to the supplier as "new"
merchandise.
(6) Refunds shall be
paid within forty days after the effective date of termination.
C. The refund policy for correspondence programs must provide that:
(1)
The effective date of termination for refund purposes will be the earliest of
the following:
(a) the date of notification to
the student if the student is terminated by the institution;
(b) the date of receipt of notice from the
student; or
(c) the end of the
sixth calendar month following the month in which the student's last lesson
assignment was received unless notification has been received from the student
that the student wishes to remain enrolled. (In this event, the written notice
from the student will be maintained in the student's permanent file.)
(2) If tuition is collected before
any lessons have been completed, and if, after expiration of the
seventy-two-hour cancellation privilege, the student fails to begin the
program, no more than one hundred dollars shall be retained by the
institution.
D. An institution is considered to have made a good faith effort to make a refund if the student's file contains evidence of the following attempts:
(1) Certified mail to the student's last
known address;
(2) Certified mail
to the student's permanent address; and
(3) Certified mail to the address of the
student's parent or listed next of kin if different from the permanent
address.
E. For programs consisting of a combination of home study lessons and resident training, not more than one hundred dollars will be retained by the institution for those students who fail to enter resident training.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. South Carolina may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
