Tuition and Fees Procedures

1. All tuition will be calculated by course credit or equivalent where possible.


2. Tuition and fee information will be available on the College website.


3. Departments/Schools will not publish tuition or fees information in brochures, handouts or other materials. Departmental marketing material should refer to the College website.


4. All publicly available information must include the disclaimer that “tuition and fees are subject to change” and refer to an effective date.


5. Tuition and Mandatory Fees are reviewed annually and changes will be communicated as part of the annual budget process. 


6. Domestic students may be required to pay a Tuition Deposit. This information will be provided by the Registration Area in the Acceptance Letter.


7. International students must pay a Tuition Deposit to secure a seat in a program. This information will be provided by International Education.

RESPONSIBILITIES

8. The Board of Governors is responsible for:

1. Approving domestic and international tuition for new programs and courses, upon the advice of the Finance & Audit Committee.


2. Approving annual increases to domestic and international tuition, upon the advice of the Finance & Audit Committee.


3. Approving all domestic and international mandatory fees, upon recommendation by College Administration.

9. College Administration is responsible for:

1. Setting tuition and fees for non-credit Continuing Studies programs.


2. Making a recommendation to the Board of Governors regarding domestic and international tuition and all domestic and international mandatory fees.


3. Setting all other fees, taking into account the advice of Operations Council.

10. Financial Services is responsible for:
    
    
    
    1. Calculating and recommending tuition and fees.
    
    
    2. Maintaining a central listing of all current tuition fees.
    
    
    3. Maintaining complete and correct tuition payment schedules.
    
    
    
    


11. The Registrar's Office or delegate is responsible for:
    
    
    
    1.  Maintaining tuition and fee information within Banner.
    
    
    
    

ELIGIBILITY FOR DOMESTIC FEES

12. To be eligible for domestic fees, an applicant must provide proof of their status as a:
    
    
    
    1. Canadian citizen.
    
    
    2. Permanent Resident of Canada.
    
    
    3. Convention Refugee (requires documentation from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)).
    
    
    4. Foreign Caregiver (as stipulated by IRCC guidelines)
    
    
    5. International Exchange Student (requires evidence of an agreement of exchange with Vancouver Community College).
    
    
    6. Diplomat or consular officer carrying out official duties; or a dependent or spouse of any diplomat or consular officer.
    
    
    7. Legal dependent of Canadian citizen (requires evidence of legal dependency for a minimum of one year).
    
    
    
    


13. Documentary evidence will be required by the College in support of any changes to student status, such as proof of citizenship, Permanent Resident Card or passport demonstrating diplomatic status.


14. Eligibility for domestic fees is assessed and determined by the Registrar or delegate. The decision of the Registrar or delegate is final.


15. All students who are not eligible for domestic fees are expected to pay international fees.

TUITION & FEE DEFERRAL

16. If funding has been secured from an external source (i.e. government student loans, Indigenous Nations/Organizations/Agencies, or other third-party sponsors) but is not yet available by the deadline, a student may apply for a Tuition and Fee Deferral.  


17. The Fee Deferral Form, available from the Student Accounts Office, must be completed in full and approved by the Student Accounts Office or delegate.


18. Default of a fee deferral by the due date may result in the suspension of instruction or services until all outstanding fees are paid.


19. Students who do not apply for funding in a timely manner may not qualify for a fee deferral.


20. Fee deferrals for the StudentAid BC Program (SABC) purposes will authorize payment of all outstanding fees directly to the College.

PAYMENT OF FEES

21. Students must pay all outstanding balances by their payment deadline unless they have received an approved Fee Deferral.


22. VCC does not allow students with outstanding tuition fees to attend classes and discontinues such students from the program or course.


23. Non-payment of fees will result in the following:

For programs:

1. Students will be de-registered if the deposit or the first installment is not received by the due date.


2. Students who fail to pay their second and third installment by the due date will incur a late-payment charge and a hold will be put on their account. Refer to Late Fees Hold section, below.


3. Students are unable to register for additional courses if there is an outstanding balance in their account.

For courses:

1. If payment is not received by the due date, registration will be dropped without notice.


2. For Continuing Studies courses, students are generally required to pay tuition and associated costs at the time of registration in order to confirm attendance in a class. Students who do not pay will be dropped from the course.

24. Re-instatement into the program or course requires the following:
    
    
    
    1. payment of outstanding debts
    
    
    2. payment of a re-instatement fee
    
    
    3. permission from the Dean
    
    
    
    

OVERDUE ACCOUNTS

25. A student account is considered overdue when there are outstanding tuition fees.  


26. Once a student account is outstanding120 days or more, the account will be sent to a collection agency.   


27. If a agent, sponsor or student is on the overdue account list, the College will not provide credit to that agent, sponsor or student until they have paid their outstanding account balance.


28. If the student attends classes and tuition has not been paid, final grades will only be released once the student has paid their outstanding account balance.

Sponsor Accounts

29. A sponsor account is considered overdue when there are outstanding tuition charges and subject to a late fee.   Within the 120 days, the Student Account Office, Registrar's Office and Indigenous Education and Community Engagement departments will work with sponsors to address outstanding balances.  Sponsor accounts more than 120 days overdue will be sent to collections.

LATE FEES HOLD

29. A hold is placed as soon as a student account is considered overdue and will remain in place until the account is cleared. the hold will be maintains for accounts sent to collections.


30. Once a hold has been placed:
    
    
    
    1. access to student services will be limited,
    
    
    2. students will not be able to ­­­register for any future courses, and
    
    
    3. official transcripts will not be issued.
    
    
    
    


31. When a payment is made on the overdue account by a cheque, the College will allow 10 business days to ensure a cheque clears the bank.  The cheque must clear the bank before the account hold is released allowing subsequent registration, services, transcript release, and other student services. 


32. Once a student or sponsor clears the outstanding balance, the hold is removed and the student can register for classes and receive services.

NOT SUFFICIENT FUND (NSF)

33. If cheques are not honoured where drawn, VCC will assess a charge on all cheques returned by the bank. Students who pay for tuition or other fees with cheques for which there are insufficient funds or who place a stop payment order on their cheques are only permitted to make subsequent payments by cash, credit card, money order or certified cheque. 


34. A student must pay any fees including ancillary fees and bookstore charges owing to VCC before re-registering at any campus or obtaining any official record of grades.


35. For books and supplies, if there is a returned cheque, the account will be sent to collections through Financial Services.