Tuition Fees

Payment of Tuition Fees and Charges

The information detailed below has been revised for students enrolling at the College during 2010/11.

1. Payment of Tuition Fees Tuition fees are payable in full at the time of enrolment. "Tuition fees" can comprise course fees, registration fees or any other charge relating to the
   course. Payment is accepted by cash, cheque or credit card (Visa, Mastercard).
2. Payment by Student Loan Company or Employer
   If your fees are to be paid by the Student Loan Company (SLC) or by a sponsor such as your employer, please ensure that all the information is available to enable us to raise the appropriate invoices and to allow your sponsor to make payment on your behalf. You must present a letter from your SLC or your employer. It is your personal responsibility to ensure that your fees are paid.
3. Late Payment
   If you become aware that you payment will be late, you must contact the Finance Department (located in the Millfield Building, Building 1, Level 2) to explain your situation. If you are in genuine difficulty with payment, an authorised member of the College's Finance Department will try to agree a plan of payment with you that you can afford. If you default, you will be contacted within two weeks and asked to make an immediate payment by another method. If this payment fails, sanctions listed in the section 7 may be applied.
4. Difficulty with Payment
   If you are experiencing difficulties in paying your tuition fees you should seek help at the earliest possible opportunity. Initially you should approach staff in the College's Finance Department. You may also wish to speak to the Student Finance Office (located in the Brunswick Street Building, 1st floor, Room 102D) or staff in our Students' Union (located in the Millfield Building, Building 2, Level 0, Room 2).
   
   Belfast Metropolitan College will be sympathetic and assist where we possibly can. However, in order to maintain the quality of teaching and activities for all of our students, the College must act to recover debts.
5. Early Withdrawal from a Course
   The College's policy is that all tuition fees are paid in full and are not refundable. The exceptions to this are as follows:
   • A course/session is cancelled by the College. Where the cancellation of a course takes place, students will be offered either a place on a suitable alternative course or a full refund.
   • Where a student has not attended a course and has provided written notification to the College at least 5 working days before the course commences.
   • If the time, day or evening meeting of the class has been changed and the student is unable to continue attending because of these changes, a refund will be issued if written notification is received within 20 working days of the change.
   • Other refund/cancellation applications shall be considered only in exceptional circumstances by the Director and Chief Executive or designated authority (currently Head of Finance).

   If an applicant has made more than one attendance, no refund/cancellation may be given, except in circumstances as listed in sections 3 or4. However, where a refund has been refused it may be possible to transfer the tuition fee paid to another programme.

   All such applications shall be passed to the appropriate manager for processing. Requests for the refund/cancellation of tuition fees may be recommended for payment by the Site Administration Manager/Programme Area Manager and authorised by the Director and Chief Executive or her delegated authority.

   Where a refund has been authorised, payment originally made by credit or debit cards will be refunded by cheque.

6. Payment of Tuition Fees by Student Loan Company
   Please note that you have been granted a tuition fee loan from the Student Loan Company, but withdraw before completing your course, the Student Loan Company will not pay your tuition fees in full. In these circumstances, you will be liable for any unpaid amount and expected to repay this outstanding balance to the College. On some occasions, depending on the withdrawal date, the Student Loan Company may pay your tuition fees in full but reclaim a proportion back retrospectively from the College when they are advised of the withdrawal date. Similarly, in these circumstances, you will be liable for this amount in full and expected to repay this to the College.
7. Sanctions against Debtors
   If you owe outstanding tuition fees i.e. you are a debtor to the College, any or all of the following sanctions will be applied:
   • You will not be entitled to receive tuition i.e. you will be terminated from the course;
   • You will not be entered for examinations;
   • You will not have your assessment marks forwarded to the examining body;
   • You will not be allowed to enter the examination room to sit your examinations;
   • Your examination results will be withheld;
   • Your examination certificates will be withheld;
   • You will not be eligible to attend the College's Graduation Ceremony.
   Outstanding student fees will either be referred to a Debt Recovery Agency for recovery or placed with the Small Claims Court for judgement and payment. Costs associated with either procedure will be added to your account. Should you choose to cancel your Direct Debit agreement at any time after your course has begun, you will continue to be regarded as a debtor until your outstanding fees have been recovered.
8. Student Debt from Previous Years
   If you have a debt outstanding (part or full fees) from a previous year, you will not be allowed to enrol for a course in the new academic year. If you have a debt outstanding (part or full fees) from a previous year and have enrolled in the current year, the College will set off any payments received in the current year against your outstanding debt i.e. the most recent payments will go against the oldest debt. You will be required to pay your outstanding balance from the previous year and the current year tuition fees. Should you not pay outstanding and the current year fees, the sanctions outlined in section 7 above will be applied.
9. Reinstatement on Payment of Full Tuition Fees
   If you have been excluded from the College because you have not paid your fees, you may be reinstated if you pay in full the outstanding tuition fees before the end of the academic year. However, if you are consequently behind with your studies, you may have to repeat parts of the programme, thereby incurring further fees. These fees will be payable by you.
10. Student Status
    The fees for the course(s) which you will enrol on will be classified as either home or international. Please note that confirmation of eligibility may be sought before enrolling or during the course. Appropriate fees must be paid accordingly. If you are unsure of the residency requirements, please refer to the criteria laid down by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) within their circular FE 06/07. Click here to access this document. (Note to designer – this document is found in the corresponding page within the existing website.)
11. Appeals Process
    If you are unhappy about any matter relating to fee payments you should, in the first instance, contact the Finance Department. If the matter remains unresolved or not resolved to your satisfaction, you may bring a complaint forward under the College's Complaints Procedure – Click here to access this document. (Note to designer – this document can be obtained in the corresponding page within the existing website).

Contact Sara Jamison
Accounts Receivable Section
Finance Department
Building 1 – Level 2
Millfield Building
125-153 Millfield
Belfast BT1 1HS
Tel: 028 9026 5468
Email: accounts@belfastmet.ac.uk

Fees and Finance – All you need to know