Refund Procedure

The University is committed to making refunds in a timely manner and has specific payment runs in this regard every two weeks.  We are bound by regulation to satisfy certain conditions before refunds are made and the student can help speed up the refund process by ensuring the following conditions are met;

‌‌Students must not intentionally overpay their tuition, accommodation fees and related charges and costs due to the University in order to obtain their living costs or circumvent any government regulation or restriction. The University is not able to act as a clearance account and must abide by UK money laundering laws.

All authorised refunds are returned to source, where source can be established, and wherever possible are paid by BACS (Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services, taking 3 working days to clear).   For fees that are paid by credit/debit card then refunds due to the student will be credited back to the card that made the original payment.    All refunds will be calculated in UK Sterling but may be refunded in the currency of the original payment. The University will not refund any shortfalls due to exchange rate fluctuations, or offer compensation for any bank or other charges incurred.  No refunds will be made in cash.  Refunds are not processed against individual receipts where there is an overdue balance on the student account but are applied to any outstanding balance.

If a refund has to be made to a parent or a 3rd party then authorisation should be obtained from the student prior to the refund being processed.

Where a student’s account is in credit as a result of overpayment of fees or some other fee adjustment it may be appropriate to carry forward the credit balance into the following academic year.   This may avoid any unnecessary transaction charges or exchange rate losses.

Fees paid in advance for international students who have subsequently been refused a visa are only refundable providing appropriate documentary evidence is available to demonstrate the circumstances.

Students who request a full or partial refund of fees may be charged an admin fee of £100 per transaction depending on the reason for the request. This admin fee will not be applied where the tuition and accommodation fees have been adjusted because of a Leave of Absence etc.

Where tuition and or accommodation fees are wholly or partially paid by a third party, the refund rules will be superseded by any relevant arrangement agreed by the University, concerning the student and the third party. This includes refunds of US Direct Loans which will be calculated according to the Return to Title IV (R2T4) regulations (PDF, 135 KB) .

Last reviewed July 2023

Allyson MacCrossan
Finance Operations Manager