College fees refund: Still thinking you cannot get your money back

As the College Admission approaches every student works hard on finding Best College as per their need but sometimes many students tend to withdraw admission due to many reasons such as they do not find college adequate as per their need, false information, health issues, and other personal reasons. Reasons for withdrawing admission from a college can vary from student to student but a particular question always remains same that is: whether I will get the refund of submitted college fees at the time of admission and if yes then how?  We all are aware of the cases when students were not given submitted fees or the case of holding original certificates by a college upon admission withdrawal. After receiving many complaints regarding same from many students and parents, Prof. Dr. Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Secretary, University Grants Commission has directed via 2016 circular to the universities and institutions not to hold back any fees or original certificates. With this article, we will try to make you understand your rights related to admission and its withdrawal and how to tackle this kind of situation legally and effectively.

It is mandatory for all higher educational institutions of India those are registered and affiliated under University Grants Commission to follow its guidelines of fees refund remitted by the student.

• Refundable fees include course and non-tuition fees.
• Though refundable amount does not include caution or security money.
• No higher educational institution is supposed to deduct more than 10% of the aggregate fees in the name of processing fees.
• It is mandatory for all higher educational institutions to refund fees to an eligible student within the time period of 15 days from the date of receiving a written application.

Where to go for college fees refund?

As per the UGC (Grievance Redressal) Regulations 2012 it is mandatory for all universities to form a Grievance Redressal Committee to resolve any kind complaints and grievances effectively related to college fees refund and other college related matters. Always remember that if any college or university does not meet your expectation then you are eligible to get the refund of submitted fees even if the institute has a clause stating that the fee is non-refundable as per University Grants Commission rule.

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Documents required to be presented by the student at the time of college fees fund:

• Original copy of paid fees receipt.
• Document submission receipt.
• Other documents received by the institution.

Points to remember at the time of college fees refund:

• You are required to submit fees cancellation application in person.
• You cannot ask for the refund once the classes are commenced.
• All institutions are bound to return full fees if the vacant seat has been filled by another student by the last date of admission excluding the processing fees not more than INR 1, 000 as per the latest public notice published by UGC.
• All statutory universities recognized under Section 2(f) of UGC Act and all UGC affiliated domain and institutions providing undergraduate, post-graduate and research programs are required to follow this college fees refund policy.
• Get a copy of withdrawal or admission refund procedure from the college or university and aware yourself with the same before proceeding further.

College fees refund process followed in India:

• Visit admission office of your college to fill out the course cancellation form.
• You are required to fill one more form stating your banking details where you want your money to be transferred.

Points to remember while taking admission in colleges:

• You are not bound to submit the original academic documents like mark sheets, school leaving certificate, etc. at the time of giving admission form.
• You are also allowed to self-attest the copies of all documents at the time of admission with a system of verification of same at any stage.
• The undertaking of any original documents of the student by the higher educational institution is strictly prohibited as it is a tactic of blackmailing students especially in the case of admission withdrawal.
• In the case of suspicion over the authenticity of the documents, you can ask for the reference from the university or the board who issued that certificate to you.
• Buying of the prospectus of any college is not mandatory for the students, therefore, no higher educational institution can compel them to buy.
• As per the Right to Information Act, 2005, all higher educational institutions are required to disclose all information related to affiliation, accreditation rating, physical assets and amenities, course-wise sanctioned intake of students, details of faculty, membership of governing bodies and minutes of the meetings of bodies like Academic/Executive council, sources of income and the financial situation and any other information on their official website.
• No higher educational institution of India can collect the entire program(s) fees in advance. They are only allowed to take advance fees only for current semester or year.
• Know your college before taking admission as well as filing the complaint like its affiliation, governing body, etc.

Actions to take in case of disagreement with colleges:

• Under AICTE Act, it has power to direct the institutes and hence you can approach them.
• Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi.
• Use RTI (Right To Information) for further clarification.