UGC directs universities to refund cancellation, migration fee of first-year UG, PG students

According to UGC, if students cancel or withdraw their admissions from December 1 to December 31, the entire fee collected from a student will be refunded in full after the deduction of not more than Rs 1,000 as a processing fee.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) decided to refund the full amount of fee collected from the first-year undergraduate and postgraduate students in case the students have withdrawn their admissions or have migrated until November 30, 2020. The decision to refund the full amount has been taken as a ‘special case’ for this session after considering the financial hardships the parents have faced due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

However, the Commission further said that if students cancel or withdraw their admissions from December 1 to December 31, the entire fee collected from a student will be refunded in full after the deduction of not more than Rs 1,000 as processing fee.

An official statement released by UGC said: “In order to avoid financial hardship being faced by the parents due to lockdown and related factors, a full refund of fees be made on account of all cancellation of admissions/ migration of students, up to 30.11.2020, for this very session as a special case. To be crystal clear, the entire fees including all charges are refunded in totality (zero cancellation charges) on account of cancellation/ migration up to 30.11.2020. Thereafter, on cancellation/Withdrawal of admissions up to 31.12,2020, the entire fee collected from a student will be refunded in full after deduction of not more than Rs 1,000 as Processing fee.”

The statement further added, “The Commission has been receiving several references in the form of RTI applications/ complaints/ public grievances/ court cases in respect of non-refund of fee...Most of these complaints have come from the students who have taken admission in private or self-financing universities and deemed to be universities and later opted out for one or the other reasons."

The UGC in its official guidelines also stated that all the universities must follow the decision to refund the cancellation or migration fees. “Any institution/ university found to be violating the guidelines and refusing to refund the fee by giving its own interpretation of the guidelines shall be liable for punitive actions as notified in clause 5 of the UGC notification refund of fees and non-retention of original certification."

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