III. Obligation & Collection of Tuition & Fees
A. A financial obligation is incurred at the time a student elects to register. Registration may be canceled without financial obligation at any time before the scheduled first day of classes. During the first two weeks of a regular semester or first week of a summer session, students may register or add classes with an additional fee. A student establishes a student account with the Bursar’s Office for the sole purpose of financing his or her education. Any charge on a student’s Bursar account is an educational benefit overpayment made by the University of Oklahoma and will be considered non- dischargeable in bankruptcy.
B. Students may pay fees in the Bursar’s Office beginning the first day of the semester or summer session. Monthly statements will be prepared and mailed prior to the fee payment deadline. Failure to receive a statement will not exempt a student from late penalties. It is the student’s responsibility to determine his or her financial obligation and how it is to be met.
C. To avoid penalties and/or service charges, students are required to pay all tuition and fees in total prior to the date designated by the Bursar’s Office as the last day to pay tuition and fees without penalty. At the time of registration, students will receive detailed instructions as to when fees are due, what the late payment penalties are, and the consequences of non-payment.
D. Students may pay their tuition and fees in four payments during each fall and spring semester. These payments are subject to the service charge as defined in paragraph E. Students who do not pay their tuition and fees during the period noted above will be considered to have delinquent accounts. The Bursar’s Office will send “Overdue Notices” directly to the students when their tuition and fees are not paid on time.
E. Students will be charged a monthly service charge on any unpaid balance on their student accounts receivable that is one month past due. The monthly service charge rate is published by the Bursar’s Office each semester. The minimum monthly service charge shall be $.50.
F. Service/Late Payment Charges may be waived if the University, through its action or inaction, has caused the payment for tuition and fees to be made beyond published deadlines or if there are extraordinary circumstances (e.g., a death in the family, serious illness, accident, etc.) which results in the student’s tuition and fees not being paid by the published deadlines. The extraordinary circumstance must be an event that the student could not reasonably control or foresee. Extraordinary circumstances do not include reasons such as failure to receive a bill, not having the funds to pay, other payments due, or other reasons which could be reasonably controlled by the student. Students requesting a waiver of the Service/Late Payment Charges due to an extraordinary circumstance should submit a written request to the Bursar fully describing the circumstances and include copies of supporting information. Requests for waivers should be submitted prior to the published deadline for tuition and fee payment whenever possible. The Bursar shall review the request and supporting documentation and determine whether a Service/Late Payment Charges waiver is to be made. In addition, students requesting Service/Late Payment Charges waivers should contact the Office of Financial Aid to determine if the extraordinary circumstance makes them eligible for aid from any of the University’s financial aid programs. Students paying tuition and fees with financial aid must obtain a Service/Late Payment Charges waiver from the Office of Financial Aid. Eligibility for this waiver will be determined by the Office of Financial Aid.
G. Students with outstanding tuition and fees not in conformance with items C or D above at the beginning of any enrollment period will not be permitted to enroll. The Bursar’s Office will notify the Registrar of the names of those students with outstanding tuition and fees. Except for STOPS on students’ accounts that have been referred to the University’s Legal Counsel Office, the Bursar or his or her designee may remove enrollment STOPS as an exception to this policy when, in the judgment of the Bursar or his or her designee, there are extraordinary circumstances that prevented the students from paying outstanding tuition and fees. A quarterly report of STOPS removed due to extraordinary circumstances shall be available to the University’s Legal Office and to the Office of the President. This report shall include, as a minimum, the student’s name and the dollar value of the STOPS removed.
H. Until and including the last day of final examinations, students may pay their delinquent accounts by paying tuition and fees for all of their original enrollment plus the service charge noted above. Students settling their delinquent accounts after the last day of final examinations will be charged an additional penalty over and above charges for delinquent accounts noted above. The amount of the additional late payment charge is published each semester.
I. The Bursar’s Office will notify the Registrar of the names of those students whose tuition and fees are not paid by the last day of classes so that, subject to the requirements of federal laws or regulations, the Registrar can withhold the reporting of their final grades.
J. Students can withdraw from courses only with the permission of the instructor (and deans when necessary) as per current policies and procedures. Withdrawal from classes does not relieve students of their financial obligation to the University. Students who register in classes and decide not to attend without canceling their registration prior to the first day of classes and students who decide to quit attending classes without withdrawing will be charged 100% of the tuition and fees due to the University.
K. Those students who wish to pay tuition and fees to reinstate a semester or summer term after the last day of finals for that session must be referred to the Vice Provost for Instructional Services on the Norman Campus or the Vice Provost for Educational Services on the Health Sciences Center campus for a final decision. The basic posture would be that retroactive reinstatement may be allowed only in cases where it can be established that the University somehow contributed to the student’s late payment by some error on its part. Students requesting to be retroactively enrolled or added for prior semesters will be charged the enrollment/tuition and fee rates in effect for the current semester plus applicable late fees and service charges. Regardless of when a student pays tuition and fees, payment for the entire enrollment is required. Selective course payment will not be possible.
L. Acceptable methods of payment for delinquent accounts shall be determined by the Vice President for Administration and Finance. Only those payment methods that are approved by the Vice President for Administration and Finance and the University’s General Counsel as secure forms of payment may be accepted by the Bursar’s Office or the University Collections Department for delinquent accounts. Delinquent accounts may be referred for collection action to Legal Counsel or its designee. In such cases, the student is responsible for any collection costs or fees, including attorney’s fees, assessed to his or her delinquent account.
Insufficient Funds Checks
The University reserves the right to administratively withdraw from classes or cancel the enrollment of students for checks returned to the University as insufficient funds. Processing returned checks may result in additional charges to a Bursar account, and the University is authorized to pursue any available remedy at law to collect all charges due and owing.