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Graduate Tuition Refund Request
Space in SFU courses is limited and the tuition refund schedule is designed to discourage a student from holding space in course(s) that they eventually do not use. After the start of classes, courses that are dropped may be subject to a fee penalty dependent on the date of the drop. There are deadlines for a 100%, 75%, or 50% refund of tuition before the deadline after which no refund is provided.
Students are considered responsible for knowing and adhering to all deadlines. The refund schedule is posted in the Academic Calendar. We also post deadlines for each term on our website under Dates & Deadlines.
To avoid incurring the late fee payment penalties, students are advised to pay their tuition and other fees by the stated tuition deadline date. If you have concerns about interest charges, or are encountering difficulties in enrollment due to outstanding tuition charges, please contact Student Accounts directly.
All graduate students are bound by the Graduate Student Handbook. You are advised to review it.
Tuition refund requests
Please review the criteria to determine your eligibility before submiting a tution refund request. A tuition refund request is for the tuition fee only. All other fees, including supplementary fees and ancillary fees, are not eligible for refund.
Requests will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Factors in individual cases may delay a decision. Please ensure that all documentation is submitted at the time of the request application. Requests with incomplete documentation will be denied.
Please note:
Due to a high demand in requests, the timeline to process a tuition refund request is 8 - 10 weeks. All communication and notifications will be sent to the SFU email address on file for applicants.
Criteria and Time Limit for Tuition Refund Requests
In order to be eligible for a tuition refund request, the following must apply:
- The student must apply within one calendar year of the date the course(s) were taken.
- If you are requesting a tuition refund for multiple terms, then you will need to submit a separate application for each term.
- The student's request is based on one of the eligible reasons per the criteria below.
- The course(s) in question must be either dropped, withdrawn (WD on transcript), or withdrawn under extenuating circumstances (WE on transcript).
Please see Withdrawing for Courses of the Term if your courses are not dropped, WD or WE.
Medical
Please note, we do not require detailed medical records or the disclosure of a diagnosis, rather the University requires that the form confirm the specific dates on which the student visited the health professional and should include details on the following:
- The degree to which the health issue (or treatment, in the case of medication, for example) is likely to have affected the student's ability to study, attend classes, or sit examinations;
- The length of time over which the student's abilities were likely hampered by the condition;
- The fitness of the student to resume studies.
If the condition began prior to the term of the tuition refund request, documentation should include an explanation of how the condition has worsened or changed in an unforeseeable way.
Students with pre-existing conditions are expected to work with the resources and supports available to them to develop an academic plan to accommodate their condition and needs. This includes: Health and Counselling and the Centre for Accessible Learning for support services.
Required documentation:
- All medical requests must be accompanied by the Tuition Appeals Health Care Provider form.
Recommended documentation*:
- A timeline of extenuating circumstances that you encountered, a brief description of the nature of the circumstances and how they affected your decision to withdraw from the course(s), and the dates when relevant events occurred.
- Written communication with instructors, supervisor, graduate program, if applicable.
Compassionate
- Death of a loved one, including immediate or extended family member, or close friend.
- A sudden change in personal or familial responsibilities, such as taking care of a sick loved one or taking over childcare responsibilities for a sick loved one.
- Other unanticipated events not mentioned above will be considered, provided there is clear supporting documentation.
Required documentation:
- A death certificate or obituary in English (or an official English translation).
- A timeline of extenuating circumstances that you encountered, a brief description of the nature of the circumstances and how they affected your decision to withdraw from the course(s), and the dates when relevant events occurred
Other exceptional circumstances, including but not limited to
- Unanticipated transfers or deployments for military and first responder personnel.
- Administrative or system errors.
Required documentation:
- Official letters issued from employers or government organizations.
- Written communication with or from instructors, supervisor or graduate program.
- Travel or flight documentation.
- Documentation relating to technical issues.
- A timeline of extenuating circumstances that you encountered, a brief description of the nature of the circumstances and how they affected your decision to withdraw from the course(s), and the dates when relevant events occurred.
Tuition refunds will not be considered for any of the following reasons:
- for financial reasons alone (visit Financial Aid & Awards for need-based assistance on options for graduate students)
- being unaware of dates and deadlines (Refer to Dates & Deadlines)
- non-payment or non-attendance
- issues pertaining to course content or instructor performance
- workload, difficulty, or scheduling issues
- courses not accepted toward program requirements
- over-enrolling in courses to save seats
If you are experiencing any of the issues above, please reach out to our Academic Graduate Student Support Specialist (gsupport@sfu.ca), your graduate program, or you supervisor for assistance.
Appeal tuition refund decision
If you wish to appeal a tuition refund decision, please review the Tuition refunds appeals process.