Refund fees of students who withdrew admission: UGC to HEIs

CHENNAI: Following several complaints from the parents, the University Grants Commission has urged the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) that the students should be allowed a full refund on cancellation or withdrawal of admissions.

The UGC secretary Manish R Joshi, in a circular to all the vice chancellors of the universities and principals of the colleges, said the commission receives many representations and complaints from the students and parents on the non-refund of fees by the HEIs on cancellation or withdrawal of admissions.

Stating that students should be allowed a full refund of fees, he said the commission has considered the matter in a meeting recently and after considering the relevant factors decided to ask the HEIs to refund the fees to the students, who opted for other colleges.

"Notwithstanding anything contained in any guidelines/prospects/notification/schedule a full refund of fees should be made by the HEIs on account of all cancellations of admissions and migrations of students up to September 20, 2023 and with deduction of not more than Rs 1,000 as a processing fee up to October 31, 2023", the UGC secretary said.

He said it may also be noted that the UGC has notified the redressal of grievances of students regulations, 2023 wherein "delay in or denial of, the refund of fees due to students who withdraws admission within the time mentioned in the prospectus, " has been defined as one of the grievances.

"The HEIs are requested to ensure compliance with fee refund policy for the academic session 2023-2024 and redress any grievance by the provisions of the UGC (redressal of grievances of students) regulations 2023," he added.

It may be recalled that the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department also instructed the HEIs to refund the fees of the students, who wish to withdraw their admissions and willing to join other colleges of their choice.