Pursuant to Section 34 of the Private Career Colleges Operational Regulations:
Tuition refund policy
34 (1) A college must have a tuition refund policy to ensure that the requirements of this Section are met.
(2) In this Section, “tuition” includes payment for instruction and any other cost not otherwise excluded from the refund by these regulations.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in the Act or these regulations, neither of the following is refundable:
(a) a student application fee;
(b) a student registration fee.
(4) A tuition refund is subject to all of the following conditions:
(a) the student registration fee credited to the student’s tuition fee under subsection 51(2) must be deducted from the refund;
(b) the college may deduct from the refund non-recoverable fees already paid by the college on behalf of the student;
(c) except as provided in subsection (5), the college may deduct from the refund the cost of any program material provided to the student, in an amount not exceeding the cost to the college of the material.
(5) Clause (4)(c) does not apply to a refund payable to a student who returns all of the program material to the college unopened or as issued no later than 5 business days after their end of enrolment.
(6) For a student whose end of enrolment occurs before the program begins, the college must refund to the student or third-party sponsor all tuition paid.
(7) Unless otherwise provided in the Act or these regulations, for a student whose end of enrolment occurs after the program begins but before the program ends, the operator must refund tuition to the student or third-party sponsor in accordance with the following table:
| Percentage of Hours of Program Delivered to End of Enrolment |
Refund
(minus any registration fee credited to tuition under subsection 51(2)) |
| Program under 12 weeks | |
| 0-50% | Any tuition paid for 2nd half of program |
| >50%–100% | None |
| Program 12 weeks or longer | |
| 0–25% | Any tuition paid for the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th quarters of the program |
| >25%–50% | Any tuition paid for the 3rd or 4th quarters of the program |
| >50%–75% | Any tuition paid for the 4th quarter of the program |
| >75% | None |
(8) A tuition refund referred to in subsection (7) must be calculated in accordance with all of the following:
(a) the total tuition amount for the program must be divided by the number of hours in the program as approved, and the amount of paid tuition must be calculated beginning with the first hour of the program as delivered and then counting forward;
(b) the number of hours of the program as delivered must be counted as the program or course hours delivered according to the attendance register for the program as at the end of enrolment, not the number of hours the student actually attended;
(c) the number of hours of the program as delivered must include all of the following:
(i) the theoretical, practical and experiential instruction approved for the program,
(ii) any allotted time included in the program for lab work or additional training such as on-the-job-training, skills training or experiential learning, as specified in the program approval;
(d) any rounding of the number of hours of the program as delivered must favour the student or third-party sponsor.
(9) A college, at the operator’s discretion, may refund tuition in an amount higher than the amount calculated under subsections (7) and (8).
(10) No later than 30 days after the end of enrolment of a student to whom a tuition refund is payable, the refund must be paid and a copy of the calculation made under these regulations provided to the student.
(11) A disagreement between the college and student with respect to the calculation of a tuition refund must be referred to the Director for a final decision.