The UCSA Student Advocates can provide you with advice on your situation, help with your application and provide you with a letter template. The Student Advocate can review your draft written submission or email and provide feedback before you submit it. Please allow 1-2 working days for the Student Advocates to provide feedback. Please contact us here to arrange this.

If you withdraw from your courses after the Final Date to Add or Withdraw with a Full Refund deadline, you may be eligible for a partial refund of not more than 50% of the fees.

To be eligible for a partial refund, you need to fulfil the following criteria:

• Withdraw by the Final Date to Withdraw (No Refund) deadline for the relevant course(s);
• Provide acceptable evidence that your withdrawal is a result of medical or exceptional circumstances; and
• Submit an application for Consideration for a Partial Refund within the calendar year of the relevant course(s).

Medical or Exceptional Circumstances are:

• Serious illness or accident, or severe psychological impairment;
• Bereavement;
• Critical personal circumstances involving the health and wellbeing of a relative;
• Sporting/cultural commitments where you are representing New Zealand or trialling for New Zealand representation;
• Service in the New Zealand Armed Forces; or
• Other exceptional circumstances beyond your control, such as a natural disaster, damage to significant property, impacts arising from being the victim of a crime etc.

The following are not considered Medical or Exceptional Circumstances:

• Domestic or financial commitments/changes;
• Employment commitments/changes (except for essential workers during lockdown);
• Circumstances which arise after the completion of the relevant course;
• Short-term impairment, such as missing 2 days of class due to illness);
• Circumstances which can be covered by Special Consideration for Assessment (Exam/test or Impaired Performance), e.g., short-term illness during the exam period;
• Known impairment such as chronic illness (medical or psychological), injury or disability, unless medical evidence can confirm that there has been an unexpected worsening of the condition despite appropriate management; or
• Not knowing about the withdrawal regulations and deadlines for withdrawal.

Please note: there are some things that you cannot be refunded for, regardless of your circumstances. Unfortunately, non-tuition fees, course materials and other course related expenses are all non-refundable.

To apply for a partial refund, you will need to write a letter request for the fee refund and explain the circumstances (medical or exceptional) that has led to you needing to withdraw from your course(s).

You will need to provide supporting evidence that will be accepted by the University.

If you have withdrawn from your course(s) because of medical reasons, you will need to provide a medical certificate that is dated to the time when you have the symptoms of your illness or injury.

In cases of bereavement, you will need to provide a death notice. Where the notice does not mention you by name, you will need to provide a letter from a funeral director, minister of religion, kaumatua/kuia or the police to confirm your relationship with the deceased.

For other exceptional circumstances, acceptable evidence can include police reports or a letter from an appropriate third party.

If you are not sure what constitutes acceptable evidence, please contact us here and we can help you.

Domestic Students who pay their fees through a StudyLink Student Loan

If your tuition fees are paid through automatic payment from your StudyLink Student Loan, the refund will be paid back to your loan account at StudyLink, not your own bank account. This will reduce the balance on your Student Loan.

Domestic and International Students who pay their fees directly

Refunds will be made to the bank account which the original fees were paid from. If payment was made by credit card, the refund will be made to that credit card.

Please note: Fee refunds made to an overseas bank account are subject to exchange rate fluctuations. The rate used will be the exchange rate at the time the refund is processed and may result in the payment being a lower amount than what was originally paid.

If the fees were paid from an overseas account and you want the refund to be paid into a New Zealand bank account, that may be approved in exceptional circumstances with appropriate documentation.

As the tuition period ends on the last day of the month in which the thesis is submitted or the student withdraws from the course, thesis students are only eligible for a full refund of the remaining portion of their tuition fees for the thesis course in whole months only.

Research thesis students are eligible for a full refund for whole month periods when they are on an approved suspension of their studies. The refund application for suspension must be made in advance. Fee refund is not applicable for retrospective suspension unless it is applied for within the current calendar year and for exceptional circumstances.

Contact us here and we can help you.

Fees and Fines Regulations