Billing, Fees & Deposits, and Refunds

Billing, Fees & Deposits

Students should refer to their OWU Budget Sheet for program costs, initial billed amounts and other cost and expense estimates.

Students will be billed regular OWU tuition for the semester they are off-campus; as well as the OWU off-campus program fee and a supplemental off-campus program fee (if applicable). 

Students will not be billed for OWU room and board, but will be billed by OWU for the room and board charged by their destination program. The cost of room and board, other fees, and personal expenses for off-campus study programs vary considerably depending on local cost-of-living, exchange rates, etc.

Students will not be billed the OWU on-campus Student Activity Fee nor the Health Center Fee for the semester they are away. Students will not be charged the book fee ("First Day Complete") for the semester they are away, if they "opt-out" by the deadline.

Students will be billed for the OWU Student Health Insurance and, per institutional policy, may apply to have this insurance waived. Since the dates of an off-campus semester will not likely be the same as OWU's and since students must maintain continuous insurance coverage, students who do not normally waive the insurance should not waive it for the semester that they are away. Students should discuss their insurance coverage with their parents/guardians prior to making a decision about waiving the OWU Student Health Insurance. OWU students studying abroad, outside of the USA, are covered by the OWU international travel insurance (which provides limited secondary coverage) and, very often, by the required policies of the programs/institutions at which they are studying. OWU students studying away within the USA (such as at the NYAP or the Chicago Center), must review their policies carefully to determine coverage at their new location.  

The Student Health Insurance Fee will appear on the student statement, unless it is waived, for the semester the student is away. It is not included on the student budget sheet because the OWU Health Insurance enrolls fewer than 1/3 of all students.

Students must budget in advance and carefully for these expenses and must communicate details of these arrangements with their financial guarantors (usually a parent). Often housing and meal plan decisions with significant cost impact are made or changed after arrival at the destination program by the student herself/himself.   The housing and meal charges shown on the OWU IOCP Budget Sheets are for the standard or basic plans, other plans may be chosen by the student, even after the start of the student's program.

For a few approved programs, students pay the program directly for accommodations and/or board. For a few others, students may not have a board plan but will be expected to shop and cook on their own. Estimated costs for room and board, in these cases, will be used to figure cost of attendance for financial aid purposes, though they will not be part of the students' OWU bill.

OWU pays the program directly, except for the application fee and any deposits, such as tuition and room damage deposits.   Students are responsible for paying the program's deposits.  Any deposit that is refunded or returned to OWU, instead of the student, will be credited to the student's OWU account when the OWU IOCP office receives notification from the program that the deposit will be refunded.  (A few programs require non-refundable deposits.)  A deposit, in almost all cases, is the only fee, along with the program application fee, that the student will pay directly to the program.  

Students should not only refer to a program's published information (on-line or otherwise) for billing and financial aid information but rather only to OWU published information, such as Budget Sheets. 

Because of the additional steps involved in the off-campus billing process, off-campus program charges normally will be billed and appear on students' billing statements one or two months later than normal.  In some cases, a charge may appear months later.

External scholarships and grants will be credited to the recipient's account only after they have been remitted to Ohio Wesleyan and processed. These may have an impact on the packaging of the complete student financial aid package for the semester away. Students should contact the Financial Aid Office if they have questions.

It is not unusual for some off-campus program charges to be billed after students have arrived at their program—for example, for upgrades in housing or for optional excursions. These additional charges may even appear on a student's billing statement after the student has returned to OWU. In some cases, programs will include transportation charges, such as airfare, in their student billing; these will always be charged to the student's account.

If a student receives a bill directly from the approved program for any charge, save for a deposit (see above), this is an error. The student must contact the program and also OWU to make arrangements to correct the error.

The off-campus programs application fee of $150 is non-refundable. Students only have to pay this fee once -- it is good for a subsequent and/or an additional off-campus program application. 

OWU does not charge both OWU tuition and the tuition at the destination institution.

Refunds

After being approved for participation in an off-campus program, students must realize that OWU is expecting them to follow through on their intentions. If a student decides not to participate in an off-campus program, notification must be made directly and immediately to IOCP in writing.

Payments OWU has already made to a student's approved off-campus program will be refunded only after and in the exact amount that OWU has received back from the program. OWU is not responsible for securing refunds from programs.  It is the student's responsibility to know all program refund policies and act accordingly.  Students must be aware of program withdrawal and cancellation policies, which vary, and how these affect eligibility for refunds.  Students must be aware that late decisions and/or inaction could result in substantial non-refundable charges for which they will be responsible.

The processing of refunds may take up to two months after the end of the term from which the student is withdrawing.

The application fee and administrative fee are not refundable.