Tuition & Refund Policy

Please review the College Catalog for the current semester Tuition and Refund Policy specific dates. A copy of the current semester’s policy is printed and displayed throughout the Office of Student Accounts. This information is contained in the Academic Calendar available online and also mailed to all students along with his/her paper bill and included in any information packet distributed at registration, training, or orientation events.

If a student registers for a new class after the due date he/she is expected to pay their new class tuition and fee charges at the time of registration and if not paid within 24 hours a late fee is assessed. Students who request housing and/or meal plan assignments after the semester due date are expected to pay housing/meal costs at the time of assignment/assessment.

Tuition, mandatory fees, and all other related college fees paid by students are non-refundable after September 20, 2024, except at the discretion of the College. If the College modifies or disrupts programs and services due to circumstances beyond the College’s control, such as acts of God, war, government regulations, pandemics, disaster, or civil disorder – to the extent that such circumstances make it illegal, impossible, or unsafe to allow students to continue with programs or services at or in their initial form-  issuance of any refunds, credits or waivers may be subject to regulatory  or statutory review and will be administered at the College’s discretion.

Late fees & Collection Costs

Students and families are hereby placed upon notice that failure to pay in full at the time goods or services are rendered or when billed will result in the imposition of a late fee of $62. Returned checks will incur a handling fee of $50. If the account is referred for collection to an attorney or to a private collection agency, then the student will be liable for all attorney’s fees or additional collection costs. Request for or acceptance of goods or services will be deemed to be acceptance of these terms.

To prevent the possible assessment of late payment fees, students must pay all calculated charges on, or before, the semester due date or the date a charge is incurred (whichever occurs later). If tuition has not been paid by the established due date, secured with adequate financial aid, or an automatic payment plan is not in place, students will be charged a late payment fee of 50 dollars as prescribed in 2.2-4805 of the Code of Virginia. Failure to receive a bill does not waive the requirement for payment when due and will not prevent the application of the late fee.

Students who believe they have been erroneously charged a late fee must fill out a Student Request to Waive Late Fee form and submit it to the Cashier’s Office for processing. Late fees will not be waived for the following reasons: lack of funds, a tuition bill was not received, the Financial Aid process was not complete by the due date, balance changes, or delay of mail services. Results of a student’s late fee waiver request will be sent to their campus email within 5 business days.

Class Drops for Non-payment

Depending on the outstanding balance remaining after the due date, a student may be dropped from his/her courses for non-payment. Communications will be sent to students in advance of being dropped. It is the student’s responsibility to make certain that all permanent, local, and personal email addresses are current in our system. Richard Bland College’s main form of communication for currently enrolled students is through the RBC email address. Failure to review, open, or check the RBC email Inbox, Spam, or other folders will not prevent classes from being dropped for non-payment.

Military Account Information

Students who wish to use military benefits (Ch. 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill or Ch. 31 Voc Rehab benefits) must provide a Certificate of Eligibility to the Office of Financial Aid prior to the first day of class. Students must also provide a copy of their course schedule to the Office of Financial Aid each semester.

Students who have been identified as active military/dependent through the Admissions attribute process, or students identified through the Financial Aid department as receiving GI/military benefits will be exempt from late fees and will not be assessed account holds which would prevent enrolling and access to school resources.  Additionally, those military students will not be penalized for any delayed VA payments made to Richard Bland College and will be exempt from class drops.

Students who are not 100{5b2ffe48c25fcf1af74449cb013cf6cb1d7085e045a358d699fdbf39f60480b9} eligible for military benefits will not be assessed a late fee or an account hold, however they should pay any remaining balance due on their account prior to the end of each semester.

Refund Checks

STUDENT REFUNDS

As part of Richard Bland College’s continuing commitment to provide students with more efficient processes, we have automated the refunding process and have partnered with Nelnet Business solutions to offer Student Choice Refunds. In maintaining compliance with U.S. Department of Education regulations on Title IV refunding, the Bursar’s Office accounts for financial transactions on a student’s account on a semester basis. This means that financial aid received for an academic semester must be used to cover related educational expense for only that semester, with any excess credit balances returned to the student in the form of a refund

Student refunds at Richard Bland College are managed in partnership with Nelnet Business Solutions. We offer an easy way to get your refund each semester if money is due back to you.

Students must choose how to receive their refunds, by one of the below methods:

• ACH DIRECT DEPOSIT into an individual bank account of your choice
• Reloadable Debit Card  (The students own debit card)

Note: If no option is selected in Student Choice Refunds, a check is mailed to the students mailing or permanent address listed in Self-Service Banner (SSB) with mailing address being selected first.  However, students must ensure that they have a valid current address in Banner before a refund can be issued.

How to sign up for a Student Choice Refund:

Students will need to create an online account on the Nelnet site and enroll in a refund method so that they will be prepared to receive any future refunds by their desired method.

1. Log into your individual BANNER SSB account at RBC at: http://statesman.rbc.edu/login
2. On the Main Menu page, select the “Sign up for Student Choice Refund” link

This will redirect you to our secure Refund and Payment Plan portal.

1. Select the “Manage Refund” link and fill in the necessary information. Your refund will then be sent using the CHOICE you selected.
2. Fill in the necessary information. Your refund will then be sent using the Refund Method you selected.

Note: On your first visit, follow the prompts to Create an Account with Nelnet. After creating an account, select “Manage Refunds” to Enroll in a Refund Method.

Refunds are generated weekly each semester after the last day to add or drop a class whenever a student has a credit on his/her account for the semester. Credits may occur because of overpayments in grants, scholarships, loans, or personal payments made in cash, check, or credit cards. These are the excess payments against the student’s current semesters educational expenses.

All refunds will be made out in the student’s name, unless the overpayment is caused by a Parent Plus Loan. For overpayments in Parent Plus Loans, the refund check is processed in the parent’s name. The refund process may take up to, but no more than 14 calendar days from the date of the overpayment was generated on the students account. Once a refund is processed on the students account, individual email communications are sent to students’ email address notifying them when to expect the refund per their selected method.

If a refund method is not chosen via the Student Choice Refund, the student will be sent a paper check to their current address on file.  All undeliverable student refund checks will be returned to the Cashiers Office. Cashiers staff will contact the student to pick up the check.  If the student does not pick up the undeliverable check within 30 days, the undeliverable check will be credited back to the students account and an administrative hold will be placed on the students account until the student updates their address in BANNER and makes a Student Choice Refund selection for future refunds. Once this is done, another student refund will be processed per the students refund choice using the new address.

Student who do not complete these steps will continue to have a credit balances resulting from the undeliverable check. If the credit remain on a student’s account past the current semester applicable credit balances will be returned to the DOE, but not later than 240 days past the original refund attempt.

Parent Plus refund checks are mailed out to the Parent using the permanent address on file. It is the student’s responsibility to update their address information in BANNER each semester. Inaccurate information may cause a delay in receiving the refund check.

Refunds for Course Drops/Withdrawals

Students who drop courses or withdrawal from college shall be entitled to a refund of a portion of tuition paid for the semester in which they are currently enrolled, as outlined below.

Refunds for Housing & Meal Drops

Housing and meal charges begin the first day of move in.  Students can cancel and receive a refund of all funds minus the daily proration up to the date they canceled their assignment and meal plan through the below scheduled dates.  The college will follow the outline below.

Returning Unclaimed Title IV Refunds

If a school attempts to disburse the credit balance by check and the check is not cashed, the school must return the funds no later than 240 days after the date the school issued the check. If a check is returned to a school or an EFT is rejected, the school may make additional attempts to disburse the funds, provided that those attempts are made not later than 45 days after the funds were returned or rejected. When a check is returned or EFT is rejected and the school does not make another attempt to disburse the funds, the funds must be returned before the end of the initial 45-day period. The school must cease all attempts to disburse the funds and return them no later than 240 days after the date it issued the first check.