Refunds

Refunds are issued to:

• Students who drop a portion or all of their classes online through CUNYfirst prior to the first official day of classes receive a 100% refund of all tuition and fees, excluding non-refundable application fees.
• Students who drop a class online through CUNYfirst during the first three weeks of classes may be eligible for a partial refund. If the student is paying a full-time rate and they are still enrolled full-time after the drop, no refund is due.

Once the term begins, refunds are issued when:

• Hunter College eliminates a class. (However, if the student is paying a full-time rate and they are still enrolled full-time after the drop, no refund is due.)
• Other funds are paid to a student’s account after liability is set at the end of the third week of classes and all tuition and fee charges are paid in full.

Refunds are not issued for official withdrawals (W grades), unofficial withdrawals (WU, WN grades), no-credits (NC grades) and failing grades (F grades). Refunds are automatically applied towards any outstanding tuition balance except for Financial Aid exceptions described later.

Methods of Processing Refunds:

• Students who pay with cash, check, or money order are issued a Hunter College refund check that is mailed to the student’s address on file. If you need to update your address, please complete the change of address form.
• Students who pay online using an Electronic Funds Transfer will receive a refund to the bank account used to make the payment.
• Within the Financial Aid year, students who are due a refund for Federal Financial Aid in excess of their tuition and fee balance will receive either a CUNY Financial Aid check, Direct Deposit to their CUNY Scholar Card if they have enrolled, or a Hunter College check depending upon the timing of the refund payment based upon the Hunter College Financial Aid Distribution Calendar.
  
• Students who are due a refund for funds (awards/scholarships/etc.) paid to a student’s account in excess of their tuition and fee balance will receive a Hunter College refund check that is mailed to the student’s address on file. If you need to update your address, please complete the change of address form.

In general, Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds may only be used to pay for the student’s cost for the period for which the funds are provided. However, a school may use current-year funds to satisfy prior award year charges for tuition and fees, room, or board (and with permission, educationally related charges) for a total of not more than $200.00.

If you do not receive your refund check:

• Contact the office so we can research the disbursement. You may email us at bursar@hunter.cuny.edu.
• Come into the office or mail us a stop payment request form (processed 3 or more weeks after the check is issued).
• Once the stop payment request is submitted, checks are generally re-issued within 2-3 weeks.
• Verify your address at the One Stop for Students, Room 217, North Building.

If you completely and officially withdraw or unofficially withdraw from all your classes and receive Federal Financial Aid, you are subject to a Return of Title IV Funds calculation. A withdrawal from one class is not subject to this calculation; however, it can affect your eligibility to receive financial aid.

Federal law states that the amount of federal aid earned is determined by the amount of days the student was enrolled in class(es). The Office of Financial Aid will perform a calculation for each student subject to these rules and send a paper notification in the mail.

• You are expected to pay whatever liability is not covered by the amount of financial aid earned.
• If you earn more funds than are required to satisfy your bill, you will be sent a post-withdrawal disbursement notification so you can receive these excess funds.
• In some cases, you may be asked to return funds you received that were unearned.

Please note that students who officially or unofficially withdraw are not entitled to a tuition refund because withdrawal grades carry a liability like any other class.