Tuition Refunds for Newcomb-Tulane College Students

After a student completes a formal withdrawal from their courses, tuition is refunded based on the date of the withdrawal and the institution's refund schedule noted in the official academic calendar. Students will receive an automatic refund for 100%, 75%, 50%, or 25% based on the date of withdrawal according to the refund schedule of the academic calendar. No extra steps are needed.

Tuition Insurance

Tulane University has partnered with GradGuard, an insurance company that issues policies to protect students’ tuition investments in cases of unexpected withdrawal. We encourage all students and families to explore this insurance as a path to recover tuition expenses after an unexpected withdrawal. Policy holders will not have to process a request for a refund through Tulane. Students can file a claim directly with GradGuard.

 

Other Refund Requests

In rare cases, a student may seek a tuition refund for withdrawals due to extraordinary circumstances that occur after the last day of the refund schedule in the academic calendar and/or are not covered by tuition insurance. Students can request a review of their case for consideration of a tuition refund by completing this form. Such requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.  It is important to note that, because there is an existing refund schedule, refund requests are carefully considered but rarely approved.

Cases are reviewed on or close to the 15th day of each month by a review panel appointed by the Newcomb-Tulane College Dean. The panel includes representatives from Newcomb-Tulane College, the Office of the Dean of Students in the Division of Student Affairs, and the Offices of Financial Aid and Accounts Receivable.

Decisions are communicated to the student requesting the refund within 15 days of the case review, not the date the request was submitted. If a refund is issued, students will have access to those funds through their Accounts Receivable account that can be found in the student’s Gibson Portal. Refunds can take up to 45 days to process after the decision notification. All refunds reflect only tuition paid and do not include certain fees, scholarship funds or other financial aid funds. Refund requests for housing costs and/or dining plan fees are not considered through this process and students should work directly with those offices.

 

The panel will not consider refund requests that are solely based on any of the following reasons: 

  • The student/parent/guardian was unaware of the refund schedule.
  • The student stopped attending classes prior to or during the period covered by the academic calendar's refund schedule but failed to complete a formal withdrawal to qualify for an automatic refund.
  • Course content or course difficulty
  • Financial difficulties

 

To be considered, requests must comply with the following:

  • The request is only for a single tuition refund for a withdrawal from the current OR immediate past semester (not both); all requests must be filed within 30 days of the withdrawal date.
  • The request is for a full-time tuition refund based on a complete withdrawal; partial tuition refunds for individual courses are not considered nor available.
  • The student has dropped all courses in Gibson prior to filing the request; requests filed prior to dropping all courses will not be considered. Students should check their Gibson portal to make sure their courses have been dropped before submitting a Tuition Refund Request. If the courses have not been dropped, the student will receive a notification that their request was dismissed, and the student will have to resubmit a request with all supporting documentation after all courses are dropped.
  • All supporting documentation is submitted at the time of the request.
  • If a parent or guardian is filing the request, a FERPA release form signed by the student must be on file in the College (please note that on the request form where indicated) or a signed FERPA release form is included as documentation. If there is no FERPA on file, communication from Newcomb-Tulane College will be to the student only, no matter who submits the Tuition Refund Request. 

 

Decisions

Decisions of the review panel are final. If a refund is approved and the decision has been communicated to the student by Newcomb-Tulane College, subsequent questions regarding the status of the refund can be referred to the following offices: 

 

Office of the Registrar:

 

Uptown Office of Financial Aid:

  • Phone – (504) 865-5723
  • Toll-Free – (800) 335-3210
  • Email  (no documents) – finaid@tulane.edu

 

Accounts Receivable: