Indore: Higher Education Institutions told to refund full fee if admission cancelled by October 31

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed higher education institutions (HEIs) to refund full fees of students if they cancelled their admission by October 31.

“Several entrance examinations including CUET, JEE Main, JEE Advance etc have been delayed due to which admissions may continue up to October. In order to avoid financial hardships being faced by parents, it has been decided by UGC that full refund of fees should be made by the HEIs on account of all cancellations of admissions/migrations of students up to October 31 for the academic session 2022-2023 as a special case,” said UGC secretary Rajnish Jain in a letter addressed to vice chancellors and principals.

The UGC made it clear that the entire fee, including all charges, should be refunded (i.e. there should be zero cancellation charges) on account of cancellations/migrations up to October 31.

The higher education had issued UGC guidelines on examination and academic calendar in view of the Covid-19 pandemic' on July 16 last year wherein UGC has stipulated the provision of refund of fees on account of all cancellations of admissions/migrations of students during the academic session 2021-2022.

Also, July 12, UGC has asked the HEIs to fix the last date of their undergraduate admission process after declaration of result of Class XII by CBSE so as to provide sufficient time to such students for admission in undergraduate courses.

As many entrance examinations including CUET got delayed, the UGC anticipating delay in the admission process itself fixed dates for refund of fee if students withdrew admissions.

On cancellation/withdrawal of admissions up to December 31, the UGC also stated that the entire fee collected from the student should be refunded in full after deducting not more than Rs1000 as processing fee.

All the HEIs have been directed to ensure the compliance of the UGC directions in respect of refund of fee in view of Covid-19 pandemic related factors.