The Buckingham College of London has a fair and transparent policy on Refund and College transfer. It has to be accountable to its stake holders. The College has a non-refundable enrolment fee of 150GBP. If the College has issued a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies(CAS) then a processing fee of 150 GBP will be deducted.

Buckingham College of London makes refunds only under exceptional circumstances.

• Full refunds will be given to students if the College is unable to offer an advertised course on the advertised start date or within a six months thereafter due to insufficient student applications or for any other reason.
• A refund will be given to the students who have applied from overseas where visa refusal is caused by any mistake of the college.
  Please Note : A minimum period of six to eight weeks is required to process a refund.
• No refunds will be given under the following circumstances:
  • Once a CAS has been issued, the tuition fees will not be refunded if the student changes his or her mind about applying for a visa.
  • If the Home office refuses a visa due to fraudulent documents that have been used in the visa application, the College reserves the right to refuse the refund.
  • No refunds will be made if the student visa application has been refused due to the non-submission of the listed documentation, as per the CAS statement, or if the student or guardian has withdrawn the required funds which were considered in issuing the CAS statement.
  • Refunds will not be made, if the visa is refused due to insufficient funds.
  • Refunds will not be made if the visa refusal is due to failure of the student to answer in English at the interview.
  • Students who are unable to take up their place on the session of the course for which they have applied, may apply to the College to have their application and fees transferred to a future session. The College reserves the right to refuse to make a transfer, and may charge a transfer fee of 20% of course fees in spite of the student getting a visa in the correct time. The refund must be claimed from the finance department by an application made on the application form which can be downloaded from the College website.

Please note:

• Refund applications cannot be retrospective.
• If a student had attended the College for some time and then stopped coming to the College for various reasons no refund will be entertained. There would not normally be a refund of fees for part of a term unattended.
• A student who has been refused a refund can make an appeal to the management in writing. If his appeal has been turned down by the management the decision of the management will be final.

The College Discretionary Transfer Policy

In the case of students applying from overseas whose entry to the UK has been delayed and who therefore wish to defer to the next session, a transfer will be allowed and no transfer fee will be charged.

The same applies to students applying from the UK but only if the following conditions are met:

• the application for transfer is made more than three weeks before the start of the course;
• No enrolment letter, other letter or communication confirming student status, or student identification, or any other documentation that could be used by the student to secure an advantage (regardless of whether it has been so used) has been issued.

If a student who has applied from overseas arrives in the UK too late to take up the course of study, the student will automatically be transferred to the next intake and no transfer fee will be charged, subject to the following reservations:

• What delay constitutes “too late” is a matter of fact to be determined by the Registrar and will vary between courses.
• In the case of courses not offered in every College intake, the student will be required to follow an access or supplementary course in the meantime. A student arriving in the UK in November for a course commencing in September cannot be allowed to remain in the UK without following studies until the following intake and may therefore be required either to return home or follow other studies until then.

Otherwise the following conditions will apply:

• A transfer will usually only be given to the next intake.
• Only one transfer will be allowed, except in exceptional circumstances.
• A transfer charge of 20% of the total fees, including the non-refundable registration fee, will be charged.
• The College has absolute discretion to refuse to grant a transfer.

Refund Procedures and Principles:

Procedure

Applications either for refund or transfer must be made in writing on the appropriate forms which must be signed by the student . In the case of visa refusal the original visa refusal letter and any other letter procured from the college should be enclosed with the application form. The College may depart from this requirement when it seems necessary or fair in the circumstances: e.g. in dealing with an obviously justified application which the College authorities have already decided to grant and where all the application required on the form has been provided, though it is not on the form, and where it would involve disproportionate difficulty and delay to insist on the paperwork being completed, because the student has already left the UK. Every formal application will be considered and either an initial decision or an interim judgment made. There is a right of appeal against an initial decision: this is made to the College’s Refund and Transfer Applications and Appeals Committee of the College. Fresh evidence or grounds for application can be brought up at this stage, but the Committee’s decision is final. An interim judgment is not a decision but a statement of the merits of the case, usually involving a request for further information (on the lines of “until you provide the following information, we are unable to consider your application”). The student retains the right to an initial and final decision. An initial decision will give reasons. A final decision need not reiterate the reasons if they are the same but will address any fresh evidence or new grounds. An interim judgment requests information from the student or gives information about the policy, or the application of the policy to the case. Once an application is made in writing, then all future representations on the matter should be in writing: students should not keep ringing the College with fresh arguments, but ensure that their case is fully put in the application or in any appeal.

Principles

Decisions on refund applications will be made according to the following principles:

• If a student is forced through circumstances to seek a refund or transfer, the College should not add to the hardship of those circumstances by financially penalising them for their misfortune, and should as far as possible mitigate their loss or accommodate itself to the needs of the student.
• However, the College should not be expected to accept a financial loss as a result: it is usually reasonable to expect the student to accept the burden of financial loss and inconvenience caused to the College by circumstances which are none of its making.
• If the student may be abusing refund or transfer procedures to secure some advantage, generally an immigration advantage, it is for the student to convince the College that they are not doing so.
• The College policy is that students abusing procedures to gain advantage should not gain an unjust advantage. In these circumstances, they should be refused refunds or waiver/reduction of transfer fees, or refused a transfer.
• Interpretation: in interpreting the refund and transfer policies, the College will seek to interpret them in such a way as to:
  • Produce an outcome in accordance with “best practice” (“best practice” is defined as the common practice of UK universities and major public sector Colleges in these matters).
  • Interpret them in accordance with the spirit and purpose of the policies, and with each policy seen in the context of the others.