Fees and Charges

Enrollment Deposit for All New Students: A nonrefundable deposit of $300 is due on or before the date of confirmation of intention to attend. This deposit is credited against the charges for the student’s initial semester of enrollment and will be forfeited if the student does not enroll.

Study-Away Deposit: Students who will not be enrolled on the Waterville campus, but are participating in a Colby-billed study-away program are required to pay a $500 deposit. This deposit is forfeited should the student withdraw from the program.

Tuition: All matriculating students are required to enroll for at least 12 credit hours each semester. Exceptions are made by the dean of admissions and financial aid in the case of nontraditional students and by the dean of students in certain cases of regular students with extenuating circumstances that prohibit them from carrying a normal course load. Students who receive loans and/or grants should be enrolled for at least 12 credit hours per semester to qualify for these funds. In exceptional cases, students may be charged on a credit hour basis at the rate of $2,340 per credit hour.

Board: The College offers a board plan of 21 meals per week. This plan allows students unlimited access to the dining halls during posted hours and is automatically billed to all students living on campus.

Students living in the Harold and Bibby Alfond Residence Complex or the Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons will receive a rebate of $2,180 per semester and will receive 100 meals per semester.

Room: Students are expected to occupy College housing facilities to the full extent of their availability. Other arrangements may be made only with specific approval of the dean of students. Residence hall reservations are made through the Office of Campus Life.

Room and Board Rebate: Students enrolled on campus who are approved to live off campus will receive a room and board rebate of $5,255 per semester and will receive 100 meals per semester.

Included in the comprehensive fee is an allocation for the Student Government Association and funding of College health services. There are no fees for staff services in the student health center. All full-time students are required to have health insurance coverage while attending Colby. All students are automatically enrolled in the plan administered by Wellfleet and billed the $2,070 annual premium. Students are required to complete the online enroll/waive process annually and may waive participation in the plan by documenting comparable coverage under another insurance policy. This process must be completed by August 1, 2022. Failure to meet this deadline results in automatic enrollment in the plan, and the student will be responsible for paying the non-refundable annual premium. More information regarding health insurance can be found at colby.edu/sfs.

Applied Music: A student is notified of the fee that will be charged to the student account when registering for musical instruction in the applied music program. Music majors are eligible for subsidized instruction; refer to Music in the Departments, Programs, and Courses of Study section.

Medications: A student may be charged for the cost of some prescription and nonprescription medicines prescribed by the health services staff.

Fines: Fines are charged for failure to register automobiles, parking violations, late return of library books, checks returned as uncollectible, and disciplinary actions.

Damage to or Loss of College Property: Liability for damage or loss of College property located within individual residence hall rooms lies with the resident(s) of the room. When damage or loss of College property occurs in residence hall common areas (e.g., lounges, hallways, lobbies, bathrooms), the Office of Campus Life will make every effort to identify the individuals responsible and to bill them. In cases in which residential life staff determines that responsibility lies with the residents of a specific section of a residence hall, those students will be billed. Any conflicts regarding assignment of responsibility may be directed to the Judicial Board.

Online student account statements are available to enrolled students. Students may authorize the College to make online statements accessible to parents or to discuss financial matters with parents. In order to do so, permission must be granted by the student through the myColby portal. Instructions on how to grant parental access are available on the portal. Electronic notices may be sent to the student’s email account should there be a balance due or as needed to communicate financial transactions, obligations, and pertinent information.

Prior to the first day of classes each semester, student accounts must be paid or satisfactory arrangements made with Student Financial Services. If the balance on the account is to be paid by an outside scholarship, a 30-day late fee waiver will be granted for the amount of the scholarship only if the student notifies Student Financial Services of this information prior to the first day of classes. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that all financial matters are resolved prior to the first day of classes. Payments are applied against charges in the order in which the charges appear on the student’s account.

Notwithstanding any other provision in this catalogue, a student’s account, including tuition, room and board, fees, charges, and fines, must be paid in full before that student will be allowed to register for classes for an upcoming semester, to receive transcripts, to participate in the annual room draw process, to participate in baccalaureate or commencement exercises, or to receive a degree or diploma.

In the event that a student account is delinquent, the account may be placed with a collection agency or an attorney for collection. All collection costs, including attorney’s fees, will be charged to the student.

The College does not accept post-dated checks or credit card payments on campus for semester charges. Electronic payments from a U.S. checking or savings account can be made at colby.edu/sfs. A fee of $15 is charged for any returned check or electronic payment.

Colby College has developed a refund policy for all students. Students who officially withdraw before the first day of classes will be refunded 100 percent of institutional charges (tuition and fees), less any non-refundable enrollment or matriculation fees. Once the semester has begun, refunds for semester charges (tuition, room, board, and the general fee) will be prorated on a weekly basis.

Refunds are made no later than 45 days after a student has withdrawn, if the withdrawal is official, and no later than 45 days after the institution has determined that a student has unofficially withdrawn.

Refunds will be made for students who withdraw either voluntarily or unofficially in accordance with this policy. Refunds of institutional charges are not granted to full-time students withdrawing during the January Program. No refunds are made for students who elect not to do an on-campus January Program. A similar refund policy is in effect for Colby off-campus programs.

The College offers an optional tuition refund insurance designed to reduce the financial loss caused by a medical withdrawal. Information is sent to students in July of each year.

Title IV financial assistance recipients who withdraw from the College must have their aid eligibility recalculated in accordance with applicable federal laws. Please refer to the section titled Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws for more information.

Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws

The law specifies how Colby must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are Federal Pell Grants, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), and Federal Perkins Loans.

Though your aid is posted to your account at the start of each period, you earn the funds as you complete the period. If you withdraw during your payment period, the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or your school or parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance that you earned, the excess funds must be returned by the school and/or yourself.

The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rate basis. For example, if you completed 30 percent of your payment period or period of enrollment, you earn 30 percent of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60 percent of the payment period or period of enrollment, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.

If you did not receive all the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If your post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, your school must get your permission before it can disburse them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you don’t incur additional debt. Your school may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and room and board charges (as contracted with the school). The school needs your permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges. If you do not give your permission (some schools ask for this when you enroll), you will be offered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow the school to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.

There are some Title IV funds that you were scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to you once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you have not completed the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not receive any Direct Loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.

If you receive (or your school or parent receives on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, your school must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

The school must return this amount even if it didn’t keep this amount of your Title IV program funds. If your school is not required to return all the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount. For any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a Direct PLUS Loan) must repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you must make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a defined period.

Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the grant funds you received or were scheduled to receive. You do not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the overpayment is $50 or less. You must arrange with your school or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.

The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from any refund policy that your school may have. Therefore, you may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. Your school may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return. If you don’t already know your school’s refund policy, you should ask your school for a copy. Your school can also provide you with the requirements and procedures for officially withdrawing from school.

If you have questions about your Title IV program funds, you can call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). TTY users may call 1-800-730-8913. Information is also available on Student Aid on the Web at studentaid.ed.gov.