General Information

Cost of Attendance
The cost of attendance is an estimated total cost that is calculated to help students and their families understand what they should expect to spend for the upcoming academic year. The cost of attendance includes the comprehensive fee that will be billed to the student account and any out-of-pocket expenses students may incur, including personal expenses, books, and travel/transportation. The comprehensive fee is the sum of tuition and fees, plus room and board costs.

*The transportation allowance ranges from $50 to $2,000 depending on the distance of the home residence from Waterville, Maine.

Institutional Refund Policy
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.

• Withdrawal before the first day of scheduled classes: 100-percent refund
• Pro-rata refunds of semester charges are calculated at 1/15 per week for students who withdraw for medical or personal reasons.

Refunds are made no later than 45 days after a student has withdrawn, if the withdrawal is official, and no later than 45 days after the institution has determined that a student has unofficially withdrawn.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

Institutional Withdrawal/Leave of Absence Policy
Students who leave Colby while a semester is in progress are required to withdraw formally, as are students who leave at the end of a semester with no definite plans for return. Students who withdraw are not permitted to return without the approval of the dean of studies. Students who withdraw for medical reasons must have the permission of the College physician in order to apply for readmission. Eligibility for initial or continued financial assistance from the College will be subject to review and action by the College’s Office of Student Financial Services.

Students taking a leave of absence must notify the College by the date when course preregistrations are due for the following term. Students who leave to participate in College-approved student programs elsewhere, or who leave at the end of a semester for a specified period, may take a leave of absence and are not required to obtain special permission in order to return. Courses intended to transfer must be pre-approved (see Transfer Students in the Course Catalogue’s Admission section). Students who withdraw or take a leave of absence to serve in the United States military may return without obtaining special permission and without change of academic status, assuming the absence does not exceed five years. Exceptions include veterans who receive a dishonorable discharge, bad conduct charge, or who were court-martialed.

All withdrawals and leaves of absence must be effected officially by filing a form with the dean of studies. The proper exit procedure, which includes the surrendering of residence hall and post office keys, must be followed to be eligible for any refunds that may be due. (See Refunds in the Course Catalogue’s Fees and Charges section). A student who leaves without official notification is not eligible for refunds, which are calculated from the date the withdrawal is approved by the dean of studies. Students intending to return from a withdrawal or leave of absence must notify the dean of studies of their intent to return by June 1 for a fall return and by November 1 for a January or spring return.

Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws
The law specifies how your school 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, TEACH Grants, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs).

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 or period of enrollment (your school can define these for you and tell you which one applies to you), 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 than you earned, the excess funds must be returned by the school and/ or you.

The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro-rata 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 of 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 institutional 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 receive 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:

• Your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
• the entire amount of excess funds.

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 of 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) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.

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 make arrangements 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.

For questions please contact the Colby College Office of Student Financial Service at [email protected] or 207-859-4132.

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. 

Academic Program
If you’re interested in the liberal arts, we’ve got what you’re looking for. Take meteorology, stagecraft, business law, Chinese, and global food policy—all in one semester. Our curriculum gives you the flexibility to focus on one or two subjects while dabbling in many.

Licensure, Accreditation, and Approval
Colby College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Inquiries regarding the accreditation status by the commission or the accreditation process should be directed to the associate provost and dean of faculty in the College’s Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculty or to the New England Commission of Higher Education, using this contact information:

New England Commission of Higher Education
3 Burlington Woods Dr., Suite 100
Burlington, MA 01803-4514
781-425-7785
[email protected]

Global Entry Semester Admission
Colby offers two first-semester abroad options—in Dijon, France, and Salamanca, Spain. Students who participate in one of the College’s first-semester abroad programs will earn academic credit and satisfy distribution requirements toward the degree at the same pace as their on-campus classmates. Admission to the fall-semester abroad program is based on prior foreign language study and personal qualities that suggest a smooth transition to campus in January.

A student’s enrollment in a program of study abroad approved for credit by the home school may be considered enrollment at the home school for the purpose of applying for assistance under the Title IV, HEA program.

Copyright Infringement
Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing, may subject students to civil and criminal liabilities. A summary of the penalties for violation of federal copyright laws and a description of Colby’s policies with respect to unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing, including disciplinary actions that are taken against students who engage in illegal or unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials using the school’s information technology system, can be found here:

Acceptable Use
Colby Web Policy
Colby Copyright Policy and Procedures
Copyright Basics

Transfer Credits
Students who expect to transfer credits for full-time study in a non-Colby program will be subject to a fee of $1,500 per semester. This fee will be charged on the Colby tuition bill. Financial aid may be applied, for qualified students only, to Colby programs and approved non-Colby programs. Transfer credits accepted by Colby College which count toward a student’s program count as both credits attempted and credits completed when calculating qualitative progress. Non-accepted credits are not included in the qualitative calculation. Transfer credits accepted by Colby College which count toward a student’s program count as both credits attempted and credits completed when calculating pace for SAP. Non-accepted credits are not included in the pace calculation.

Transferability and acceptance of credits earned at Colby College to another college are at the discretion of the accepting school. It is the students’ responsibilities to confirm whether credits will be accepted by another institution of the student’s choice.

Transferred Credits for Newly Admitted Students
Courses taken at other accredited institutions, not including online courses, in which grades of C or higher have been earned (the courses may not be taken with pass/fail or satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading), may be credited toward the Colby degree under the conditions and circumstances listed below and those specified in Residence Requirement and Quantity Requirement in the Academic Requirements section. All credits presented for transfer toward a Colby degree must be supported by official transcripts issued by the college or university where the credits were earned. Course descriptions and syllabi are helpful and may be required. Transferred grades are not used in computing the grade point average.

• When students are admitted by transfer, their records are tentatively evaluated by the registrar to determine the transferable equivalent in Colby courses. These courses are credited subject to confirmation through satisfactory progress at Colby.
• College-level courses taken on college campuses with college students prior to matriculation as first-year students are evaluated on the same basis as courses presented by new transfer students, unless the courses were part of a dual enrollment or early college high school program or were used to fulfill high school graduation requirements (in which case the courses may still fulfill distribution requirements and/or serve as prerequisites to higher-level courses).
• Refer to Advanced Standing in the Admission section of this catalogue for additional programs in which credit or advanced course placement may be earned.

Transferred Credits for Currently Enrolled (Matriculated) Students
Courses taken at other accredited institutions, not including online courses, in which grades of C or higher have been earned (the courses may not be taken with pass/fail or satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading), may be credited toward the Colby degree under the conditions and circumstances listed below and those specified in Residence Requirement and Quantity Requirement in the Academic Requirements section. All credits presented for transfer toward a Colby degree must be supported by official transcripts issued by the college or university where the credits were earned. Course descriptions and, in some cases, syllabi are required. Transferred grades are not used in computing the grade point average.

• Students seeking to transfer credits for full-time study away from Colby must file application forms by the established deadlines with the Office of Off-Campus Study. Approval must be obtained prior to beginning such study. The Office of Off-Campus Study must be notified immediately of any subsequent change in the approved program.
• Graded credits earned at an accredited degree-granting institution may be transferred toward a Colby degree by matriculated students, including students dismissed for academic reasons by the Committee on Standing, if approved in writing, prior to enrollment in specific courses at the other institution, by the appropriate College authorities. Forms on which to seek approval can be obtained from the Office of the Registrar. The Registrar’s Office must be notified immediately of any subsequent change in the approved courses.
• No student may receive transfer credit for more than nine credit hours taken for the purpose of completing degree requirements after leaving Colby. Credits earned at summer school will not constitute a semester to apply to those required for the Colby degree.

Net Price Calculators
The Net Price Calculator is designed to give you an early indication of how much and what types of financial aid you might qualify for if you were a college freshman attending school full-time in the academic year indicated.
Colby’s MyinTuition tool can help you anticipate your college costs and estimate your eligibility for need-based scholarships. An education at Colby is more affordable than you think.