If you officially withdraw from the University or reduce the number of credits for which you’re registered by dropping a course without swapping it with another, you may be entitled to an adjustment of charges or a refund of payments you have already made.
Please be aware that academic deadlines (the last day to drop a class without receiving a W) and refund deadlines (the last to drop a class and receive a full tuition refund) are not the same. Students who drop classes after the refund deadline will need to seek an exception to the SUNY refund policy.
Please note: Refunds can only be approved if you appeal within one year of the end of the last academic term for which you paid tuition.
A Tuition Appeals Committee meets monthly to review appeals. They will mail a written decision to the student's permanent address, unless another is provided.
Reasons for which you cannot seek an exception
You will not be refunded for any of the following reasons:
- You forgot you registered or were unaware that you registered.
- You thought you would automatically be dropped if you didn’t show up.
- No one told you that you had to drop.
- No one told you there was a refund schedule.
- You never received a bill, so you assumed you weren’t registered.
- You never set up a MyUAlbany account, so you assumed UAlbany knew you weren’t coming.
- You turned in your key, so Residential Life should have told Financial Aid you weren’t coming.
- You were doing poorly in a course or received a bad grade.
- You found an online class too difficult or time consuming.
- You didn’t understand Blackboard.
- You didn’t have internet access.
- You couldn’t fit classes into your work schedule.
- Someone told you that you were “all set.”
- You didn’t have transportation to class, or you moved away.
- You had to go overseas.
- An academic advisor, professor or an administrative office told you the wrong thing.