Payment and Refund Policies

Payment Policies

Tuition and Student Fees are assessed immediately upon enrollment into Summer Session courses. Payment deadlines vary per student type. To learn more about the different Summer Sessions Fees, see our Tuition and Fees page.

Students are responsible for monitoring charges on their student account and ensuring that payments are made in a timely manner. Failure to do so may result in blocks on your student account that can prevent future enrollment or result in collection action by a collection agency. Read more at Student Billing.

Students who do not plan to attend are solely responsible for dropping all their classes, including classes they’ve never attended and waitlisted classes, before the appropriate Summer Sessions Enrollment Deadlines. Failure to take action before the stated deadlines means that certain fees will remain on the student’s account and students will become financially liable.

Payment Deadlines

Payment deadlines vary per student type.

UC Berkeley and other UC students must pay Summer tuition and fees by the deadline listed in their CalCentral account. Usually, this is the day before their Summer Session classes begin. If you are receiving Financial Aid, please work with the Financial Aid office to disperse your funds to your account.

Visiting students must pay Summer tuition and fees within 7 days of enrollment. Failure to pay fees by the deadline may result in being immediately dropped from classes and blocked from future enrollment - see the Drop for Non-Payment Policy below.

Drop for Non-Payment (DNP) Policy

Visiting Non-UC Students are subject to the Drop for Non-Payment (DNP) Policy. UC Berkeley students and Other UC students are not dropped from courses due to non-payment.

If fees are not paid in full within 7 days of enrollment, up until one week prior to the beginning of each session, you will be dropped from all of your summer courses and a block on future enrollment will be added to your student record. Students will receive multiple warnings via email to remind them to pay. To request an extension, please respond to those emails.

Note that we stop dropping students from classes due to non-payment approximately one week before classes begin. Students in this situation are fully responsible for their tuition and fees. Read more details about the Drop for Non-Payment Policy here.

Refund Policies

Tuition & Fee Refunds

Refunds for tuition and fees will be granted according to Summer Session Deadlines. To learn more about the different Summer Sessions Fees and when they become non-refundable, see our Tuition and Fees page.

The date on which you drop a class or cancel/withdraw from Summer Sessions determines which fees remain on your student account and which fees get refunded/de-assessed.

  • Before the session begins, tuition and most fees will be refunded.
  • After the session begins, but before the drop deadline, tuition will be refunded, but student fees will not.
  • After the session drop deadline, you will not receive a refund of any tuition or fees. Instead, you’ll receive a Summer Tuition Credit (see below).

Refunds for Special Programs

Students participating in a special program offered by Berkeley Summer Sessions, such as Summer Abroad or Global Internships programs, must follow the policies and procedures published in their respective sections. Students participating in the College of Environmental Design's Summer Institute, embARC Summer Design Academy, or Disc* programs must follow the policies and procedures published by the respective department.

Refund Processing (Credit Card and Non-Credit Card Payments)

Depending on the method with which you paid your fees, the process for receiving a refund will vary. Make sure you are reviewing details relevant to your student type, refund situation, and student status so that you are aware of how the process will work for you. 

Review complete information about refunds in our Help Center.

Summer Tuition Credit

When you drop a course after the tuition refund deadline, you’ll receive a Summer Tuition Credit instead of a refund. This credit can be applied towards the tuition of a new class in the same summer term. 

Review complete information about Summer Tuition Credits in our Help Center.

If Your Course is Canceled

Berkeley Summer Sessions reserves the right to cancel a course if it has not enrolled enough students before the beginning of instruction. Academic departments may also cancel courses based on internal criteria. In these rare cases, all enrolled students are notified by email, dropped from the class, and no longer charged for the class.

Policy Exceptions/Appeals Process

Enrollment deadlines and policies are strictly enforced. In cases when you are unable to complete a course due to circumstances beyond your control, requests for exceptions to enrollment policies may be submitted for review. Each refund appeal request is different and will be considered for review on a case-by-case basis.

There are many steps that are important in this process and details that need to be attended to before proceeding with your appeal request.

Summer 2025 appeal submissions are generally open from June to mid-September.

Review complete information about the appeals process in our Help Center.

Other Payment Policies

If you’re interested in additional policies regarding topics such as drop for non payment, billing statements, payment options, and more, visit the finances section in our Help Center.