XJTLU Student Fees Policy (Effective from AY2425)

Preamble

Under the guidance of the Credit-based Tuition Charging Scheme of XJTLU（西交利物浦大学学分制收费管理办法）, XJTLU Student Fees Policy (hereinafter referred to as ‘the policy’) sets out detailed principles on the administration of student fees. The policy applies to students registered at XJTLU on degree programmes at undergraduate or postgraduate (master’s and doctoral) levels, or on exchange/visiting programmes. Fees for other students enrolled on non-credit bearing courses or non-degree programmes are not within its scope.

A. Fees and Charges

1. Tuition Fees

1.1 Tuition fees are charged for educational services provided through the delivery of the University programmes as defined above.

1.2 For undergraduate programmes, tuition fees cover the Programme Fees and Credit Fees. The Programme Fees are charged for four stages of studies in a programme. The Credit Fees means the fees chargeable for an individual module and the annual Credit Fees are determined by the amount of credits taken in the academic year and the credit value of the programme.

1.3 No programme fee will be charged where an undergraduate student is registered on a progression pending status. Where there are successful undergraduate programme transfers, the students will be fee-assessed for the new programme (Programme Fees and Credit Fees) in accordance with the tuition fees schedule applicable to the year of the transfer.

1.4 For postgraduate programmes, tuition fees are charged for the programme as a whole.

1.5 The tuition fees schedule of exchange programmes can be found in the fee statement of each programme in accordance with relevant clauses in the institutional partnership agreement or relevant admissions policy and as published in the respective admission prospectus.

1.6 The University publishes the tuition fees schedule on an annual basis which includes details of tuition fees for all undergraduate, postgraduate programmes and visiting programmes on offer, as summarized in Appendix 1.

2. Retake Fees

The University does not charge fees for the re-assessments held in August each year. Where students are required or allowed to retake modules in the following academic year, these modules to be taken will incur a Retake Fee, which is calculated as per the credit value.

3. Additional Module Fees

Additional Module Fees will be charged for additional modules such as the modules under the Extended Studies Scheme taken by undergraduate and postgraduate students. The calculation of Additional Module Fees will be made as per the credit value in accordance with the actual number of module credits taken.

4. Accommodation Fees

Student accommodation fees are charged by external accommodation providers per academic year, who own and manage the accommodation facilities located within the Dushu Lake Higher Education Town and in XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang) respectively. More information on accommodation services can be found at: http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/life-at-xjtlu/accommodation.

5. Service Charge

5.1 Service Charge is pre-charged by the University to cover fees on textbooks, ID card replacement, self-printing, transcript printing, photo taking for XJTLU graduation certificates and other student service costs.

5.2 Service Charge should be paid upfront together with tuition fees each academic year (undergraduate students), or once at the start of the programme (master’s and professional doctoral students), and the balance of which, if any, will be returned to students at the end of study, or vice versa. The balance for Service Charge can be accessed at the end of each academic year at: https://servicecharge.xjtlu.edu.cn.

5.3 For exchange students, Service Charge is a fixed amount which is non-refundable and should be paid upfront at the start of the programme.

5.4 Service Charge may be waived under specific circumstances, upon approval from the University Senior Management Team.

5.5 Service Charge schedule is summarized in Appendix 1 and will be reviewed on an annual basis.

6. Other Charges

6.1 Postgraduate and international undergraduate students are required to pay deposits through relevant admission processes. The deposit amount would be deducted from the full amount of tuition fees. Details will be included in the programme information and relevant admission documents.

6.2 Fines will be raised as a result of damage or losses caused in relation to University property. For instance, the University Library will charge for fines through the students’ Service Charge account if students fail to return library materials on or before their due date or declare library materials lost or damaged.

 

B. Scholarships and Fees Discounts

7. Where a student receives a certain scholarship awarded by the University, its value is normally deducted from the tuition fee due of the student for the academic year(s) to which the scholarship applies.

8. The University offers various tuition fee discounts as shown in the following, which apply only to XJTLU tuition fees.

8.1 Alumni Discount

Graduates of XJTLU, the University of Liverpool or Xi’an Jiaotong University automatically receive a discount of 20% of the tuition fee if they are admitted to Master’s or Doctoral programmes at XJTLU.

8.2 Sibling Discount

Students, who have sibling(s) enrolled on XJTLU undergraduate, Master’s or Doctoral programmes at the point of them applying to and being admitted to XJTLU, will receive a sibling tuition fee (excluding retake fees and additional module fees) discount from the point of enrolment until the completion of studies. Where two students are twins, both of them will get a sibling discount.

Discounts commence at the start of the academic year and are calculated as follows: 5% for the second sibling; 10% for the third sibling and 15% for the fourth sibling.

Students eligible for the sibling discounts may inform the relevant Admissions Office and may be asked to provide evidence of sibling relationship.

8.3 XJTLU full-time staff applying for part-time Master’s or Doctoral programmes may receive a 50% discount of tuition fee upon enrolment as per the “XJTLU Staff Tuition Fee Remission Policy”.

8.4 A corporate discount of up to 10% may be offered to undergraduate and postgraduate students who come from institutions or organizations that have signed agreements with the University. A similar ‘association discount’ applies to associations that have been recognized by the University.

8.5 Children of full-time XJTLU staff members who are admitted to full-time undergraduate or postgraduate programmes are eligible for a 30% discount on their tuition fees.

9. The University does not normally offer scholarships and tuition fees discount concurrently to the same student, and students will get the one with highest value where they meet the criteria for more than one of them.

Exceptions may apply to Clauses 8.5 above where the candidates are qualified for an academic scholarship based on academic merit. In all cases, no combination of discounts and scholarships can exceed the total amount of tuition fees due.

 

C. Fee Payment and Due Dates

10. Students should complete the University financial registration by paying their fees as per dates notified by the University. Students will normally not be able to start their studies until financial registration has been completed.

11. Undergraduates and master’s students shall normally pay the University fees upfront by academic year, the deadline for which is the end of Teaching Week 1 of Semester 1 every academic year.

12. PhD students should pay the University fees on the date of registration and yearly from that date. Tuition fees are waived once students transfer into submission pending status.

13. Professional doctoral students shall pay the University fees on the date of registration and yearly from that date until thesis submission.

14. For exchange and visiting programmes including the University of Liverpool ‘Year in China’ programme, the fees payment arrangements should follow the relevant clauses in the institutional partnership agreement or relevant admissions policy.

15. In case there is a deficit in the amount of fees payable due to fluctuations in exchange rates for international students, the balance should be paid off as soon as the amount is calculated and communicated and no later than the notified dates.

16. Exceptional approval may be sought from the University Senior Management Team for an instalment plan where there are real financial difficulties in meeting the tuition fees payment deadlines. There must be solid evidence of financial hardships in support of the application which should be made before the start of an academic year using a university-designated application form (see Appendix 2). The normal instalments would be two divided by the two semesters, and due dates for payment are usually fixed ones - before end of Teaching Week 4 in each of Semester 1 and Semester 2. In no event shall there be end of Semester or Academic Year instalment payment planned or requested. Service Charge and Accommodation Fees are not within the scope of instalment plan.

 

D. Sanctions

17. Where students fail to make the fees payment after receiving the University written notice one week after the due date, their university account will be disabled and they will not be able to access Learning Mall Online and other University facilities until such time that they make suitable payment arrangements.

18. Students who have not paid the fees in full two weeks after the due date in spite of repeated reminders from the University will be suspended or deregistered from the University.

19. For final year students who experience difficulties in paying fees which occur after their approved instalment plans, discretion may be applied to ensure that they can complete their studies, subject to the University’s judgement.

20. Students in debt to the University will not be eligible to apply for transcripts and certificates from the university until the debt is paid in full.

21. Students in debt to the University at time of completion of studies will not be eligible to attend the University’s Graduation Ceremony. The University reserves the right to withhold any formal certification of studies until the debt has been paid in full.

 

E. Tuition Fees Charging Scheme and Fees Refund

22. The University has different charging scheme set for the programmes under different Tuition fees schedules.

22.1 For undergraduate programmes, tuition fees are charged on a credit- based scheme. The charging schemes of the Programme Fee and the Credit Fee paid for an academic year are as below:

22.2 For Master’s programmes and visiting programmes, the tuition fees charging scheme for an academic year is as below:

22.3 For PhD programmes, the annual tuition fees charging scheme is as below:

22.4 For professional doctoral programmes, the annual tuition fees charging scheme is as follows:

23. The University will re-calculate the amount of tuition fees to be charged in circumstances where a student chooses to leave or suspend the programme during the academic session. In such an event, a student will have no claim to a refund of fees charged for the period they were registered during that session.

24. Fees charged to registered students will be calculated based upon the date the University is formally informed of any change in registration. Students should therefore follow the University’s formal procedures for suspension or withdrawal outlined in Student Handbook.

25. Under the circumstances where a student who has paid the tuition fees in full for the academic year withdraws from the University, tuition fees refund will be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

For undergraduate programmes, the refund amount = the amount of Programme Fee paid * (100%-the percentage of Programme Fees charged) + the amount of Semester 1

Credit Fee paid * (100%-the percentage of Semester 1 Credit Fee charged) + the amount of Semester 2 Credit Fee paid * (100%-the percentage of Semester 2 Credit Fee charged).

For postgraduate programmes and visiting programmes, the refund amount = the amount of tuition fee paid * (100%-the percentage of fees charged).

26. Any tuition fees refund due following the application of this policy will be made to the account provided by the students in the University Leaving Procedure.

27. Where a student’s suspension application is approved, any remaining fees due following the application of this policy will be carried forward to the next academic year.

28. Where international students pay their tuition fee in foreign currencies which the University accepts, a surplus of exchange difference worth of and exceeding RMB 2,000 may result in a refund to students. However, exchange differences within RMB 2,000 may be settled through the Service Charge refunding process.

29. The refund of Retake Fees and Additional Module Fees follows the same rules of the refund of Credit Fees in undergraduate programmes.

30. The refund of Service Charge is initiated once for all undergraduate students on an annual basis, and once for all postgraduate students before graduation. Where there is a balance left in the Service Charge account, it will be returned to the bank account as provided by students.

31. The accommodation fee to be refunded is subject to relevant regulations of the SSED’s
Students Accommodation Administration Centre.

32. Fee deposits, which are charged to new international undergraduates and new master’s and professional doctoral students through relevant admission processes, are normally not refundable. In the event of exceptional circumstances, the applicant may apply for a refund of the deposit, subject to the University’s judgement.

33. No refund is permitted for costs such as student’s ID card, printing account balance and other incidental expenses.

 

F. Help and Support

34. New undergraduate students having enquiries about fee payments, and all undergraduate students experiencing financial difficulties should contact the Student One Stop Office: onestop@xjtlu.edu.cn.

35. Returning undergraduate students who have questions on the raising of their programme fees or associating issues regarding enrolment and registration may contact the Student Academic Services team in Registry: academicservices@xjtlu.edu.cn.

36. Enquiries about accommodation fees may reach out to the Accommodation team in Student Affairs Office: accommodation@xjtlu.edu.cn.

37. Master’s and Doctoral students having enquiries about fees and payments or experiencing financial difficulties should contact XJTLU Graduate School at pgsupport@xjtlu.edu.cn.

38. Questions about the online payment system or other alternative payment methods can be raised with the University’s Finance Office: FINSTU@xjtlu.edu.cn.

G. Governance

39. Finance Office and Registry Office are responsible for the interpretation of the Policy. Any changes made to the Policy shall be approved by the University Administrative and Planning Committee and endorsed by the Senior Management Team.

 

Please download the PDF version to check the appendices:

Appendix 1: Tuition fees for Undergraduate, Master’s and Doctoral programmes and Service Charge for Exchange, Visiting, Undergraduate, Master’s and Professional Doctoral programmes

Appendix 2: Tuition Fee Instalment Request Form

 

(Last Approval Date: 19 June 2024)