International Deposit Payment Policy

All international students are required to make a deposit payment of minimum £1,000 to accept an offer. A payment of at least 50% of the published tuition fee is required before a CAS can be issued. A payment of at least 60% of the published tuition fee is required before enrolment. 

This shows your commitment to study with us, which is important to demonstrate for immigration purposes. We recommend that you make your payment as early as possible, as receipt of the initial £1,000 deposit not only secures your offer but unlocks exclusive benefits such as free Duolingo English Language Test. The 50% deposit payment will allow us to issue you a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) for your visa application. You may wish to pay more than the minimum required amounts – many students choose to pay the full amount of their first year’s tuition fees to strengthen their visa application. 

Although international students can enrol with 60% of first year’s tuition fees, all students starting their course are encouraged to make a 100% fee payment towards their course fee as early as possible. The University also reserves the right to request the full fee payment from students before issuing CAS in certain cases. 

An Early Action Scholarship is offered to international students when they pay 100% of tuition fees by the deadline provided on the University College Birmingham website. Payment must be received into the University’s bank account by the deadline date, to be eligible for the scholarship. If payment is being made in full by the deadline, please deduct £500 from your full tuition fee. Please note this is available only for the first year of your study with UCB. 

Any overpayment of tuition fees will be held on account for students who are studying for more than one year. The overpayment will be automatically allocated against any UCB accommodation invoice or tuition fees for subsequent years of study.

When you enrol onto your main academic programme, you need to have already paid a minimum of 60% of your full tuition fee. Payment must be in the university’s bank account before you enrol in person. 

All students must have paid at least 60% of tuition fees prior to enrolment, with the exception of the following circumstances:

1. Documented evidence of financial guarantee is provided from an approved sponsor for the remaining balance. 

Students who pay at least 60% but less than 100% of tuition fee will be offered an instalment plan, dates of which to be confirmed at enrolment.

Please note the refund information in the below sections relate only to applicants prior to enrolment. Once a student enrols, they are subject to university rules and regulations for enrolled students. 

If a student fails to meet the Academic or English language conditions, the University will arrange a refund of the paid deposit to the original payee.

In the event of the visa being rejected under the Student Visa system, UCB reserves the right to withhold £1,000 of the total tuition fee amount paid in all cases apart from those relating to fraudulent payment and documents. The policy relating to these cases can be found below.

Please check very carefully that you meet the financial requirements set out by UKVI before making your visa application. Where you have your visa refused on the grounds of maintenance, and are issued with a new CAS to make a second visa application, which is then successful, UCB will not deduct the £1,000 from fees paid as a result of the original visa refusal.

UCB reserves the right not to issue a new CAS to any student who has already been refused a visa, where UCB deems the second application is unlikely to be successful or the visa application is unlikely to be processed in time for the student to join the course.

If you change your mind about studying at UCB, then you should inform us immediately via email to international@ucb.ac.uk. In such instances, UCB reserves the right to withhold administrative expenses for costs incurred. These will be deducted from the paid deposit amount and the remaining amount refunded to the original payee. The circumstances of which are outlined below: 

1. Made prior to a CAS being issued, UCB will reserve the right to retain an admin fee of £250. 
2. Made after a CAS has been issued, but prior to enrolment UCB reserves the right to retain an admin fee of £1,000. 
3. In the event of a student not enrolling or a student deferring and not re-enrolling on their course for more than four semesters after the date of the deposit payment they will forfeit the right to receive a refund of any tuition fee paid.

For any withdrawal after enrolment please refer to the withdrawal policy - 
https://www.ucb.ac.uk/media/2nbeazwf/student-higher-education-withdrawal-policy.pdf 

Withdrawal fee calculation is here - https://www.ucb.ac.uk/media/vc1nivdm/calculations-of-fees-for-withdrawals-and-leave-of-absence.pdf 

Evidence of any medical or personal problems leading to a continued period of absence from studies must be provided within ten days of occurrence.

To obtain a refund, please complete our Refund Form stating your case and providing evidence (e.g. notification of a visa refusal). If you made payment by any other method than Flywire, you will need to send proof of payment. Proof of payment must include the account name, account number and the payment amount (normally a bank statement is sufficient). 

Refunds will only be processed back to the original payee. University College Birmingham is unable to refund to any other source. If your payment has been delivered to University College Birmingham via a third party, University College Birmingham is not responsible for any charges deducted by the third party. 

If you have not used your CAS to apply for your visa at the point of requesting your refund, your CAS with UCB will be cancelled before your refund is processed. When requesting a refund, please provide your full bank details and your student reference number. Refunds will be paid back into the account where the payment originated from. 

Evidence of any medical or personal problems leading to a continued period of absence from studies must be provided within ten days of occurrence.

Refund Forms can be obtained by email: finance@ucb.ac.uk

The University regards deception as a deliberate attempt to undermine our academic integrity and to put our sponsor license in jeopardy. Should we identify any fraudulent certificates, documents, references or behaviours at any point of the admissions process, along with the immediate withdrawal of offer we reserve the right to retain the full tuition fees paid. Furthermore, the University will contact the relevant authorities.

If the University identifies any payments that we think may be fraudulent, we reserve the right to withdraw your application, as well as any future application to University College Birmingham.

Your place at the University is subject to withdrawal following requests from the UKVI at any point during your study. Your Student Visa comes with a number of conditions. It is important that you adhere to the following conditions to prevent any immigration issues:

• You must be able to fund your studies in the U.K. independently without needing to resort to part-time employment while you are here.
• You must not work more than the maximum number of hours permitted by your visa, which will be confirmed in your visa decision. You also cannot undertake any business activity, be self-employed, work as an entertainer, professional sportsperson or doctor or dentist in training, or take a full-time permanent position. 
• You must follow the University’s attendance and engagement policy. This includes attending all timetabled classes and meeting all requirements for your course, online or otherwise. 
• You must make sure to leave the U.K. or submit a visa extension application before your Student Visa expires. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not overstay on your visa. 
• You have ‘no recourse to public funds’ in the U.K. This means you are not able to claim most government benefits such as welfare benefits, tax credits and housing assistance. 
• Your Student Visa is only valid to study the course listed on your CAS at UCB. If you want to change course or institution, you must seek permission from us first. You can undertake supplementary study, such as an evening course or a short course during vacation periods.