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(b)
The present practice on refund of tuition fees for students who drop out before the commencement of the academic year varies amongst the institutions. The City University of Hong Kong (CityU) refunds the full amount of tuition fees paid by new students provided that they notify the University of their withdrawal within one month after registration or two weeks after the beginning of the first semester, whichever is the earlier. The Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) allows students who withdraw from their studies to apply for refund of the tuition fees paid for the first semester. The amount of refund would be 75% if the student applies for the refund during the week of tuition fee payment, 50% during the first week following the week of tuition fee payment, and 25% during the second week following the week of tuition fee payment. No refund is permitted thereafter. The Lingnan College (LC) only refunds 20% of the tuition fee paid by new students if notice of withdrawal is received before registration or within the first week after the commencement of the first term.
As for The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the University of Hong Kong (HKU), tuition fees pre-paid are normally non-refundable. Nevertheless, all the seven institutions are prepared to consider refund of tuition fees on a case by case basis, having regard to the circumstances of individual students.
(c) The table at Annex A compiled by the UGC shows the total number of new students who discontinued or did not commence their studies after the payment of tuition fees in the past three years, the total amount of fees refunded and the total amount of forfeited tuition fees retained by the institutions. The UGC-funded institutions used the tuition fees collected from students enrolled on UGC-funded courses, including the forfeited tuition fees retained by institutions, to support activities approved by the UGC and the Government.
(d)
None of the UGC-funded institutions received any complaints about the levels of tuition fee instalments in the last three years. Policies and practices regarding the collection of tuition fees are matters for the institutions. They are kept under regular review on the institutions' own initiative as well as in response to appeals from the Joint Committee on Student Finance.