Payment of University Obligations

All students are required to settle all financial obligations, including tuition and fees and rent, if living in Harvard University Housing, before they are allowed to enroll for classes each semester. Student bills for the fall semester are issued in July and payable in August; for the spring semester, they are issued in December and payable in January.

Degree students may elect to pay the tuition and mandatory fee portion of their term bill in a monthly payment plan. Under this plan, students pay one-quarter of their fall tuition in August and the balance in three installments in October, November, and December. In the spring, participants pay one-quarter of their tuition in January and three additional payments in March, April, and May. There is a service charge of $35 per term for participation in the monthly payment plan. A student enrolled part-time or less is required to pay the entire amount in advance. A student who leaves the University, for any reason, who has any outstanding charges remaining on their account after any eligible refund credit is applied must pay all charges immediately upon receipt of the final account statement.

Candidates for degrees must have satisfied all indebtedness to the University at least three days prior to Commencement. The Registrar will notify all students with any outstanding balances at least one week prior to the due date. The names of candidates with outstanding balances of more than $1,000 on the date of Commencement will have their degrees held by the Governing Board of the University until such outstanding balances are paid in full.

The University has instructed the bank to redeposit any returned e-payments or checks received for payments of students’ bills. If an e-payment or check is returned by the bank, the student's account will be charged a $25 returned check fee. Multiple returned payments may result in the University requiring future payments to be made by certified or bank check. Please note that it can take a week or more before a bank notifies Harvard that a payment has been returned. The student's account will not reflect a returned payment until we receive that information from the bank. A check is regarded as dishonored when it has been returned because of insufficient funds, lack of a bank account, or because payment has been inappropriately stopped.

Current account information is available online through a student’s my.Harvard home page.

University Policy on Outstanding Account Balances

Any student who leaves the University with an amount due on their student bill that remains unpaid for 60 days or more may be subject to collection activities. The costs associated with collecting an unpaid account will be added to the student’s outstanding debt and must be paid in full.