General fee regulations

Graduate students are expected to register and make arrangements to pay tuition and fees by the Wednesday of the third week of each term (at the latest). This is important to maintain active student status and retain all associated benefits (e.g., student health and dental benefits, email and library services, and valid visa status for international students).

Award payments (GRA/GAA) cannot be processed unless tuition has been paid in full, or authorization has been provided to deduct tuition and fees from this funding. Students requiring late course registrations, or who are withdrawn for failure to register by the deadline, are subject to a $25 graduate administration fee.

Registration is not complete until all fees have been paid or satisfactory arragements have been made with Financial Services. Students who fail to pay the required fees or to make a payment plan by the specificed dates will be charged a late fee of $75 and are at risk of having their IT access frozen and course selections cancelled. Such students will be required to register again once their fees have been paid.

There are several payment plans avaliable. Interest will be charged to overdue student accounts after ther payment deadline. Interest accrues at an annual rate of 12%, is based on the daily account balance and is applied to the student's account on a monthly basis.

Financial letters/statements (special requests)

Special requests for financial letters/statements can be made in person at the Financial Services Office, or by emailing gradfees@unb.ca.

All requests are subject to an administrative processing fee of $15 and the documents will not be processed until the payment has been received by Financial Services. Letters/statements can take up to two business days to be ready and payments must be received on account before the process can begin.

Assistantship payments

Graduate students receiving the Graduate Academic Assistantship (GAA) or the Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA), receive these funds on a bi-weekly basis via the payroll system.

Tuition and fees are automatically deducted from these funds, also on on a bi-weekly basis and the account is noted as being paid with funding. If the GAA and/or GRA funds do not fully cover the term fees, the student would be contacted by the Graduate Administrator to advise them of the balance owing and the payment options.

Fee provisions: Research based master's and PhD degrees

All full time master's candidates in research-based degrees will pay term fees for the first six (6) terms (Co-op terms excluded), while PhD students will pay term fees for the first nine (9) terms. Following that, the student will continue to pay fees either on a full time continuing basis or on a part time basis until degree completion. 

With few exceptions, student in thesis-based programs require full-time status. Students undertaking their degrees on a part-time basis, or who switch to part-time status during their programs, will be responsible for paying prior to graduation a minimum of 4.5 terms at the full-time fee (if masters students), or 9 terms at the full-time fee (if PhD students), with the relevant full-time fee rate being that in effect at first registration.

Fee provisions: Course based master's degrees and diplomas:

Graduate students in course-based master's degrees and diplomas pay per course, whether studying on a full-time or part-time basis. Part-time students must normally register for at least one course within each three-term cycle in order to maintain their registration.

Full-time status: Students in course-based graduate programs are considered full-time if they are registered in the equivalent of three or more courses per term. For this purpose, term courses of 0-5 credit hours count as one course and billed as 1 course. Term courses of 6-11 credit hours are considered equivalent to two course and billed accordingly. 

Part-time status: Students in course-based graduate programs are considered part-time if registered in one or two courses per term. For this pupose, term courses of 0-5 credit hours count as one course, while term courses of 6-11 credit hours are considered equivalent to two courses and billed accordingly.

Please note: For master's degrees or diplomas taken entirely on a part-time basis, the time limit should not exceed fifteen (15) terms. 

Note on full-time continuing and part-time status

For students contemplating whether to proceed on a full time continuing or part-time status at the end of six (6) terms of the master's, or nine (9) terms of the PhD, the following provisions and associated implications should be taken into consideration.

Full-time continuing students are considered to be engaged still on a full-time basis in their degree work, they remain eligible for GRA/GTA support and other external scholarships requiring full-time status (e.g., TriCouncil scholarships) and are limited to an average of ten hours of employment per week.

Part-time students are generally not considered to be working full time toward the degree, are not eligible for GRA support (but can be funded by other resources within the GAU such as GSTA, GSRA or stipendiary money), have no restrictions on work time outside the degree program, and count time in the program at a rate of half the actual time elapsed, subject to the maximum time limits set out above.

Withdrawals, refunds, remissions and pro-rated fees

Once a student registers for courses, they are financially responsible for them unless dropped by the appropriate term deadline. A student who wishes to withdraw from a course must do so online, or notify the School of Graduate Studies in writing. Simply ceasing to attend lectures, or notifying the instructor, does not constitute an official withdrawal.

The effective date of withdrawal will be the date the student withdraws online, or the approved date indicated by the School of Graduate Studies. Students will be charged the appropriate pro-rated tuition fee up to the drop date. All other compulsory fees are non-refundable, except for the Health Fee, Facilities Improvement Fee, and Technology Fee, which will be pro-rated up to the withdrawal date on academic record.

Course based students supported by government student loans should be aware that dropping courses may impact loan funding. Students are advised to check with UNB Financial Services for more information.

Refunds are processed only by request, and processing time for refunds is two-three weeks. To request a refund, please email gradfees@unb.ca. Refunds are issued in the student's name regardless of who made the original payment, except where student loans are involved.

Some graduate programs at UNB require a confirmation deposit. Please note, confirmation deposits are non-refundable for students unable to attend their program. For students who register, and attend their program, confirmation deposits will be applied as credit towards their tuition.

Students in research-based masters or PhD programs who complete all degree requirements within the first two months of an academic term including submission of their final approved thesis or dissertation will be eligible for a remission (reimbursement) of half the applicable full-term tuition fees.

International students unsuccessful in securing a study permit may request a refund of monies paid. Funds must be returned to the country from which the original payment was made. A $25 administrative fee applies to all international refunds.

Please note: If/when an international student is no longer a registered student, any funds remaining on account that have been received by an international method, must be returned to the country they were received from.

** If a student has studies remotely for a term, or part thereof, standard refund regulations as per above will apply. **