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I paid 5 years of tuition at once, but I only studied for 3 months at the school. I want to "drop out" but it's difficult to get a refund? Recently, Mr. Fan, a citizen of Heze, reported that he encountered such a troublesome thing when he was studying at Shandong Coal Technician College. As both sides insisted on their own opinions, Mr. Fan and the school could not reach an agreement on the refund amount.

The parties involved said:

I only studied in school for three months.

It's difficult to ask for a refund of 20,000 yuan in tuition fees

Mr. Fan is a 2020 automobile major (3+2) student at Shandong Coal Technician College. He paid the full five-year tuition fee in one lump sum after enrollment, a total of 24,600 yuan. "After the start of the school, I only studied in school for three months, and later I did not participate in online classes." Mr. Fan said that due to the epidemic and personal reasons, he chose to drop out and asked the school to refund 20,000 yuan in tuition.

In July this year, a staff member named Du from Shandong Coal Technician College came to Heze to find Mr. Fan. Mr. Fan said that the other party expressed his willingness to refund the tuition of 15,000 yuan and promised to get a technical secondary school and college diploma. However, Mr. Fan believed that he did not learn relevant professional knowledge in school, and his current job was not related to his major. He hoped to refund the tuition of 20,000 yuan and not have the diploma.

"Why did they deduct nearly 10,000 yuan from my tuition?" Mr. Fan said that he communicated with the staff member surnamed Du for nearly an hour that day, but they could not reach an agreement on the refund amount. "I contacted him again afterwards, but he did not answer my calls or reply to my messages."

According to the recording of the conversation between the two provided by Mr. Fan, the reporter found that in 2022, Shandong Coal Technician College organized students to intern at a certain brand of automobile factory in Hebei Province, and Mr. Fan interned for a total of eight months. However, Mr. Fan said that he regretted it after the internship, because he had to work 12 hours a day, and the factory collected all the students' ID cards, so he had no way to leave.

Shandong Coal Technician College

The school responded:

I was on leave, not dropping out.

Issuing a diploma is for the students' consideration

Regarding what Mr. Fan said, "I only studied for 3 months and didn't take any online classes," a staff member surnamed Du from Shandong Coal Technician College said that Mr. Fan's study time at school and whether he had taken online classes needed to be confirmed by contacting Mr. Fan's teacher. The original intention of organizing students to intern at the automobile factory was based on the principle of voluntary participation.

"The (Shandong) Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security has contacted us through 12345 about this matter. Our response was that it was an unreasonable work order and we would not refund the money." A person in charge surnamed Wang from Shandong Coal Technician College said that they had communicated with Mr. Fan many times and also responded to the 12345 work order of the Department of Human Resources and Social Security. They felt that Mr. Fan was making trouble unreasonably, so they did not want to respond.

So why did the school still promise to issue a diploma to Mr. Fan even though he had not completed the relevant courses? Staff member Du provided an "application for retaining student status" written by Mr. Fan in March 2023, which showed that Mr. Fan was on leave at the time, not dropping out.

A staff member named Du said that although Mr. Fan studied in school for a short time, the school had been conducting online courses in the later period, and Mr. Fan also participated in the internship organized by the school. Considering the importance of the graduation certificate to Mr. Fan’s subsequent work, the school agreed to issue him a graduation certificate.

Lawyer's statement:

Tuition fees should be charged per academic year or semester

School refund schemes are basically feasible

Nie Youlin, a lawyer at Shandong Sanhe Law Firm, said that according to Article 1 of the "Notice of the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance on Further Standardizing the Management of Higher Education Fees": Tuition fees should be charged according to the academic year or semester and shall not be pre-collected across academic years; after students pay tuition fees, if they drop out or end their studies early for some reason, the university should refund the remaining tuition fees on a monthly basis based on the students' actual study time.

"When it comes to internships arranged by schools, such internships are usually regarded as part of the normal teaching plan, rather than a situation where students drop out or terminate their studies for personal reasons. This means that in most cases, the internship period should be regarded as the students' study time, and the school may not refund the tuition separately for this reason." Nie Youlin said: "Excluding winter and summer vacations each year, based on the actual study time, a school year is 8 months, and the school's plan to refund 15,000 yuan is basically feasible."

Therefore, the reporter relayed Lawyer Nie's views to both parties. Mr. Fan said that he would refer to the lawyer's advice and continue to communicate with the school; the staff member named Du also said that he would contact Mr. Fan as soon as possible to resolve the matter smoothly.

Source: Qilu One Point