Refunds Using the Number of Days (*DAYS) Calculation

This method of generating refunds is only valid for course charges (charge type = C). It allows you to define the refund percentage based on the number of days a student was enrolled in a course.

To calculate the actual refund amount, the system performs a two-step process:

Step 1

1.    The Charge program checks all courses on the Student Course History table for all terms it is processing and identifies the credit hours from newly dropped courses. The credit hours are identified when the Transaction Status = D (dropped) and when the Processed Flag = " " (not processed).

2.    The Charge program then finds the difference between what the student was previously charged and what they should be charged now (Working Amount).

Working Amount = New Charge Amount - Amount Previously Charged

3.    The amount previously charged comes from the Fees table.

4.    Finally, the Charge program will calculate a per-hour charge for the difference by dividing the working amount by the total number of credit hours dropped. This is necessary because when tuition rates are charged on an hourly basis, there is typically a point where a flat rate is used, causing the actual hourly rate to differ. If the working amount does not divide evenly by the credit hours dropped, the program will calculate a remainder.

Per-Hour Charge = Working Amount / Total Credit Hours Dropped (with a remainder)

Step 2

The second step is performed on a course-by-course basis.

1.    The Charges program reads the record for the first newly dropped course from the Student Course History table and the Section Master table and retrieves the begin date and the drop date for the course. It then calculates the number of days a student has been registered for that course (Number of Days Enrolled).

 Number of Days Enrolled = Drop Date - Begin Date

 Percent Days = Number of Days Enrolled / Length of Course

2.    Next, it uses the number of days enrolled to find the appropriate record on the Refund Detail and reads the refund percentage or the override percentage from the prompt window (if one was entered).

3.    Then, it calculates the portion of the charge difference that is attributed to that one course by multiplying the number of hours for that course by the per-hour charge that was calculated in Step 1 If there is a remainder, it adds the remainder to the refund amount on the first course.

 Refund Amount = Dropped Hours for Course * Per-Hour Charge (Step 1)

4.    Finally, the program calculates the actual refund amount to the student for that course by multiplying the refund amount by the refund percent.

 Actual Refund = Refund Amount * Refund Percent

The charge program repeats Step 2 until it creates a separate refund for each newly dropped course.

Tom Wise registered for courses on 9/01/10 (some courses have different beginning dates from the regular term beginning date of 9/01/10) for a total of 16 hours.

The table below displays the Charge Detail for the example. Each course is assigned a per-hour charge.

The table below displays the Refund Definition applying the usage code E with the *DAYS calculation.

The following table details Tom's charges for this registration:

Tom then drops the following courses a month later on 10/01/03:

To determine Tom's refund, the system performs the following process for BUS 215 - E:

1.    The system calculates the new total charge. The dropped courses no longer have a status of C, so the previous charge is invalid and the new charge amount should be 0 (zero) for each dropped class.

Initial Charge: $165

New Total Charge: 0 (zero)

2.    Using the new total charge amount, the system calculates the working amount by subtracting the amount previously charged from the new charge.

(0$) (New Total charge) -$165 (Previous Charge) = $165 (Working Amount)

3.    The system then uses the working amount to calculate the per-hour charge. The per-hour charge is derived by dividing the working amount by the number of hours dropped.

$165 (Working Amount) /3 (Hours Tom Dropped) = $55 (Per-Hour Charge)

4.    Next, the system calculates the refund. The system computes the duration of each course for which Tom was accountable by subtracting the day the course began from the day Tom dropped the course. Then the number of days is compared to the number in the Days Enrolled column of the Refund Definition Table, above.

10/1/03 (Date Course Dropped) 9/1/03 (Date Course Began) = 31 (Days Accountable For)

Actual Days Enrolled: 31 > 14 and 31 < 35 = 0.4000 refund percent (as compared on the Refund Definition Table)

5.    Using the actual refund percentage, the system calculates the refund amount by multiplying the dropped hours for the course by the per-hour charge, which was computed in Step 3.

3 (Number of Course Credit Hours) * $55 (Per Hours Charge)= $165 Refund Amount)

6.    To determine Tom's actual refund amount, the system multiplies the refund amount by the refund percent.

$165 (Refund Amount) * .4000 (Refund Percent) = $66 (Actual Refund Amount)

The process is repeated for each course, and ultimately Tom's charges and refunds are as follows:

Depending upon your organizations configuration, Transactions Status or Billing Status may be used when processing *DAYS refunds.

Related Topics

Planning Refunds