Student Payment and Refund Policy

Tuition and fees at Saint James School of Medicine are some of the most affordable and competitive among US and Canadian medical schools today. The majority of our affiliated hospitals also train students from medical schools in the U.S. and even from schools elsewhere in the Caribbean, where tuition costs double or triple that at Saint James School of Medicine. This means that students get the same high quality of medical education without the financial burden of an enormous student loan debt. This enables graduates to enter their residency and future careers truly focused on the practice of medicine, rather than the pursuit of financial gain to pay off their loans.

1. TUITION AND FEES

The table below is a list of tuition and fees[1]:

All students enrolled are responsible for their books, transportation, house rent, and living expenses. All Tuition and Fees are subject to change.

1. THE BILLING AND INVOICING PROCESS

• The SJSM billing process is entirely automated. Once submitted, changes cannot be made to the contract unless a ticket is submitted to the Finance Department. All changes will be approved at the discretion of the Finance Department.

• All students need to sign the Online Tuition and Payment Contract (The Contract) for the upcoming semester. Payments for the upcoming semester cannot be accepted if the Contract is not signed. Once the Contract is signed our system generates invoices.

• The generated invoices are dated as of March 1st, July 1st, and November 1st for Summer, Fall, and Spring semesters respectively. Students are emailed links to their respective Contracts either on that day or before. They have 30 days to complete and sign the contract to generate the invoices. Please note that the invoice dates cannot be changed.

• New Students can only put $6,000 on a payment plan. The remainder needs to be paid as an initial deposit and needs to be paid in full.

• If a student has overdue amounts on their account from prior invoices or billings that were not a part of the contract billing, at the time they sign the contract and enter their payment information, all overdue amounts from the prior invoices will be processed and settled by the system in full.

• 4-month installment plans have due dates on the 15th of each month, starting the month after the initial invoice issue date. For further details, please reach out to the Finance Department.

• Students can only have one stored payment on their account. For example, if the student set up their prior invoice(s) with a credit card but signed the new contract and entered in ACH information, the new ACH information will override the stored credit card information.

• If a student has a scholarship or some other type of financial aid, they should sign a 4-month installment plan to avoid any penalties. Scholarships and/or loan amounts will be subsequently applied to the open balance in the 3^rd week of the start of semester as per policy in place

1. THE USMLE PREP FEE PAYMENTS

When students are nearing completion of their MD5, (with about 8 weeks remaining in MD5 in accordance with the Contract dates discussed above), students will receive a Contract for a USMLE Prep Fee[2] for an amount as stated above. Please note that this fee covers USMLE Counselling that the school provides to all students. Any external courses such as Kaplan etc. will be charged separately. 

Four months after the billing of the USMLE Prep Fee, students will also be billed for their first semester of Clinical Sciences. This is required to be paid and is fully refundable should the student not continue with the school into Clinical Sciences (assuming that no other fees or charges have been incurred that would leave an open balance at the time of leaving the school).

ON SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF USMLE Step 1, THE ENTIRE AMOUNT OF THE USMLE PREP FEE WILL BE CREDITED TOWARDS YOUR FUTURE CLINICAL SCIENCES BILLING

For example, if you paid $14,250 and successfully passed USMLE Step 1, this amount in its entirety will be credited towards future Clinical Sciences tuition and fees (assuming you have no other outstanding obligations towards the school)

1. CLINICAL SCIENCE TUITION & REFUND POLICY

To complete the MD program, after five semesters of Basic Science, students are required to complete 5 semesters (80 weeks) of clinical rotations.

Tuition for Clinical Sciences is as stated above for the full 80-week program. Tuition will be billed to the student and must be paid within the due dates specified on the tuition bill. Cancellation policy is applied as described in the Clinical Rotations Cancellation Policy below.

Students are required to pre-pay 16 weeks of Clinical rotations (CS1) as well as pay for the USMLE Prep fee, which will be credited toward the future clinical science tuition billings if the student passes the USMLE Step 1 and continues onto the clinical part of the program. 

A service charge of $3,000 is added to students who have been billed for the Clinical Science tuition and have not completed the program. This will be applicable for all students who withdraw, transfer or are dismissed from the school after the respective dates following their last clinical sciences bill.

• Spring billing cycle December 15th 

• Summer billing cycle April 15th 

• Fall billing cycle August 15th

For the students who withdraw, transfer or are dismissed before completion of the entire program, these charges will be deducted from the amount of their refund as indicated above, regardless of whether or not they passed the exam, and regardless of whether or not they took any rotations. If the student has insufficient tuition credit/deposit on his/her account to cover the applicable fees, no transcript/withdrawal or other requests will be processed until the balance is cleared.

In the event of a withdrawal, transfer or dismissal from SJSM prior to the completion the MD program, a refund for the unused portion of the Clinical Sciences tuition will be issued. The refund will be calculated by subtracting the following from the amount of money paid towards tuition or rotations:

• Number of rotation weeks completed, multiplied by tuition amount that is considered for the refund, divided by 16, and;

• Fees and other charges. Please note that the following fees are non-refundable:
  1. Clinical Administrative Surcharge fees ($3000)
  2. Counselling fees (Applicable only for students who did not pass the USMLE Step1)

• For example, If a student withdraws while they are in MD5, and has paid a deposit of CS1, based on the above, the student will get a refund of amount which shall be Total Clinical Invoiced Amount less Counselling Fees ($5,000) less Administrative Surcharge ($3,000)

1. CLINICAL ROTATION CANCELLATION

Rotation slots in U.S. hospitals are highly competitive. As such, cancelling a scheduled rotation will result in one of the following outcomes:

• If a student cancels/reschedules a rotation for any reason within nine weeks of the start date of the rotation, a rotation cancellation fee of $1,000 will be charged, plus any third-party fees that the school may be charged due to this cancellation. In certain exceptional cases, a student may cancel/reschedule a rotation up to nine weeks before the start of rotation if they provide a valid reason (e.g., sickness, death in the family) that is approved by the Dean of Clinical Sciences. It is at the discretion of SJSM to determine and approve the validity of the reason for cancellation. If not approved, a rotation cancellation fee of $1,000 will be charged.

• If the student cancels/reschedules the rotation with more than nine weeks’ notice, a fee of $500 will be charged to the student’s account.

1. FEES, PAYMENTS, AND REFUND POLICIES

• For all Contracts submitted after the due date, the student shall be charged a $200 administrative fee.

• For students who do not pay within the stipulated due dates will be charged a late fee of $75 each month till paid and a financial hold placed on their account.

• Wire Transfers will have a $25 bank charges fee associated with them.

• Credit card payments have a 3.25% convenience fee

• Bounced/invalid payments for incorrect account information on their Contract will have a $250 resubmission fee added.

• The following fees are non-refundable:
  1. Administrative Surcharge fees
  2. Application fee
  3. Counselling fees
  4. Reservation fee

• Students who withdraw from Basic Science may be eligible for a refund of tuition based on the withdrawal date:
  1. End of 2nd week of class- 50%
  2. Starting the third week of class- No Refund

• In the event of a default (payment is past due) on tuition or a payment plan, after proper notice and an opportunity to cure the default has been given, the student's rights will be revoked and their account will be placed on the HOLD status. Students will lose their MySJSM privileges, access to the internet and printing, as well as blocked/barred attendance from courses and clinical clerkships.

• Students with accounts on hold making payments thereafter will have their privileges and online access to various resources restored after 5 business days of the receipt of payment or until the payment clears. 

• Students who default on payment will not be registered for classes. Students who do start the semester under a payment plan or other arrangements and do not uphold the Contract are subject to be dropped from the course with an Incomplete (I) grade given for the course. Official transcripts will not be issued until all tuition due has been paid in full.

• Students who have failed to progress their Grade Level for at least a period of 2 years and have not withdrawn from the program will forfeit any deposits.

• Fees for repeating a course will be $3,000 irrespective of which campus the courses are taken.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our Finance Department or raise a ticket.