New Student Guide - 2019

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student records and prohibits university staff from disclosing certain information to parents or other individuals without the permission of the student. Once students are enrolled in classes, regardless of age, they are covered under FERPA. The Student Accounts Office takes student privacy seriously. Records created and maintained by our office are considered education records and cannot be disclosed to a third party without the student's prior consent.

We understand that in many cases, payment is ultimately coming from the parent and not the student. However, we cannot release details of a student’s account to anyone, including their parents, unless that student has authorized the release of their federally protected information. Without permission, we can’t even answer a question as basic as “what is our balance due.”

To grant consent, a student will need to go to the Student Center in their Cal Poly portal, scroll down to the Personal Information section and click on the 'Authorize to Release' link, enter each supporter's name and grant them a four-digit access code. More information is available at 'Authorize to Release'.

Registration and Tuition Fees

Charged quarterly based upon enrollment. California residents are charged either part time or full time Registration and Tuition Fees based upon Undergraduate or Graduate career and college.

Part time is 6 units or less and Full time is more than 6 units. (Note: Full time student status and financial aid eligibility have different unit requirements.)

Fee amounts are published on Fees and Payment Schedules for each academic year or term and available online at Learn more.

Non-residents are charged a Non-Resident Tuition Fee per unit per quarter in addition to Registration and Tuition Fees.

A voluntary Student Involvement and Representation Fee (SIRF) charged in fall and spring terms only. Students may choose to opt out of the SIRF fee via their Student Center's Account Activity. Last day to opt out is the term's census date. More information available at our fees section.

On-Campus Housing

Charged annually (Fall thru Spring term) in August based upon completed housing contract. Amount determined by housing assignment. Initial charges/payments posted earlier in the year reduce the annual balance due in August. Charges are spread across monthly due dates and amounts at time of posting. You can view details through the 'Unpaid Charges' sub tab of Money Matters (Cal Poly portal) or the 'Account and Payment Summary' in Share My Information reports.

Freshman Dining Plan

Charged annually in August based upon completed combined housing/dining contract. Amount determined by dining plan chosen by student during housing application. Initial charges/payments posted earlier in the year reduce the annual balance charged in August. Charges are spread across monthly due dates and amounts at time of posting. You can view details through the 'Unpaid Charges' sub tab of Money Matters (Cal Poly portal) or the 'Account and Payment Summary' in Share My Information reports.

Miscellaneous Course Fees

Charged quarterly based upon enrollment in specific courses with lab or material fees.

Other Miscellaneous Charges - charged as incurred

• Health Center charges – Based upon services or items received.
• Housing miscellaneous charges – Lost access cards, key changes, or damages.
• Late Registration Fee - $25 late registration fee charged if you register for your first class after registration rotation appointments. Registration of your first class during Open Enrollment incurs this fee. Exception for block enrolled freshman in fall term.
• Late Appeal Add Fee - $20 late appeal fee charged for each class added through the Office of the Registrar during appeal period after term begins.

Note: Students who have a financial aid award for the current quarter may have select charges deferred until financial aid disbursement dates. See section below titled “How do I apply my Financial Aid?”.

Registration and Tuition Fees

Charged and due at time of registration, past due if not paid by the due date viewable in the portal and published on the fee schedules. Exception for Fall term. Fall term fees are charged in mid-July for continuing students and early August for freshmen with a due date in the latter part of August. Specific term dates as well as fee planning calculators are available at SA.CalPoly.edu.

University Housing

Annual balance due either in full by September 1st or paid by monthly due dates from September 1st to May 1st. Specific amounts and due dates available on the 'Unpaid Charges' sub tab of Money Matters (Cal Poly portal) or the 'Account and Payment Summary' in Share My Information reports.

Campus Dining

Annual balance due either in full by September 1st or paid by monthly due dates from September 1st to May 1st. Specific amounts and due dates available on the 'Unpaid Charges' sub tab of Money Matters (Cal Poly portal) or the 'Account and Payment Summary' in Share My Information reports.

Housing and Dining Balances and Payments

Housing and Dining charges (when applicable) are charged on an annual basis in August. Annual charges, less any payments or credits applied, are viewable on the 'Money Matters' tab of the student portal on the 'Housing' and 'Dining' lines. Details by monthly due date are viewable by clicking the 'Unpaid Charges' sub tab of Money matters.

The 'Money Matters' tab of the student portal reflects the annual housing and/or dining charges remaining to be paid for the remainder of the housing contract. As payments are posted, the balance on the 'Money Matters' tab will decrease. If the status of your payments is current, your account will not have a hold for the remaining housing and/or dining balance as the balance is due on future 1st of the month due dates.

Cal Poly does not auto debit or process reoccuring charges to credit cards or bank accounts even if you have saved your payment method information. You must manually go in and make the payment every time you want to pay the university.

Payment Methods

• Online Payment (preferred method) - eCheck or Credit Card
• International Wire Transfer with flywire by peerTransfer
• University Cashier - In Person (no credit cards) or Mailed Check
• Financial Aid (See section below titled “How do I apply my Financial Aid?”)

Online Payment Access

Payments can be made online through the 'Money Matters' tab of the student's Cal Poly portal by clicking on the gold 'Make A Payment Now' button. This will open up the CASHNet Online Payment system. The Payments screen shows all Account Balances - all charges that have been posted to the student account but have not yet been paid, regardless of when those amounts are due – will appear at the top of the screen. You can make a partial payment to any item type (Registration and Other Fees, Housing or Dining) by clicking on the words associated with that balance and then editing the amount before you 'Add to Basket'.

Online payment can be made by eCheck or Credit Card. There is no convenience fee for payments made by eCheck. A 2.75% convenience fee will be charged for any credit card or debit card payment.

The online payment system may be accessed outside of the student portal through the links at SA.CalPoly.edu. There are two payment portal types - a student payment portal and a parent payment portal. They both show the same information. The only difference between the two is that saved banking information in one is not viewable or useable in the other.

Anyone can access the Student Payment portal using the student's EMPL ID and month and day of birth. To access the Parent Payment portal, the supporter will need a separate Username and Password. The Student is the only one who can set up this login access. The setup guide is available on our Parent Username Setup Guide.

More information regarding Online Payments and International Wire Transfers available at: Online Payments

Class Cancellation for non-payment

Registration and Tuition Fees not paid by due date or deferred by financial aid ('Deferred by Financial Aid' will appear in Money Matters or Share My Information reports next to any charges that are deferred) are considered past due and may result in class cancellation. Class cancellation drops students from all enrolled classes for the term. The Class Cancellation date for the upcoming quarter is published on all pages at SA.CalPoly.edu.

Housing and/or Dining Past Due Balances

Housing and/or Dining balances not paid at least by monthly due date and amount are considered past due on the 2nd of each month and may result in a hold applied to the student account.

Holds

Student accounts with past due charges are subject to holds that prevent transcript requests and registration activities such as adding, swapping or advancing from a wait list. Holds are often a precursor, but not required, to class cancellation or collection efforts, so it’s vital that you routinely check the ‘Holds and Warnings’ section of your ‘Student Center’. Links to the ‘Student Center’ are on the ‘Money Matters’ tab and in 'Single Click Links' of your student portal.

Your annual financial aid award is divided, usually into thirds, for Fall, Winter and Spring terms. Each term your aid will disburse/post to your student account and apply like a payment to approved charges (see requirements below). Any financial aid not applied to charges will automatically refund to the student for student aid and to the parent for Parent PLUS Loans. It is important to check your balance after financial aid disburses/posts to ensure that all fees were paid. A refund to your bank account does not guarantee that all charges have been paid.

Financial Aid applies in the following order:

• Registration and Tuition Fees
• On-Campus Housing
• Freshman Dining Plan

If your charges are approved for payment by financial aid, the due dates are extended or ‘deferred’ until the term’s financial aid disbursement date (usually the week before the term begins).

Review your amount of ‘accepted’ financial aid from the link on the ‘Money Matters’ tab for comparison to required amounts. Non-disbursable aid such as Federal Work Study or Outside Scholarships not yet received by Cal Poly are excluded for comparison purposes as the funds are not accessible to apply directly to charges. Outside Scholarships become disbursable once Cal Poly's Financial Aid Office has recorded the check or transfer of funds as received.

Important notes:

Complete required ‘To Do’ list items for your financial aid to prevent delays in aid disbursement and holds.

Financial aid is ‘earned’ based upon enrollment, so changes in enrolled units or withdrawals may impact financial aid amounts.

Direct deposit is required for student financial aid refunds. New students can setup direct deposit after they are enrolled via the ‘Direct Deposit’ link on the ‘Money Matters’ tab of the student portal.

With the exception of summer term, the first direct deposit refunds for each term (the date that you will receive the funds in your bank account) is the day before the term begins. Refunds are processed twice a week thereafter.

Requirements to defer/apply financial aid to:

Registration and Tuition Fees

Registration and Tuition Fees are automatically deferred for students with disbursable aid awarded at Cal Poly. No formal request required. Non-disbursable aid such as Federal Work Study or Outside Scholarships not yet received by Cal Poly are excluded and do not defer fees or exclude students from Class Cancellation.

On-Campus Housing and Dining

In order for your Financial Aid to defer any of your Housing costs for the quarter, you must have been offered and accepted enough aid to cover all of your Registration and Tuition fee balances first. Financial Aid can only be used to defer Dining charges if you have been offered and accepted enough aid to cover All Registration and Tuition balances and 100% of Housing balances for that quarter. If you want to receive a Financial Aid Refund, you must have been offered and accepted financial aid in excess of ALL Registration and Tuition fees as well as 100% of both Housing and Dining charges for that quarter.

Once Housing and Dining Charges have posted (in early August), the phrase 'Deferred by Financial Aid' will appear next to each balance amount (on both Money Matters and Share My Information) once you have accepted enough disbursable financial aid. This will indicate that the Due Date for the first payment of that quarter is extended until financial aid disburses. For Fall 2019, that would mean that the September 1st installment on Housing or Dining would not have to be paid until after your aid has applied to those charges for that quarter.

Charges not eligible for payment by financial aid

Financial aid will not apply to Health Center charges, housing miscellaneous charges, library fines or other non-instructional related charges. These charges require personal payment.

Share My Info is an electronic tool for students to give parents or supporters access to reports on their student account and financial aid information on line. The student creates a report and selects the information to be shared with the parent/supporter.  The student can choose a number of different areas to be part of the report. Just a few of those areas are:

• Account & Payment Summary
• Financial Aid Awards
• Estimated Costs
• Holds and Warnings
• To Do List (required items)
• Important Dates

The student creates the Share My Info report from their Cal Poly portal and includes the parent's email address in the recipient listing.  An email is sent to the parent explaining how to create a login to the Share My Information system. Once the parent has confirmed the login information, they will be able to view the report.

View user guide for student or parent.