The Office of Student Accounts is responsible for all financial matters pertaining to students’ accounts, including the billing and collection of tuition, fees, and overpayment refunds.
The Office of the Student Accounts provides information about how to make payments, waive health insurance, sign up for e-refunds, or learn more about Berklee's Tuition Management Systems (TMS) payment plan.
Payment Methods
Credit Card/E-check (Online) Online: Click the credit card logos below to be redirected to your student account to make payment (login required). Payment made through this option will be posted to your student account immediately. Credit card payments are subject to a 2.5 percent service charge. There is no charge for EFT/electronic checks.
Credit Card (By Phone) To make a credit card payment by phone, please call 617-747-2165. When making payment by telephone, your payment confirmation number will serve as your receipt. Credit card payments are subject to a 2.5 percent service charge.
Alternative Payment If you do not have access to my.berklee.edu and want to make a payment on a student's account, you can go to berklee.edu/altpay. Payment made via the alternative payment website will be posted to the student's account the next business day. Credit card payments are subject to a 2.5 percent service charge. There is no charge for EFT/electronic checks.
Mailing Checks Please include the student ID number with the check payment to:
Berklee College of Music 1140 Boylston Street MS-921 BUR Boston, MA 02215
Bill Pay Since payment received through “bill pay” will be in the form of a check, it will take approximately a week to two weeks before payment is received by the college depending on location and bank.
Pay to: Berklee College of Music
Address: Berklee College of Music, 1140 Boylston Street, MS-921 BUR, Boston MA 02215
Third-Party Scholarships We will be happy to apply advance credit to your account for a scholarship awarded from an outside agency. You must submit a letter to the Bursar's Office from the scholarship source, on their letterhead, stating that the scholarship will be mailed directly to Berklee. The letter must also include the amount of your scholarship, the date when payment will be submitted, a request for a statement (if required by the sponsor), and the name and phone number of a contact person. It is essential for the Bursar's Office to receive this letter prior to your payment due date in order to avoid any delays.
Tuition Payment Plan Since 1990, Berklee has contracted with the company Tuition Management Systems (TMS) to provide students and parents with an interest-free payment plan option. TMS allows students to pay for fall or spring semester over a five-month period as opposed to making payment in full at the start of each semester. Please note that there is a per-term fee of $60 to sign up with TMS.
For the fall semester, students are encouraged to sign up for TMS by June 1. For the spring semester, students are encouraged to sign up by November 1. The payment plan is not available for the summer semester.
To sign up for TMS, please visit afford.com/berklee. Additionally, students may contact the Office of Student Accounts, located on the second floor of the 921 Boylston Street building, for more information. The Office of the Student Accounts may also be reached via email at studentaccounts@berklee.edu or via phone at 617-747-2610.
Policies and Procedures
Students are required to pay tuition and fees at the beginning of each semester, and Berklee has a number of policies regarding balances that have not been fully paid. Read the Collection Policy for more information.
In cases of overpayment, or in which a student needs a refund, see the procedures listed under Student Refund Policy.
Collection Policy Students will be required to agree during registration to pay tuition and fees at the beginning of every semester enrolled. If full payment has not been made or an approved payment plan not set up the student will be subject to the collection process.
Student Refund Policy
If there is an overpayment on your account, we will process the refund as quickly as possible provided the funds have cleared. Because a final assessment of your account balance cannot be determined until your schedule is finalized at the end of add/drop, we cannot issue any refunds during the first two weeks of classes.
We will begin issuing refunds for a credit balance resulting from overpayment starting only after the third week of classes. It is therefore in your best interest to pay only the exact amount due on your account. In addition, we will only be able to process your refund if the credit balance is the result of actual (not anticipated) funds, and all checks have had 10 days to clear (foreign checks may require additional time). After the third week of classes, we will issue refunds one day per week for those students who have become eligible. You may confirm whether you qualify for a refund check by visiting my.berklee.edu and clicking “View My Statement” under the “Financial Information” section.
Depending on the circumstances of your overpayment, you should be aware of the following details affecting your refund:
We encourage all students to fill out direct deposit information by going to my.berklee.edu and clicking on “Direct Deposit Account” under “Financial Information.” For all students that do not elect the direct deposit option, checks will be mailed to the preferred address on file, whether it is a domestic or international address. Refunds will be issued beginning with the Friday after the third week of class.
If the payment causing a credit balance was made by check, the refund will be in the form of a check issued in the student’s name.
If the last payment on your student account was made by credit card, your refund will be issued back to the card used if the refund is processed within 90 days of the initial payment. After 90 days, please expect the refund in the form of a check issued in the student’s name.
If your statement includes estimated Federal PELL Grants, Federal SEOG, Federal Perkins Loans, or other Federal Direct Loans, and this results in a credit balance on your account, your refund cannot be processed until you formally check-in and sign the required documents in accordance with federal regulations, and the funds represented by these awards are obtained by the college from the federal government.
Refunds from Plus Loans will be issued to the initial borrower or student depending on what is stated on the Plus Loan application. At no time after the application is filled out can this be changed. If the Plus Loan application states that any overage should go to the borrower, a check will be issued to the borrower. If the Plus Loan application states any overage should go to the student, a check or direct deposit will be issued to the student. Please note we do not have the ability for Plus Loan borrowers to receive direct deposit refunds at this time.
If you are receiving a private loan or financial aid from any state, local, or private agency, any resulting refund will be made only after the college receives the funds. Theses refunds will not be released any earlier then the third week of classes regardless of whether funds are received before this date. It is important to remember that students should plan to arrive on campus with sufficient funds to cover indirect costs such as off-campus housing, books, supplies, etc.
Please realize that the first money received by the college is the money that is applied toward your tuition and fees. Therefore, if you have taken out a loan for living expenses and it arrives at the college before other financial aid funds are received, the loan will be applied to your tuition expenses. Overpayments or refunds only occur after your tuition and fees have been paid. If you are enrolled in TMS and overbudgeted on your TMS account, we may adjust your budget down or end your plan early to prevent overpayment after the departmental add/drop week of the semester ends.
Any student that does not receive a check due to an incorrect or foreign address will be required to wait at least two weeks (could be longer depending on the address state) before another check will be issued. Due to the volume of lost checks we highly recommend that students fill-out the direct deposit form or verify that the preferred address on file in the Registrar’s Office is correct.
Tuition Insurance through Liberty Mutual As a supplement to the Berklee refund policy, we are pleased to offer an additional tuition insurance program through Liberty Mutual Insurance.
The plan supplements Berklee's refund schedule and provides 100 percent coverage throughout the entire term. If you withdraw from classes due to illness, injury, mental health issues, unforeseen loss of life, or any other eligible reason, the plan will ensure that you receive 100 percent of your insured tuition, room and board, and some fees.
How to Enroll You can purchase a customizable insurance policy for your chosen insured amount and time period (semester or year) directly on the Liberty Mutual website at a cost of roughly 1 percent of the insured amount. You must purchase a policy prior to the first day of classes.
International and study abroad students are also eligible for tuition insurance and must also purchase a policy prior to the first day of classes.
Please follow these steps. You must sign up for direct deposit by 5:00 p.m. EDT Tuesday of any given week in order for the refund to go out direct deposit.
When you sign up for direct deposit, make sure you are using the paper/electronic routing number and the correct account number.
Direct Deposit Sign-Up:
Login to my.berklee.edu. If you experience trouble logging in, please contact Student Technology Services. Once you are in the "Students" section, please select "Direct Deposit Account Information for Student Refunds" under "Financial Information". Enter your U.S. banking information on this form. Failure to enter your correct routing and checking account number will delay your receipt of your refund. Berklee does not validate whether or not your information is correct.
Please do not change the effective date. Read the terms and conditions for direct deposit, then select the check box next to "I Agree" and hit submit. You will then receive a confirmation to your Berklee email when you have successfully submitted the form. Once you have entered your information, you will see your routing number and the last four digits of your account at the top of the "Direct Deposit Account Information for Student Refunds" page going forward. If you need to change your direct deposit information, you must first delete whatever existing information is there.
For online payments, you will receive an automated email from our payment processor to whichever email address you provide. For all other payments, the fastest way to get a receipt is through my.berklee.edu (login required).
The "View Statement" option will provide you with a downloadable receipt for the semester you are currently viewing. You can select a previous term from the drop down menu to view the charges, payments, and print a receipt if needed.
If you experience trouble logging in, please contact Student Technology Services. Once you are in the "Students" section, please select "View Account and Make Payments" under "Financial Information."
Once you click, a new window will open. Please make sure you have pop-ups enabled. Here is an example of a student's statement. You will see charges, payments, financial aid, and any deposits made, as well as the balance due, if any, on the account for a given semester. For a detailed breakdown of charges, payments, financial aid, and deposits, click "Expand All" as indicated above. This will provide you with the following view:
The most common requests we receive relate to the United States and Canada tax forms. For all other countries, please provide the necessary form from your government. If you need a receipt for a current or previous semester, you may access this on my.berklee.edu (login required) by selecting "View Statement" under "View Account and Make Payments." The Office of the Bursar cannot provide you with tax advice. Please consult a tax professional for any questions you may have.
1098-T (United States) Berklee partners with ECSI for all 1098-T reporting. This tax form shows the amounts charged for tuition and fees as reported by the Office of the Bursar. 1098-T forms will be mailed each year by January 31st in addition to being made available on the ECSI website. Please note if you do not have a domestic address, you will not receive a hard copy form.
ECSI Login Information Log on to: borrower.ecsi.net/ School Code: D8 Account Number: This will be either your social security number or you will have to relay that you do not have a social security number and need the web generated ID. PIN/Password: Assigned by ECSI*
*If you have any further questions, please consult the ESCI Informational Page or call the ECSI 1098-T Hotline at 1-866-428-1098.
TL-11A and other Canadian Forms (e.g. OSAP) Currently, Berklee does not mail out tax forms for Canadian students for either their federal or provincial taxes. Please contact the Office of the Registrar and provide them with your necessary form. They will complete the necessary portions concerning certification of enrollment after which our office will complete the necessary financial information.
If your refund is due to overpayment, private or institutional scholarships, or private loans, simply fill out the Leave Credit on Account Form (login required) for each semester you wish to have your credit moved. You must do this each time you want to have credit applied to a future semester. This form is only available to students who are logged into berklee.edu. Please be aware that credit due to federal financial aid (Stafford Loans, Pell/SEOG grants, or Parent PLUS loans) must remain in the same academic year (example: 2015 Fall Semester to 2016 Spring Semester). PLUS loans going back to the parent borrower must be refunded.
All paper checks to students will go to the preferred mailing address on file. This may not be the same as your local address, which you verify at the start of each semester. You can see what mailing address we have on file by viewing your statement on my.berklee.edu (login required). To update your preferred mailing address, please email the Office of the Registrar at registrar@berklee.edu from your Berklee email address. If the paper check is due to a Parent PLUS loan going back to the parent borrower, please contact the Office of Financial Aid at financialaid@berklee.edu or 617-747-2274 to verify the correct address is on file.
Most of the time, we will either send an electronic funds transfer directly to the student's bank account or mail out a paper check in the student's name. If the most recent payment is a credit card made within the past ninety (90) days and the student is not receiving scholarships or financial aid, the refund will go back to the payer's credit card. To ensure you get your refund as quickly and easily as possible, we recommend signing up for direct deposit on my.berklee.edu (login required) using your U.S. bank account. Please note: if the refund is due to a Parent PLUS loan, the parent borrower decides who will receive any refund at the point of application. If the parent borrower elects to receive the refund personally, we will mail a paper check to whichever address was originally provided in the borrower's name.
The first refunds in our office are processed during the third week of classes in a given semester after the add/drop period has ended for students. The refunds are processed in the Office of the Bursar in Boston on Wednesday and our bank sends out electronic refunds on that Friday. Paper checks are mailed the following Monday. No refunds are available for pick up in our office.
Please view "My Aid" under the "Financial Aid" section of my.berklee.edu (login required) or contact the Office of Financial Aid to find out the status of your financial aid package. If you see aid on your statement that is marked as "Currently Ineligible," this means it is pending and not being counted toward your account balance. You may be missing documents, or it may simply be processing. It is best to inquire with Financial Aid to find out the exact reason.
If it is a Berklee scholarship, please contact the Office of the Bursar in Valencia to verify the reason. If it is a scholarship from an outside organization, please gather any available paperwork detailing the award you are receiving and provide it to the Office of the Bursar in Valencia. Documents may be delivered in person or via email to bursarvalencia@berklee.edu.
If you pay the charges through the agency, it will not impact your credit history. However, if the debt is not satisfied, Berklee College of Music reserves the right to report to credit bureaus.
The college will, at first, make three attempts to advise you of your unpaid balance and try to work with you to resolve the debt. These letters will be mailed to the student’s current address on file. If all attempts fail, the account will be turned over to one of the college’s outside collection agencies. Once the account is turned over to an outside agency, you will work with them to pay the debt and any additional fees they will charge. Their fees can range from 33 percent to 50 percent of the debt owed.
Unpaid balances can result in not being able to register for future semesters. It will also prevent you from receiving your grades, diploma, and official transcripts. In addition, if a balance remains after the semester is over, you will be subject to the collection process.
After checking your account and identifying what is causing the balance you should contact that department to discuss the problem. Extra credit charges (Registrar’s Office), issues with financial aid (Financial Aid Office), Berklee scholarships (Scholarship Office), third party scholarships (organization granting the scholarship), library fines, etc. If you still need assistance to identify the charge, contact the Bursar’s Office.
Students should check their online accounts periodically to ensure there have not been additional charges incurred. This can be done at my.berklee.edu under My Finances. After the initial billing for each semester, an email notification is sent to all students who incurred charges and still have a remaining balance halfway through the semester. A notification of this will also be mailed to the current address on the account.
Besides the registration cost for a degree or diploma program, along with fees associated with registration, additional charges can result from additional courses taken, health insurance coverage, late payment and check-in fees, returned check and wire transfer fees, housing, pending aid/scholarships not received, and penalties from withdrawals.
