Student Accounts

Tuition and fees are due in full on the due date unless the account has an approved payment plan. It is the student’s responsibility to pay tuition and fees regardless of attendance.

• Pay Fall Semester in full by the August 1st due date
• Pay Spring Semester in full by the January 2nd due date
• Enroll online in the Compass Deferred Payment Plan.

Cornish College considers tuition past due if payment in full is not completed within 10 days of the tuition due date. Past due accounts incur late fees as follows:

• Cornish charges late fees for past due accounts at the rate of $10 for each $1,000 past due.
• The minimum late fee is $25.
• Late fees are charged on the first day of class and every 30 days from that point until the account is paid.

Registering for a course reserves space in that course. To avoid charges for the semester, students must formally withdraw from all classes via Compass prior to the end of the first week of class. Non-attendance or non-payment will not automatically result in cancellation of a student’s registration.

Cornish College of the Arts reserves the right to withhold grade cards, academic transcripts, diplomas and letters of recommendation until all charges have been paid and the account is cleared. Additionally, Cornish reserves the right to withhold academic transcripts for past due Perkins Loan accounts. If debt has to be referred to a collection agency, collection costs are added to the debt. Graduates from Cornish, you must complete exit counseling and the student account must be paid in full prior to participation in commencement ceremonies. Student Accounts reserves the right to suspend the commencement privileges for an unpaid student account balance.

Please note: Recipients of a federal Stafford or Perkins loan, must schedule an exit interview with both Financial Aid and Student Accounts before graduation, leaving school or electing not to register for the next semester.

Policy: To withdraw after registering for classes, you will file a withdrawal form, bearing the appropriate signatures, at the Registrar’s Office. The withdrawal date on this form will be used for all refund calculations. If you leave the College without official notification of your intent to withdraw, the mid-point of the term will be recorded as the official withdrawal date. Lack of attendance does not cancel your financial obligations.

Your Account: Tuition for the entire semester is billed upon registration. If you withdraw after registering for classes, you may receive refunds in the form of adjustments to your account for some of your tuition. Comprehensive fees, late fees, tuition deposits and housing deposits are non-refundable.

College Credit Courses, 15 Weeks

Week 1 (Add/Drop Week): 100% refund upon withdrawal

Week 2-3: 75% refund upon withdrawal

Week 4-6: 50% refund upon withdrawal

Weeks 7-9, 25% refund upon withdrawl 

Week 10-15 (Pre-Registration through Finals): 0%

Summer & Special Courses

Before 1st Day of Class: 100% (5-14 Weeks) / 100% (4 Weeks or Less)

1st Day through Week 1: 40% (5-14 Weeks) / 0% (4 Weeks or Less)

After Week 1: (5-14 Weeks + 4 Weeks or Less): 0%

Cornish Aid Recalculation: Grants, scholarships, and waivers awarded by Cornish College of the Arts will follow the same recalculation schedule as listed above. For example, a student who withdraws in Week 6 will receive 50% of their Cornish scholarship for the term.

Federal Financial Aid Recalculation: Federal regulations require you to repay a portion of your financial aid funds if you withdraw before 60% of the semester has been completed (Week 9). If your withdrawal date is before the end of Week 9, Student Accounts will help you understand how much of your federal financial aid must be paid back to the federal government.

Washington State Aid Recalculation: State regulations require you to repay a portion of your financial aid funds (State Need Grant & College Bound Scholarship) if you withdraw before 50% of the semester has been completed (Week 7). You will be required to pay back ½ of the unearned portion, as calculated by the length of time you were enrolled.

Revised Balances After Recalculation: Cornish will provide you with a written recalculation and a revised statement. Cornish will also supervise your payment and coordinate the return of funds to government agencies, if applicable. If you have overpaid, the surplus amount will be refunded to you. If you owe a balance after the recalculation, you will have 30 days to pay your bill. Students with an account balance of $0 are eligible to return to Cornish.

Part-Time Enrollment: If you were registered full-time (12-18 credit hours) and drop to part-time (6-11 credit hours), this is not a withdrawal and you are not subject to the tuition refund schedule. However, you will receive an adjustment to your tuition charges.

Most Cornish Scholarships require full-time enrollment, so you must seek special permission from the Vice President of Enrollment to use Cornish scholarships for part-time study. If approved, the scholarship will be adjusted as a percentage of tuition charges per credit hour.

If you are enrolled below 6 credit hours, you are not eligible for Cornish scholarships and any federal financial aid will require a recalculation.

The only method Cornish uses to bill student accounts is E-Bill. In order to receive E-Bill notifications, parents/co-billers must have access to the Cornish Parent/Co-bill Login Page, as noted above.

Access to the student account is permission-based. The student controls who has permission to access the information. Parents without granted access are locked out of information.

• Parents/co-billers cannot participate in payment plans or online payments or account review unless they authorized.
• Parents/co-billers cannot request tax documentation 1098-T without authorization.
• Parents/co-billers cannot contact Student Accounts to receive any account information without authorization.

To grant a parent or co-biller access, please do the following:

• Go to Compass…
• Click on Student Accounts.
• Log into My Online Account.
• Choose “Parent PIN” on the left side of the page.
• Enter the parent/co-biller’s name and email address.

A temporary password will be sent to the parent/co-biller’s email address. (Please note: If the email does not arrive, be sure to check email Junk folders to make sure the message hasn’t been tagged as spam.).

The parent/co-biller can use the temporary password to set up a custom password and security questions. Once access has been granted, your parents or co-billers may access the Cornish Parent/Co-biller Logon Page.