Schools to refund accommodation fees

Regions across the country have required schools to return unused accommodation fees to students as this year's new term has been delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Schools that have charged students a whole school year's fees for boarding at school should refund the part that wasn't used during the second semester, according to a notice by the Education Department of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

A school year in China normally starts in September and is composed of two semesters－the first from autumn to winter and the second from spring to summer, with five months for each.

Hebei province in North China has issued a similar notice to local schools. It said schools should collect students' accommodation fees according to their actual length of residence during the period of COVID-19.

Zhou Jiong, a junior student at Hebei Normal University, said she hasn't received a notice from the school about returning to school for the semester, which was scheduled to begin in February.

"Our boarding fee for a school year is 600 yuan ($85) and it was charged at the beginning of the school year," she said, adding the school hasn't given a notice about the refund either.

"I think the refund will be collected when we go back to school," Zhou said.

Universities and colleges in the province are still suspended, as are primary schools and kindergartens. Senior students in high schools returned to school on April 23 while the graduating students in middle schools will resume classes on Thursday after the May Day holiday ends.

Other provinces, including Zhejiang, Sichuan and Shaanxi, have publicized similar refund policies. Some places are resuming classes in batches.

The Education Department of Sichuan said related fees should be refunded by the end of the spring semester. The province has also required schools to set up a hotline to address refunds.

The Ministry of Education issued a warning last month concerning school fees, on account of some schools and kindergartens starting to collect tuition fees or charges for preschool education when the new semester was still being delayed.

Schools are not allowed to collect the fees before students go back to school and resume the semester, the warning said.

The ministry also said schools should provide financial aid to students with financial difficulties, including those infected by the novel coronavirus and ones whose family has been affected by COVID-19.