Fees and Debts Owed to the Institution

Should a student or former student fail to pay a fee or a debt owed to the institution, including tuition and student charges, the institution may "withhold permission to register, to use facilities for which a fee is authorized to be charged, to receive services, materials, food or merchandise or any combination of the above from any person owing a debt" until the debt is paid (see Title 5, California Code of Regulations, Sections 42380 and 42381).

Prospective students who register for courses offered by the university are obligated for the payment of charges and fees associated with registration for those courses. Failure to cancel registration in any course for an academic term prior to the first day of the academic term gives rise to an obligation to pay student charges and fees including any tuition for the reservation of space in the course.

The institution may withhold permission to register or other services offered by the institution from anyone owing fees or another debt to the institution. The institution may also report the debt to a credit bureau, offset the amount due against any future state tax refunds due the student, refer the debt to an outside collection agency and/or charge the student actual and reasonable collection costs, including reasonable attorney fees if litigation is necessary, in collecting any amount not paid when due.

The institution may not withhold an official transcript of grades by the institution from anyone owing fees or another debt to the institution (see Title 1.6C.7 (commencing with Section 1788.90) Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code). The institution can still charge a fee for the issuance of the transcript pursuant to their published transcript processing fees.

If a person believes they do not owe all or part of an asserted unpaid obligation, that person may contact the SF State Bursar’s Office at (415) 338-1281 or submit a ticket at https://bursar.sfsu.edu/. The SF State Bursar’s Office to which the business office may refer the person, will review all pertinent information provided by the person and available to the university and will advise the person of its conclusions.