UC Merced accepts third party billing arrangements whereby third party sponsors pay tuition and other fees for qualifying students. We work with close to 30 third party sponsors, the most active of which are:
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California Department of Rehabilitation
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U.S. Armed Forces
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U.S. Veterans Affairs
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Foreign Embassies
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Stanford University Tuition Grant Program
Third Party Billing Setup Process
To start your third party billing arrangement, you must submit an authorization document from the sponsor to Student Billing Services (SBS). Documents can be submitted via email at sbs@ucmerced.edu.
There is no standard sponsor authorization form. Regardless of the format, all sponsor authorizations are considered contractual agreements, and the following information must be included in order for the request to be processed:
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Student’s name
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Student’s ID number (University ID)
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Applicable term(s)
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Specific charges or amount the sponsor will pay
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Sponsor billing address
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Name, signature, and contact information of sponsor employee authorizing the contract
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Sponsor email billing address
Student Responsibilities under a Third Party Sponsorship
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The student is responsible for providing a valid sponsor authorization prior to the fee payment deadline. In cases where an authorization cannot be provided by the fee payment deadline, the student is responsible for paying any remaining balance to avoid being dropped from courses for nonpayment. Once the authorization is received and applied and it results in a credit balance, a refund will be processed for any credit balance on the student account.
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Students covered by a third party sponsor for the first time are required to sign a student promissory note. The promissory note indicates that the student is responsible for all fees the third party refuses to pay, which can happen when the student fails to meet the requirements of the sponsorship. Once the sponsor authorization is received, SBS will provide the student with the promissory note to sign and return. To expedite the process, the student can contact SBS to obtain the student promissory note in advance of providing the authorization.
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The student is responsible for knowing the duration of the authorization and obtaining a new authorization as needed. The university will not notify a student when their authorization has expired.
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The student is responsible for providing the sponsor with all information required in the sponsorship agreement, such as transcripts, grades, class schedules, and other documents.
Additional information regarding Third Party Billing
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Third Parties are billed after the add/drop deadline, as provided in the academic calendar.
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Third Party Sponsor Credits will appear on the student account shortly after SBS receives the authorization and promissory note, if required. These credits indicate that the student’s charges are now appearing on the sponsoring agency account, but do not necessarily mean that the agency has paid those fees. Students should be aware that they are ultimately responsible for any charges their sponsoring agency refuses to pay.
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A sponsor with a past due balance may have its billing privileges terminated.
