Tuition Deferral

Does your employer offer a tuition reimbursement plan? Are you a veteran with GI Bill® benefits?

Excelsior’s Tuition Deferral Plan is available for partnership students whose employers offer to repay some or all of their tuition. The plan is also available to students receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (Chapters 30, 35, 1607 or 1606) as well as active-duty service members using veterans education benefits. To be eligible to participate in this offer, the student’s account must be in good standing with Excelsior University.**

With a deferred tuition plan, you can maximize your employer’s company reimbursement program or your GI Bill benefit while delaying payment until after completion of coursework for the specified academic period. This deferment allows for sufficient time for you to request payments and for employers to process reimbursements. The VA will remit payment to eligible students directly, based on the information provided on their enrollment certification (22-1999) submitted to the VA by the school.

When you select Tuition Deferral, Excelsior University agrees to defer payment for tuition until approximately three weeks after the course end date. When the deferral period ends, the payment information provided at registration will be automatically processed. Students are responsible for payment of their tuition regardless of receipt of payment from their employer/VA.

Students who do not complete their course are required to pay tuition upon dropping from the course. The Student Accounting Office will adjust the payment date to the next payment processing date. The amount due is determined by Excelsior’s Withdrawal from a Course policy.

Students utilizing federal financial aid are typically not eligible to use the deferred tuition plan. However, if a student finds their tuition cost exceeds the amount of their federal financial aid voucher, they may apply for the deferred tuition plan for the excess amount of tuition due only. The amount eligible for deferred tuition must be greater than $200.00.

Enrolling in the Tuition Deferral Plan

  1. Create your account / log in:
    • Click on “Create a new Account” (unless you already have an account).
    • Once account is created, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your account.
    • Your account will become active, once confirmed, and you will be directed to complete the agreement.
  2. Fill out the Employer Reimbursement Form and your Tuition Deferral Promissory Agreement:
    • Download and complete the Employer Reimbursement Form or ensure you have your GI Bill Certificate of Eligibility.
    • Download and complete the Tuition Deferral Promissory Agreement form. Both of these forms are fillable PDF documents. Once you fill them out and save them, please follow the instructions below to submit them via the student Message Center in MyExcelsior.
    • To submit your Employer Reimbursement Form and your Tuition Deferral Promissory Agreement, login to the Message Center in MyExcelsior.
    • Click “Compose Message” – and under the Student Accounting heading, select “Tuition and Fee Deferral Promissory Agreement” from the pulldown.
    • Upload the completed forms using the document upload prompts and submit your message.
  3. Once you have completed your promissory note and attached the Employer Reimbursement form or GI Bill® Certificate of Eligibility, the Office of Student Accounts will review your documents. Please allow up to 3 business days for a review.
  4. Once the review is completed, you will receive a message via the Message Center. If you are not eligible for Tuition Deferral, the Office of Student Accounts will notify you via the message center with the next appropriate action for you to take.  If you are eligible for the Tuition Deferral option, the Office of Student Accounts will notify you that you may move forward with registration.
  5. When registering for your course(s), the option of Tuition Deferral will be available.
  6. When choosing this option, you will be directed to our third party vendor, Nelnet, to establish a payment plan agreement deferring payment for tuition until approximately three weeks after the course end date. At this point you must enter your payment method. The setup fee of $25.00 will be charged immediately.
  7. Once the agreement is established with Nelnet, your registration will be processed. You have then successfully registered for your courses(s) using the Tuition Deferral option.

Students who do not complete their course are required to pay tuition upon dropping from the course. The Student Accounting office will adjust the payment date to the next payment processing date. The amount due is determined by Excelsior’s Withdrawal from a Course policy.

*Partnership students are students who are employed by a corporate or government partner, member of an association partner or graduate or employee of an academic partner.

**An account in good standing is defined as previous attempts with deferred tuition have been successful, and no balance due on the account not covered by payment plan or financial aid.

GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government Web site at benefits.va.gov/gibill/.