Overview.
- A third party sponsor is a government agency, program, or company that agrees to pay all or part of a student’s education expenses. A third party agreement is an arrangement where third party payments are applied to a student account according to the sponsor’s authorization and the sponsor is then invoiced for those payments. Only sponsors requiring an invoice are considered to be third parties.
- The student works with both the sponsor and Student Business Services (SBS) to set up a third party agreement.
Steps in establishing a third party agreement
- The student contacts the third party sponsor. The sponsor provides the authorization to SBS.
- The authorization can be emailed to SBS (sbs@ucmerced.edu) or can be hand delivered to the Students First Center.
- Authorizations should be submitted before the payment deadline for the semester so that the student account will be deemed timely paid. In cases where an authorization cannot be provided by the payment deadline, the student should pay his/her account balance in full to avoid being dropped from courses for nonpayment. Then, when the authorization is processed the student account will reflect a credit balance that will be refunded to the student.
- Students that are being covered by a third party agreement for the first time are required to sign a one-time promissory note. Normally, SBS will send the promissory note for the student to sign once the first authorization is received. However, the student can contact SBS to obtain the promissory note before then to expedite the process.
- A new authorization is required for each subsequent term that is to be covered.
Authorizations.
- The authorization lists the academic semester or semesters that are covered. In most cases, authorizations cover one semester.
- Generally, tuition and registration fees are covered, although in some cases housing and other fees are covered.
- Both the period and the charges covered by the authorization are at the discretion of the third party sponsor.
How the third party agreement affects your student account.
- Third party payments are considered a source of funding by the Financial Aid office and will be reflected on your financial aid award. SBS notifies Financial Aid when a third party agreement is processed.
- Third party payments are a maximum of the charges actually billed. For example, if an authorization lists $7,500 covered for tuition but the tuition charge is $5,610, then the payment made to the student account is $5,610.
- The sponsor is billed for the third party payments. If the sponsor does not pay, then the unpaid charges will be transferred back to the student account. The student is then responsible for paying those charges.
Additional Information
- Student Business Services can be reached at 209-228-4114, or via email at sbs@ucmerced.edu
- The Student First Center can be reached at 209-228-7178, or via Student First Center website.
- If an authorization is submitted before a student has signed the third party promissory note, SBS will send the student the promissory note for the student to sign and date.