Tuition Payment
& Refunds

Promise of Affordability

Tuition and fees at Saint James School of Medicine are some of the most affordable and competitive among US and Canadian medical schools today. The majority of our affiliated hospitals also train students from medical schools in the U.S. and even from schools elsewhere in the Caribbean, where tuition costs double or triple that at Saint James School of Medicine.

This means that students get the same high quality of medical education without the financial burden of an enormous student loan debt. This enables graduates to enter their residency and future careers truly focused on the practice of medicine, rather than the pursuit of financial gain to pay off their loans.

The Billing & Invoicing Process

The SJSM billing process is entirely automated. Once submitted, changes cannot be made to the contract unless a ticket is submitted to the Finance Department. All changes will be approved at the discretion of the Finance Department.
All students need to sign the Online Tuition and Payment Contract (The Contract) for the upcoming semester. Payments for the upcoming semester cannot be accepted if the Contract is not signed. Once the Contract is signed our system generates invoices.
The generated invoices are dated as of March 1st, July 1st, and November 1st for Summer, Fall, and Spring semesters respectively. Students are emailed links to their respective Contracts either on that day or before. They have 30 days to complete and sign the contract to generate the invoices. Please note that the invoice dates cannot be changed.
New Students can only put $6,000 on a payment plan. The remainder needs to be paid as an initial deposit and needs to be paid in full.
The payments are processed based on the overdue amounts. If a student has a 4-month payment plan with the first payment scheduled on 12/15/20XX, at 12:00 a.m. on 12/16/20XX the student will have the payment withdrawn from their bank account or charged on their credit card because, at that point in time, it is overdue.

When students are nearing completion of their MD5, (with about 8 weeks remaining in MD5 in accordance with the Contract dates discussed above), students will receive a Contract for a USMLE Prep Fee (which includes an administrative surcharge of $3,000; Liability Insurance Fee of $1,000; and Counselling Fees of $5,000) for an amount as stated above. Please note that this fee covers USMLE Counselling that the school provides to all students. Any external courses such as Kaplan etc. will be charged separately. This fee can also be covered through third party private lenders (This does not include VA or Canadian Government aid).

The Usmle Prep
Fee Payments

After Passing the USMLE Step 1

On Successful Completion Of Usmle Step 1, The Entire Amount Of The Usmle Prep Fee Will Be Credited Towards Your First Clinical Tuition (USMLE Prep Fee/CS1).

For example, if you paid $13,150 and successfully passed USMLE Step 1, this amount in its entirety will be credited towards USMLE Prep Fee/CS1 (assuming you have no other outstanding obligations towards the school), and you will not need to pay for USMLE Prep Fee/CS1. This fee also covers any insurance requirements for USMLE Prep Fee/CS1 as well.

Clinical Science Tuition & Refund Policy

To complete the MD program, after five semesters of Basic Science, students are required to complete 5 semesters (80 weeks) of clinical rotations. Tuition for Clinical Sciences is as stated above for the full 80-week program. Tuition will be billed to the student and must be paid within the due dates specified on the tuition bill. Clinical Sciences tuition cannot be prorated and, once begun, cannot be refunded.

Cancellation policy is applied as described in the Clinical Rotations Cancellation Policy below. Students are required to pre-pay 16 weeks of Clinical rotations while they are in MD5 and then another 16 weeks in the next semester billing cycle (USMLE Prep Fee/CS1 and CS2).

A service charge of $3,000 is added to students who have been billed for the Clinical Science tuition and have not completed the program. This will be applicable for all withdrawals, transfers, or dismissals after the respective dates which are as follows:

Spring billing cycle December 15th
Summer billing cycle April 15th
Fall billing cycle August 15th

If you Withdraw, Transfer or are Dismissed

For the students who withdraw, transfer or are dismissed before completion of the entire program, these charges will be deducted from the amount of their refund as indicated above, regardless of whether or not they passed the exam, and regardless of whether or not they took any rotations. If the student has insufficient tuition credit/deposit on his/her account to cover the applicable fees, no transcript/withdrawal or other requests will be processed until the balance is cleared.

In the event of withdraw, transfer or are dismissed from SJSM prior to the completion the MD program, a refund for the unused portion of the tuition will be issued. The refund will be calculated by subtracting the following from the amount of money paid towards tuition or rotations:

Number of rotation weeks completed, multiplied by tuition amount that is considered for the refund, divided by 16.
Fees and other charges. Please note that the following fees are non-refundable:
- Administrative Surcharge fees
- Application fee
- Counselling fees (Applicable only in USMLE Prep Fee/CS1 billing)
- Reservation fee
For example, If a student withdraws while they are in MD5, and has paid a deposit of USMLE Prep Fee/CS1, based on the above, the student will get a refund of amount which shall be Total Clinical Invoiced Amount less Counselling Fees ($5,000) less Administrative Surcharge ($3,000).

Clinical Rotation Cancellation

Rotation slots in U.S. hospitals are highly competitive. As such, cancelling a scheduled rotation will result in one of the following outcomes:

If a student cancels/reschedules a rotation for any reason within nine weeks of the start date of the rotation, a rotation cancellation fee of $1,000 will be charged, plus any third-party fees that the school may be charged due to this cancellation. In certain exceptional cases, a student may cancel/reschedule a rotation up to nine weeks before the start of rotation if they provide a valid reason (e.g., sickness, death in the family) that is approved by the Dean of Clinical Sciences. It is at the discretion of SJSM to determine and approve the validity of the reason for cancellation. If not approved, a rotation cancellation fee of $1,000 will be charged.
If the student cancels/reschedules the rotation with more than nine weeks’ notice, a fee of $500 will be charged to the student’s account.

Fees, Payments, And Refund Policies and Deadlines

For all Contracts submitted after the due date, the student shall be charged a $200 administrative fee.
For students who do not pay within the stipulated due dates will be charged a late fee of $75 and a financial hold placed on their account.
Wire Transfers will have a $25 bank charges fee associated with them.
Credit card payments have a 3.25% convenience fee
Bounced/invalid payments for incorrect account information on their Contract will have a $250 resubmission fee added.
The following fees are non-refundable:
- Administrative Surcharge fees
- Application fee
- Counselling fees
- Reservation fee
Students who withdraw from Basic Science may be eligible for a refund of tuition based on the withdrawal date:
- Before classes begin- 100%
- End of 2nd week of class- 50%
- Starting the third week of class- No Refund

Tuition Payment & Refunds