UMass Boston

Bursar's Office

Campus Center, 4th Floor
UMass Boston
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125

Student Inquiries
Phone: 617.287.5350
Hours: Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Email: Bursar@umb.edu
Walks-in: Please visit The One Stop for all inquiries related to Billing

Teller Hours
Hours: Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Internal Business for Departments
Email: BursarTreasury@umb.edu
Hours: Monday – Thursday 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

New Pricing Structure - Effective Fall 2022

Read about the important changes to the way online, weekend and off campus courses are priced at UMass Boston. These changes are being made in order to simplify our system of tuition and fees and will be effective beginning for the Fall 2022 semester.

In past semesters, in-person, online and weekend courses were grouped in different categories ("sessions”) in WISER– sometimes with different charges, different academic calendars and different rules for course waivers. This created a good deal of confusion for students and staff. Going forward, unless you are in a Special Program as described below, the vast majority of fall and spring courses will all be grouped in the “REGULAR” session and will be treated the same way.

This will have several implications that you might notice:

  1. Most online, weekend and off campus courses (see below for exceptions) will now be charged “regular” tuition and fee rates, instead of Continuing Education or “CE” rates.
  2. All aid, including tuition credits, scholarships and financial aid, will apply to online, weekend, and off campus courses in the regular session the same way they apply to face-to-face courses.
  3. Undergraduate students taking more than 12 credits will not see an “extra” or separate course or fee charges for online, weekend and off campus courses in the regular session.
  4. All these online, weekend, and off campus courses will follow the same academic calendar and have the same dates for add/drop and cancellation of charges (“refund”).

Please note that these changes are taking effect in the Fall 2022, and do NOT apply to the Summer 2022 sessions.

EXCEPTIONS: Special Programs

There are a number of programs (mostly at the graduate level) - including fully and substantially online programs and online courses within the College of Management masters programs - that will continue to have a different fee structure.

If you are in one of these Special Programs, the changes described above do NOT apply and your online courses will continue to be priced differently from “regular” courses. Going forward, your courses will now be categorized in WISER as “Special Programs.” You will see that they have an “SP” listed next to the course code, instead of the Continuing Education or CE label that they carry today.

 

FAQs

What is changing

Effective Fall 2022, we are making changes to the way we organize classes in order to simplify our system of tuition and fees. In past semesters, in-person, online and weekend courses were grouped in different sessions – sometimes with different charges, different academic calendars and different rules for course waivers. This created a good deal of confusion for students, faculty and staff. Now the vast majority of courses will all be grouped in the “REGULAR” session and will be treated the same way.
Some (mostly fully online and mostly graduate) programs will continue to be housed in a separate session titled Special Programs and will have different rates. These courses, by and large, are restricted to students who are enrolled in those programs.

What is a session

We have four terms at UMass Boston: Fall, Spring, Winter, and Summer. Each term has different “sessions” which group together courses that have the same calendar, price structure and administrative oversight. When selecting courses in WISER, you will always see a note about the session in which the course is grouped. Beginning Fall 2022, for the Fall and Spring semesters, we will have three sessions:
- Regular Academic Session - Special Program 1 - Special Program 2

WISER mentions something about a session called SP1 and a session called SP2– what are those?

SP1 (Special Programs 1) is the new session that will house our online and special degree and certificate programs.
SP2 (Special Programs 2) is the new session where some of our partnership program courses will be scheduled. These programs are not open for general enrollment.
All other for-credit courses in the fall/spring terms will be in the Regular Academic Session.

What are the special programs that will be in Special Programs 1:

The Special Programs are mostly fully or substantially online programs. The full list can be found above.

Where can I see what session a course is in?

When you are searching for a course on WISER, you can see what session the course is in by looking at the “Section” box on the course listing. In this area the session will either be listed as “Regular” or “Spec Prg1” or “Spec Prg2”, as highlighted in yellow in the example below.

class times with 04-LEC Regular and 200-LEC Spec Prg1 sections highlighted

Will graduate assistantships and waivers apply for online courses or weekend courses?

Yes, now waivers and assistantships will apply the same way for all courses in the Regular session, regardless of modality (in person, remote, online), day of the week (weekday vs. weekend), or location (on campus vs. off campus).

If I take 12 credits face-to-face and 3 credits online, will I get charged for 12 credits or 15 credits?

As long as all your credits (face-to-face, remote or online) are in the Regular session, you will be charged for 12 credits.

What happened to the CE – Continuing Education courses?

The for-credit courses that CE has offered in the evenings and on weekends in the fall and spring semesters will still be offered, but they are now listed in the Regular session or the Special Programs sessions.
Continuing Education will continue to offer courses in the summer and winter terms, as well as non-credit professional development courses.

I qualify for a tuition/fees waiver but it has never applied to online courses the same way it applies to face to face courses.  Is that changing?

Yes. Tuition/fee waivers will now apply the same way to all courses (face-to-face, online, weekend, etc) that are listed in the Regular Session.

In the past, some portion of my financial aid didn’t apply to online courses the same way it applied to face to face courses.  Is that changing?

Yes. All courses in the Regular academic session will be treated the same way for financial aid no matter whether they are online or face-to-face.

Will programs/courses listed in the Special Program session be eligible for financial aid?

Some programs/courses listed in the Special Program session may be eligible for financial aid. For those that are eligible, aid will be based on the pricing structure for those courses.

Online course fees have been less expensive on a per credit basis in the past. Is that changing?

Yes, this new system for organizing courses means that all courses in the Regular session will be priced in the same way. This means that online courses will have the same tuition and fees as face to face classes, and that there will be different prices based on residency (in-state vs. out-of-state). For some students, this will mean online courses are more expensive moving forward. We believe this new system more accurately reflects that all of these courses are offered by the same departments, to the same students, with the same level of academic rigor and quality.

The courses in my online program have always been priced differently (less expensive) than regular face to face courses.  Is that changing?

No. Fully online and previously specially priced programs will continue to be priced differently than programs/courses in the Regular academic session.

I am confused about how my courses will be priced/billed for the fall.  Who can I contact?

There are a variety of offices that can help you resolve your questions, and the best office to provide answers may depend on your question. You might try connecting with the OneStop, or the Registrar, or your academic advisor.

Wait, what is happening to the graduate level online courses in the College of Management?

College of Management online graduate level courses will live in the Special Programs (SP1) session. They will continue to be priced differently from courses in the Regular session. Students will be charged fees for these courses that are the same as online courses fees in the 2021-22 academic year.

Bursar's Office

Campus Center, 4th Floor
UMass Boston
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125

Student Inquiries
Phone: 617.287.5350
Hours: Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Email: Bursar@umb.edu
Walks-in: Please visit The One Stop for all inquiries related to Billing

Teller Hours
Hours: Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Internal Business for Departments
Email: BursarTreasury@umb.edu
Hours: Monday – Thursday 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.