Continuing Education Administrative Policies

Each course in ANCOR should have a posted course cancellation policy within the course description for each course. “Course cancellation” refers to when the unit/branch or the university must cancel the course for reasons that may include, but are not limited to, low enrollment, campus emergency, or inclement weather.

Examples of course cancellation policies:

• If a course is canceled, the student will be refunded 100% of the tuition paid.
• If a course is canceled, the student will have 10 (ten) business days to enroll in the next scheduled session or course. After 10 (ten) business days if a student does not enroll in the next session or course, the student will be refunded 100% of tuition paid.
• If a course is canceled, the student’s registration will automatically be moved to the next scheduled course session. The student will be notified, via email, of the new course date, time, and location. If a student requests to withdraw from the course after his or her registration has been moved, the student should abide by the course “Refund Policy.”

Per university policy, all units must abide by the university credit card acceptance policy. Students using credit cards to pay for course tuition will be issued course refunds within five (5) business days of receipt of the student’s withdraw from course request. All refunds involving credit cards must be applied to the same credit card that was used to purchase the course. If a student withdrawing from the course is not in possession of the same credit card, the unit will need to immediately contact the Office of the Treasurer to reconcile the request.

In addition to the credit card payment option in ANCOR, the university provides clients the convenience of paying online by eCheck for noncredit course registrations. Payments of this type are also processed through the university’s secure payment gateway.

The eCheck payment option is available for online registrations only. Noncredit registrars are not permitted to accept this form of payment through the administrative portal in ANCOR, due to the university's PCI compliance policies. When a paper check is received from a client, the process is to produce a cash transmittal and deposit the check to the appropriate general ledger account through the Cashier’s Office.

When payment is made by eCheck, the transaction identifier in the payment gateway will be labeled 'ACH.' 

**NOTE: Refunds for eCheck payments must be processed manually. Instructions to initiate the process are available here. 

For more information on any PCI Compliance and payment issues, please visit University Treasury.

ANCOR will permit units to place financial holds on students and clients who have unpaid invoices for more than 120 days. The financial manager and branch manager will be permitted to place the financial holds on students and clients. If two branches or more  should place a hold on a particular student or client, the student or client in question will not be able to register via ANCOR for any continuing education unit until the financial holds are rectified. 

ANCOR allows units to invoice students and clients on a regular schedule of 30, 60, or 90 days. Units can generate batch reports in the system based on specific date parameters. Copies of all invoices should be retained within the student record.

Units within the university are required to use the current payment gateway, NelNet, to process online payments and refunds (with the exception of eChecks, which must be refunded through a manual check process). For more information about NelNet, please contact University Treasury. Units should also refer to the university's PCI Compliance policy.

eCommerce PCI Compliance Procedures – Rutgers’ Employee Entry of Payment Information on Behalf of a Student / Parent / Customer

1. Never enter any payment card or bank account information into a site not secured by an SSL certificate, even if the site or application is installed on a Rutgers computer or is on the Rutgers network.
2. Each unit must advise students to use the appropriate pages of the Payment Gateway portal. Entry of payment information by a Rutgers employee should be an exception to this rule.
3. To ensure that all payment card and bank account information is entered on a secure site, confirm that the site is operating in SSL mode (look for “https” in the URL) and that the certificate is valid. The browser will warn the user if the certificate is not valid; however, do not rely solely on this warning—always verify that the site is secure before entering payment information.
4. Do not write down, copy, photograph, fax, or otherwise record payment card or bank account information. Keeping such information in any form puts the unit at risk of violating PCI compliance.
5. If the unit receives a credit card number or bank account on a written document (other than a check submitted for payment), the user must immediately create the appropriate transaction in the payment gateway portal. After entering the information, the document should be destroyed by shredding.
6. If the unit receives a check from a student or other customer for payment of a class, product, service, etc., the unit or user must not be destroyed. The unit must enter an eCheck transaction in the registration system as a “PO” transaction. Once entered, the check must be deposited following Rutgers procedures outlined on the University Treasury - Cash and Check Handling website.  Note: Only approved departments may receive hard-copy checks and enter them as a PO transaction in the registration system.  Departments requiring this service must notify University Treasury Operations before establishing the process in the registration system or payment gateway.
7. The payment gateway administrator site displays only the last few digits of any payment card or bank account and provides a unique GUID to mask account information. Never request full card or account information from students or payers for the purposes of returns, refunds, or any other reason, other than to enter a payment on their behalf.
8. All refunds must be made to the original payment instrument used in the transaction and must match the exact amount of the original transaction. Refunds for payment card transactions must be made to the original payment card, and refunds for eCheck transactions must be made to the same bank account.

Each course in ANCOR must have a clearly posted refund policy. A refund refers to the portion of the course fee returned to a student when they withdraw from a course. The refund policy should be posted alongside the course description, either in print, online via the ANCOR registration site, or both. 

The policy must clearly specify the percentage of the tuition that will be refunded if a student chooses to withdraw. 

Examples of course refund policies:

• Students withdrawing from the course 10-15 business days before the first day of the course will be refunded 80% of the tuition paid; 9-5 business days before the first day of class will be refunded 50% of the tuition paid; 4-1 business days before the first day of class will be refunded 30% of the tuition paid. No refund will be issued on or after the course begins.
• No refund will be issued beginning 3 business days prior to the start date of the class
• The student will be responsible for 20% of the course fee plus an administrative fee of $150.00.
• Students withdrawing less than 10 business days before the course begins will be charged for course materials and receive a 70% refund of the tuition paid.

As per university policy, students may withdraw from a course only by submitting a written request to the department or unit offering the course. The request must include the student’s signature or be sent from the student’s email account that matches their registration record. Course withdrawals will not be accepted via phone.

Per university guidelines and state and federal law, units must issue timely refunds as specified in the course description to students who have submitted a written request for course withdrawal. If a student chooses to transfer the funds to a new course, the unit may hold the refund with the student’s written permission. Refunds may not be held for more than 90 business days from the date the student submits their written request. After 90 business days, if the student has not selected a new course, the refund must be issued immediately.

To ensure uniformity across all continuing education units and compliance with university practice, noncredit certificates must include the following information:

• Rutgers University's official logo as outlined in the university's Visual Identity Guidelines (school signatures and departmental logos may not be used)
• Name of school or department offering the certificate program
• Official name of course/program
• Date of completion
• Student's name
• Signature and name of the Vice President, Dean, Program Director, or other authorized approver (up to two signatures per certificate)

These branded certificates are available via InSight reports for ANCOR users or as downloadable templates on the University Communications and Marketing site for non-ANCOR users (NetID required).

See "Digital Credentials" for more information.  ​

Digital Signatures

Each noncredit unit is solely responsible for ensuring that the appropriate signature(s) are on file within the ANCOR system. Please review the linked article below for instructions.

Noncredit Student Records

To maintain accurate noncredit learner records, the following procedures are required for all courses/programs and enrollment data managed in ANCOR:

• All course offerings must be closed upon completion.

• All learners must have an updated enrollment status for each course they participated in (e.g., "Completed-Satisfactory").

Only students with an accurate, updated enrollment status will appear on noncredit certificates. ​

Digital badges and certificates are valid representations of earned accomplishments or proficiencies. They provide recipients with opportunities to showcase and receive recognition for completed learning both within and outside the structure of degrees, majors, and minors. Collectively, these programs are referred to as “digital credentials.”  

Rutgers uses the Accredible platform to issue verifiable and secure digital credentials. No other digital credentialing tools will be recognized or validated by the university. 

See "Microcredentialing, Digital Credentials, Digital Badging, and Digital Certificates at Rutgers University" for more information.

Records of Registration

A Record of Registration is an unofficial comprehensive record of noncredit course activity, including all registrations and cancellations. It does not contain a signature and does not constitute verification of successful completion of coursework.

Noncredit Transcripts

A Noncredit Transcript is an official record of all noncredit coursework that has been verified as successfully completed by a unit's Vice President, Dean, Program Director, or other authorized approver, as indicated by a signature.

Digital Signatures 
Each noncredit unit is solely responsible for ensuring that the appropriate signature(s) are on file within the ANCOR system. 

Maintaining Accurate Noncredit Student Records

To ensure the accuracy of non-credit learner records, the following procedures are required for all courses and programs, as well as enrollment data, managed in ANCOR. ​

• All course offerings must be closed upon completion.

• All learners must have an updated enrollment status for each course they participated in (e.g., "Completed-Satisfactory").

Only learners with an accurate, updated status will appear on Noncredit Transcripts. ​