Application refund for PhD in Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Fall 2021

[Charrednut]

No new PhD students in Asian Studies were accepted this year at the University of British Columbia due to lack or funding. This thread is for all those who wish to talk about and work towards receiving a refund of the application fee. 

The University of Columbia was in a similar position this year and not able to secure funding for new PhD students, so they did not accept applications. Be it that this decision was only made recently at UBC, I still think that it is not right for them to keep everyone's money.

I think the best approach is first for everyone to request a refund via email, replying to the letter of rejection. I have already done so. 

[TableForOne]

Hello! Nice to meet you. I'm on the same boat. I will sort out my thoughts after work. Thank you!

[beeeeeeeeeeeeeets]

I once applied for a new program at an Ontario college, was rejected, then found out a year later they actually didn't admit anyone because the start of the program was delayed a year. I emailed asking for my application fee back, and I got a refund even after all that time. I'm sure they will be reasonable and give you a refund if you email graduate admissions. If that fails, another avenue to pursue would be reaching out to your credit card company to reverse the charge. In Canada, I think there may be consumer protections against this.

Edited March 18, 2021 by yayfortacos

[Charrednut]

Thanks for your responses! I will update when they reply to my email. 

[Charrednut]

I received a reply from the department saying that the application fee was for the application to be processed by the graduate school and therefore they are unable to refund our applications as they were processed and assessed as usual. 

I have now sent a separate email to the graduate school.

Edited March 22, 2021 by Charrednut

[TableForOne]

12 hours ago, Charrednut said:

I received a reply from the department saying that the application fee was for the application to be processed by the graduate school and therefore they are unable to refund our applications as they were processed and assessed as usual. 

I have now sent a separate email to the graduate school.

Thanks for the update. I still feel that they should refund us since they didn't actually reject us because we didn't meet PhD requirements. We were rejected because of what appears to be internal departmental problems. =(

[TableForOne]

Hi! Did the Graduate School ever reply?

[Charrednut]

No, it seems they just decided to ignore my email. 

[TableForOne]

That's bad. Asian Studies Department of University of British Columbia (UBC) seems to be in bad shape, even refusing to refund prospective students like us. The very idea that they got our application fee for short-term gain instead of letting us continue to think highly of their institution for the long-term is just unsettling. =(

[TableForOne]

Just adding this here for the record:

This is something I found out just today. It seems that UBC's Asian Studies Department did accept one PhD student according to this link -

https://www.grad.ubc.ca/about-us/news/public-scholars-initiative-welcomes-38-scholars-202122-academic-year

The person belongs to the 2021/22 cohort. 

We applied in 2020, assuming we'd start in 2021 if accepted. So I'm not sure if this person applied along with us. But still, I'm confused and I feel bad.