Tuition & Fees FAQs

Tuition due dates are published on the website. You will also receive an invoice in the mail from the Student Accounts Office after you register for the semester. This invoice contains valuable information about tuition deadlines and payment options. We also send due date reminders to your preferred email account regularly as the tuition deadline is approaching.

Please see Ways to Pay page for more information about options for paying tuition and fees.

The Student Accounts/Cashier’s Office cannot accept credit card payment by phone. However, you can pay by credit card online using the myBlueRidge student portal at any time.

Financial aid will not appear on your account until your aid is processed by the Financial Aid office and you have received your award letter. This can take anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks from application to award.

In the meantime, you may consider paying in full or enrolling in the deferred payment plan until you are awarded aid. Once the aid is applied to your account, you will be refunded any credit balance.

Refunds will be made to the payee’s card if paid by debit or credit. If paid by cash or check, refunds will be processed by check from Blue Ridge Community College and mailed to the current address that you have on file in the Registrar’s Office. Please make sure that your address is always up to date. Refunds for classes that were dropped within the first 10% of the semester will be written at the earliest date following the 10% point of the semester as determined by the Division of Finance and Operations.

Please see our Refund Policy page.

Please see our Fulfillment of Financial Obligations page for more information.

You can call (828) 694-1721 to reach the Student Accounts/Cashier’s Office directly.

The General Assembly has enacted laws applicable only to community colleges that create an exception to the general requirements for in-state tuition. The Business Sponsor Exception as it is called, states that “when an employer other than the Armed Forces… pays tuition for an employee to attend [a community college] and…the employee works at a North Carolina business location, the employer shall be charged the in-state tuition rate.”

Blue Ridge Community College has a checklist of items that are required in order for you to take advantage of this exception. The documentation on the checklist should be provided to the Cashier’s Office and/or the Registrar’s Office well in advance of the tuition payment deadlines that are published for each semester.

If a student with DACA classification is employed at a North Carolina business location and the employer of the DACA student working at the North Carolina business location wants to pay for the DACA student to attend a community college, the employer shall be charged the in-state tuition rate. The same checklist mentioned in the previous answer is applicable and the documentation on the checklist should be provided to the Cashier’s Office and/or the Registrar’s Office well in advance of the tuition payment deadlines that are published for each semester.

The General Assembly has enacted laws applicable only to community colleges that create an exception to the general requirements for in-state tuition. The Non-Profit Sponsorship Exception, as it is called, states that “a person sponsored under this subsection who is lawfully admitted to the United States is eligible for the State resident community college tuition rate. For purposes of this subsection, a North Carolina(NC) nonprofit entity is a charitable or religious corporation as defined in G.S. 55A-1-40 that is incorporated in NC and that is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a civic league incorporated in NC under Chapter 55A of the General Statutes that is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. A nonresident of the United States is sponsored by a NC nonprofit entity if the student resides in NC while attending the community college and the NC nonprofit entity provides a signed affidavit to the community college verifying that the entity accepts financial responsibility for the student’s tuition and any other required educational fees. Any NC nonprofit entity that sponsors a nonresident of the United States under this subsection may sponsor no more than five nonresident students annually under this subsection. This subsection does not make a person a resident of NC for any other purpose”. The non-profit entity must provide the college with a copy of their 501(c) tax exemption paperwork as well as the signed affidavit each semester.

Blue Ridge Community College has a checklist of items that are required in order for you to take advantage of this exception. The documentation on the checklist should be provided to the Cashier’s Office and/or the Registrar’s Office well in advance of the tuition payment deadlines that are published for each semester.