Policies

The following section outlines important policies of the Foundation of which students should make themselves aware.

Tuition Payment

The first half of tuition is paid within 30 days of acceptance to the degree program. Student files will not be activated and students will not be considered "in good standing" until the first half of the tuition is paid.

The second half of the tuition, the project or thesis processing fee, and graduation fee are due by March 1 of the year the student intends to graduate. These fees may be broken up into a monthly payment plan at no interest, but with a $10.00 monthly service fee.

Students may make payments by credit card.

For Ph.D., Th.D., and A.B.D. students, the Thesis Supervision fee is due upon nomination of a Thesis Supervisor. The second half of the tuition, the thesis processing fee and the graduation fee are due prior to the oral defense.

NOTE: Canadian and foreign checks must be made payable in U.S. funds.

Tuition Reimbursement

Any student choosing to withdraw from a degree program within 90 days of acceptance will receive 80% reimbursement of any portion of tuition paid within those 90 days.

Degree Program Transfer

Any student wishing to transfer to a different degree program must submit a written request to the Academic Affairs Committee. The student will be assessed a program transfer fee of $200.00.

Academic Coursework

All coursework is due by February 1 of the intended year of graduation. All papers written for the following courses must be submitted within 90 days of completing the course or no course credit will be awarded. (For E-Tutorials, all papers written must be submitted within 30 days of completing the course or no course credit will be awarded.)

Independent Study
Foundation Institutes
On-Site Tutorials
E-Tutorials (within 30 days)
Oxford Summer Programme in Theology
Centro Pro Unione Summer Course in Rome

Documented Use of Sources

Students are held to a high standard of performance at the Foundation in the writing of their papers for course requirements. This high standard places the burden of responsibility and accountability upon the student to demonstrate competency in the literature and a capacity to bring critical analysis to the work in hand. If a student has disregarded protocol with respect to primary sources as relates to acceptable documented citations with relevant references, the evaluating faculty has the discretion of returning the work to the student for reworking. No charge of intentional deception is implied in the returning of such work but the student must accept the decision of the evaluating faculty and in turn must resubmit the reworked document for final approval. Failure on the part of the student to rework the document to the evaluating faculty's satisfaction will result in failure to earn credit for the work in hand. Any student wishing to challenge the decision of the evaluating faculty must submit a letter with a detailed explanation of the student's position to the Academic Affairs Committee. Rulings by the AAC are final.

Dissertations On Disc

The Foundation requires all academic doctoral degree students (A.B.D., Th.D., Ph.D., Research) to submit one copy of their dissertation in electronic form in addition to any required physical copies. The format of the dissertation must be either MS Word (.doc) or Adobe Reader (.pdf). Students may either email the dissertation as an attachment, or mail the dissertation as a CD-ROM. The dissertation must be in its final form and submitted by February 1 prior to graduation. For full information on this requirement, please Click Here.

Transcripts

The Office of the Registrar at the Foundation maintains all records. Alumni/ae and current students of the Foundation should, when requesting a transcript, identify themselves by name, degree program and year of graduation. All requests for transcripts must be received in writing. The transcript reflects all work completed for the degree including all transferred courses.

Each transcript costs $10.
No transcript may be posted to anyone or to anywhere without prior written request from the student and payment at the time of request.
The first transcript after graduation is sent only, and directly, to the student free of charge.

Diplomas

No student may ever receive more than one original copy of the diploma.
If the Foundation has made an error based on the student's form indicating his/her desired name, title, etc., the Foundation will reprint/replace the diploma free of charge. The reprint/replacement will only be available after the student has sent in his/her flawed diploma.
If the student wishes to have a new diploma based upon his/her decision to change the original requested name, title, etc., the Foundation will reprint/replace the diploma for a $25 fee. The reprint/replacement will only be available after the student has sent in his/her flawed diploma.