Frequently Asked Questions

eBill notifications for fall semester will be emailed to students August 19. Payment is due September 16, 2020. You can find information on UB’s billing dates on the Student Accounts website.

Learn more about how to read your bill and paying your bill.

To view your bill, log in to your HUB Student Center.  Click on Billing / Payments and then click on Payment Options.  You will then be brought into QuikPAY where you can click on View & Pay Accounts in the menu.

Student Medical Insurance is mandatory for all full-time University at Buffalo students. You will be billed automatically, however, this charge may be waived by providing proof that you are covered under an alternative plan that meets all requirements. You will receive email correspondence regarding plan benefits and waiver procedures. See Tuition and Fees for more information about associated charges on your account. 

We will automatically refund credit balances on your account as a result of an adjustment or overpayment of your bill. See Refunds for more infomation. 

You will be considered a New York state resident and be charged in-state tuition rates when it has been determined that New York State has been your domicile (e.g. a permanent and principal home in New York State) for a 12-month period prior to the start of the semester. If you are currently being charged out-of-state tuition and feel you are a New York State resident, you may apply for New York State Residency for Tuition Purposes. 

A hold is placed on your account by a department(s). A hold is used by the university to prevent student registration or release of student records, including a diploma, enrollment certification, or transcript. You can view your holds in your HUB Student Center. 

The university will report to the IRS required information about students who were billed for at least one credit hour in any semester in a tax year. As required by law, 1098-T statements will be mailed by January 31 of the following year. If you were not billed tuition and fees for the preceding year, you will NOT receive a 1098-T. A 1098-T form is mailed to students with a valid social security number on file. If you did not receive a 1098-T but feel like you should have one, please contact the office of Student Accounts. 

The 1098-T, along with your copy of your UB billing statements, should be used by your tax preparer to determine your eligibility for a tax credit. Because each taxpayer's circumstances vary, we cannot provide tax advice or assistance related to the credit or how to claim the credit. 

You can find this information in your HUB Student Center or on UB’s Student Accounts website.

You can find information on UB’s billing dates on the Student Accounts website.

Learn more about how to read your bill and paying your bill.

In preparation for our fall 2020 semester, UB faculty, students and staff have devoted enormous effort and significant funds to protect the health and safety of our community while continuing to provide the highest quality academic experience for our students. Countless hours of cooperative planning have resulted in many changes to UB’s course delivery, services and infrastructure in order to:

• Ensure any course with a remote component contains the same academic learning outcomes and access to distinguished faculty as is customary for an in-person class. 
• Adapt academic experiences, engagement opportunities, student support and campus services to ensure students receive equivalent experiences -- remotely, in-person, or through a hybrid model.
• Ensure that all students will have access to faculty, student services and academic facilities.

Broad-based fees are charged to all enrolled students as a condition of attendance at UB and help UB fund activities and programs that benefit the student body, excluding those activities that are part of the core instructional program.

UB relies on these fees to sustain services that are available to you, regardless of how your instruction is delivered – in-person, remote, or hybrid. In addition, the cost to the university of delivering remote instruction is higher than in-person instruction.

For virtually all higher education institutions, the shift to emergency remote instruction increased costs for technology, operations, as well as student and faculty support (e.g. purchase of new software licenses, training, and equipment). UB has been required to spend more, not less, to provide instruction right now.

For fall 2020, SUNY’s Board of Trustees is maintaining 2019-2020 tuition rates. 

The tuition rate will remain the same for all modes of instruction: in-person, remote or hybrid.

The transition to remote course delivery, as opposed to in-person course delivery, during the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to some confusion about whether students are now eligible for UB’s non-resident online tuition rate, which is somewhat less than UB’s standard non-resident tuition rate.

Effective fall 2020, the non-resident online tuition rate will be charged to students taking courses in exclusively online academic programs that have been previously approved by the Provost’s Office and registered by the New York State Education Department.  These programs are in distance education format, consistent with the student’s intention to take courses exclusively online at the time of application and matriculation toward the degree. Students who are non-residents whose intent is to be on campus learning, but may be studying remotely, will be charged the nonresidential rate.  A list of the approved online academic programs offered at UB can be found below.

Note: New York State residents enrolled in online academic programs will be charged the tuition rate for resident students.

UB remains one of the most affordable public institutions nationwide, and a sound investment for our students. UB is among 65 research universities that comprise the elite American Association of Universities (AAU). Educating tomorrow’s visionary leaders and innovators is just one goal of the AAU. UB and its AAU peers also earn the most federal funding for research that impacts our society as a whole. The chart below illustrates how UB compares, cost-wise, to its peers.

Broad-based fees are charged to all enrolled students as a condition of attendance at UB and help UB fund activities and programs that benefit the student body, excluding those activities that are part of the core instructional program.

UB relies on these fees to sustain services that are available to you, regardless of how your instruction is delivered – in-person, remote, or hybrid.

Yes. Regardless of the method of instruction – in-person, hybrid, or entirely remote –Broad-based Fees (including Comprehensive fee and Academic Excellence and Success fee) and Course fees must be paid by all students. 

The fee rates are guided by SUNY policy and take into consideration the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI). Information about HEPI can be found on the Commonfund Institute website. At times and for certain targeted initiatives, SUNY may allow an increase beyond the HEPI percentage.

Your fees may vary depending on your status as an undergraduate or graduate student, your residency, your academic program, and other criteria.

All full-time students are billed for these components of the Comprehensive Fee: Campus Life, College, Health, Technology, Transcript and Transportation fees.

All students are billed for the Academic Excellence and Success Fee (ACES).

Undergraduate students are billed for the Athletics and Recreation fees.

In addition, Comprehensive Fee components, except for the transcript fee, are assessed at a per-credit hour basis for part-time students.

Spring 2020 fee refunds were granted in great part because the change to our instruction modes occurred mid-semester. Students and families were facing unplanned changes that UB had not yet had time to accommodate.

Since then, UB has devoted enormous effort and significant funds to providing equivalent academic experiences, engagement opportunities, student support and campus services -- remotely, in-person, or through a hybrid model.

It was determined that the services funded by these fees would continue and thus a continuation of fees at full assessment was justified.

For fall 2020, Broad-based fees are paid by all students regardless of the method of course delivery. Services that are funded by the comprehensive fee revenue will not change as a result of UB’s mode of instruction.

This mandatory fee was implemented in 1998 and is a consolidation of SUNY and campus-required fees that support several university services and programs. The components of the Comprehensive Fee include:

• Athletics Fee
• Campus Life Fee
• Career Services Fee
• College Fee
• Health Fee
• Recreation Fee
• Technology Fee
• Transcript Fee
• Transportation Fee

UB’s Comprehensive Fee helps fund central academic investments including technology, student services, training and programming.

Yes. Many of the schools in the Mid-American Conference of which UB is a member have a comprehensive approach to fees and several American Association of Universities (AAU) and SUNY campuses have also instituted a Comprehensive Fee.

The Academic Excellence and Success Fee is not a part of the “bundled” Comprehensive Fee, however, it is considered part of the SUNY “Broad-based Fee.” Broad-based fees are generally charged to all enrolled students to finance activities that benefit the student body, excluding those activities that are a part of the core instructional program.

A 1098-T form is automatically mailed to only those students with one of the following U.S. citizenship status on university records: native, naturalized, or permanent resident. The statement will be mailed by January 31 of the following year to your permanent address on file. In addition, you may access and print your 1098-T online through Heartland ECSI, also available by January 31.

Students without one of these three U.S. citizenship statuses or students with a non-resident alien status will not have a 1098-T automatically generated but may request one. In order for you to receive a 1098-T, you must complete a modified W-9S form (PDF) and send it along with your request for a 1098-T. The deadline to request the current tax year’s 1098-T form is July 1.

The University at Buffalo partners with Heartland ECSI to deliver the 1098-T statements. The Heartland 1098-T website is available 24/7 providing student information. It allows students to view and print their 1098-T tuition statement.

1. Navigate to heartland.ecsi.net, then:
2. The school identification page will be displayed. In the school name search box, type “University at Buffalo” and click submit.
3. The student Identification page will be displayed. Complete the fields for First Name, Last Name, SSN, and Zip Code.
4. Click the checkbox “I am not a robot,” then click “continue.”
5. Your personal 1098T page will be displayed. Click the (+) to expand the 1098-T Statement section to see your statement details as well as a link to a printer friendly version of your 1098T statement.

Need help logging in to Heartland ECSI? Please call 866-428-1098, Monday – Friday, 7:30am – 8:00pm EST.

There are several reasons why you may not automatically receive a 1098-T form. These reasons include the following:

• No Payments of IRS qualified charges posted during the tax year
• No financial aid or scholarships posted during the tax year
• A missing or invalid US citizenship status in HUB*
• A non-US citizenship status in HUB*

*In order for you to receive a 1098-T, you must submit a modified W-9S form (PDF) and send it along with your request for a 1098T to the Office of the Registrar.

For tax years 2017 and prior, the IRS gave schools the option of choosing to report either Box 1 or Box 2. For Tax year 2017 and prior, UB chose to report Box 2, the IRS qualified charges that were assessed during the tax year. Beginning in Tax Year 2018, we are required to report Box 1 only, and not report anything in Box 2. For billing statement information with your detailed charges and payments, log into MyUB, HUB Student Center, click on Billing / Payments and then click on Payment Options.

The IRS requires schools to report only payments of qualified tuition and related expenses for the calendar year (date the payment was posted on student account).  The IRS does not consider the following items to be qualified expenses:  courses involving sports, games, or hobbies (unless part of a degree program), dining/meal plan charges, health insurance, disability insurance fees (even if required; excluded by statute), housing charges, late payment fees, library fines, loan processing fees, orientation fees, parking permits, parking fines, student health fees, transportation fees (if providing individual benefit).

For more information on IRS qualified tuition and related expenses, please go to IRS.gov.

You did not have any Payments of IRS qualified charges (Box 1) and/or financial aid and scholarships (Box 5) that posted during the tax year to report.

Box 5 is a total of all financial aid, scholarships, grants and third party payments per IRS instructions (IRS does not include loans) that are posted to the student’s account during the tax year. A student’s financial aid is based on their total cost of attendance, which includes costs that may not be considered qualified by the IRS for the Payments reported in Box 1.

Please note: The university cannot provide you with tax advice or assistance related to the tax credits or how to claim the credit. For assistance, please contact a tax professional or refer to the IRS.gov website.

The IRS W-9S form is your certification that your tax ID number (SSN or ITIN) is correct. To comply with Section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code, you are required to provide the information on the form to the university upon request.

If I don’t have a SSN or ITIN, can I still get a 1098-T form?

You cannot receive a 1098-T form if you do not have a SSN or ITIN.

• To apply for an SSN, use Form SS-5 — Application for a Social Security Card — which you can get from your local Social Security Administration office or online. You may also get this form by calling 1-800-772-1213.
• To apply for an ITIN because you are not eligible to get an SSN, use Form W-7 — Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number — which you can get from the IRS website or by calling 1-800-829-1040.

The W-9S form is your certification that your Tax ID number is correct. The IRS can impose a penalty on the educational institution for reporting a 1098T with a missing or invalid tax ID number. The university may request that the student certify that their tax ID number is valid to prevent being penalized. You are required to provide this to the university upon request.

If the university is requesting for you to complete, you must fill out a modified W-9S form (PDF) ,please send it to the Office of the Registrar.

The tuition rates for the winter session are the same as the preceding fall term. 

Winter course work must be dropped according to the liability deadlines established for winter in order to avoid financial liability for tuition and fees.

Financial aid will appear as ‘anticipated’ on the student account and labeled as Spring. Only currently enrolled undergraduate University at Buffalo students may be eligible for aid for the winter session. Financial aid eligibility is based upon the combined winter and spring registration. Contact your financial aid advisor prior to registering for winter session courses.

Your spring financial aid may pay for both winter and spring charges. If your award is not enough to cover both terms, you will see a balance that remains on both the winter and spring term. Keep in mind, additional charges will reduce any anticipated refunds.

Please visit the UB Card staff at 1Capen to confirm if you are eligible to use financial aid funds in this manner.

Financial aid funds will disburse to the student’s account in late January.  If there is a credit on the account, refunds will be done after the spring census date.