Deposits: how much, when, and what refund policy families expect

A deposit is the moment an interested family becomes a committed one. It is also the point at which unclear terms do the most damage.

Three questions every family asks

• How much, and does it count towards tuition? A deposit that is credited feels different from a fee that is consumed, even at the same amount.
• What happens if the visa is refused? This is the question. An institution without a clear written answer is asking the family to take a risk it will not name.
• Can it be deferred rather than refunded? For many families a place held for the next intake is a better outcome than money returned, and they will not ask if nobody offers.

What a good policy looks like

A specific amount, a stated deadline, an explicit statement of what is refundable under which circumstances, and a named process for requesting it. In Vietnamese. On the same page as the offer information, not in a terms document nobody opens.

The commercial argument

A clear refund policy does not increase refunds. It increases deposits, because it removes the reason to hesitate. Institutions that make the policy hard to find are usually optimising against themselves.

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