CARS Type of Charges - Why am I billed...?

Registration fees after I graduated….

Registration fees are assessed if the Registrar’s Office has made you eligible to register for the term. If you have not yet been placed on the degree list, or if your academic department has not provided an updated degree list to the Registrar’s Office, you will be assessed fees for the following term. To have the fees deassessed, cancel your registration for the term through Tele-BEARS or see cancellation instructions on the Registrar’s website (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/).

Registration fees and tuition as a Non-Resident of California…

New students must submit a Statement of Legal Residence (SLR) in order to be classified as a California resident for tuition purposes. Until the SLR is submitted and approved, registration fees will be assessed and billed at the Non-Resident rate. Because the approval process may take several weeks, you may choose to pay your registration fees:

Continuing students who are petitioning for California residency status should submit Residence Classification Petition by the due date. Until your petition is approved, registration fees will be assessed and billed at the Non-Resident rate.

For more information on residency, see the Registrar’s website (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/).

Registration fees when I am not enrolled…

Registration fees are assessed if the Registrar’s Office has made you eligible to register for the term. If you will not be attending for the term, you must cancel your registration. To have the fees deassessed, cancel your registration for the term through Tele-BEARS or see cancellation instructions on the Registrar’s website (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/).

Health Insurance…

All UC Berkeley students must carry a minimum level of health insurance coverage. The campus provides a health insurance plan for those who wish to purchase it. Health insurance fees are assessed each semester as one of the registration fees. However, if you have comparable coverage, you may waive out of the University’s Student Health Insurance Program (SHIP). The waiver must be renewed each academic year.

If you are submitting a waiver, you do not have to pay the insurance fee on your CARS bill. However, if there are other charges on the account, your payment may not be applied correctly until the health insurance fee is removed from the account. Exception: If you are paying registration fees on the Deferred Payment Plan, you must pay the first installment amount as noted on your CARS bill. Once the waiver is processed, subsequent installment amounts will be adjusted.

See the University Health Service’s web site (http://uhs.berkeley.edu/).

Housing Room and Board in August/January…

Housing contracts are for one or two semesters. When you accepted the contract terms, you agreed to pay a pre-disclosed amount for a specific housing arrangement (i.e., particular residence hall, number of roommates, meal plan, length of stay, etc.). When you accepted the contract, a $500 (or $250 for Pell Grant recipients) pre-payment was required. This pre-payment is deducted from the full amount of the contract. The remaining balance due on the contract is then billed on your CARS account in equal monthly installments. If your contract covers the fall and spring semesters, the installment payments are due ten monthly installments from August through May. The amount you are billed in August does not reflect the number of days in which you will be in residence. It is one-tenth of your contract amount for the year. Contracts for one semester are billed in five monthly installments.

See Residential and Student Services (http://housing.berkeley.edu/housing/)

Library Book Charges…

If you don’t return library books, you will be billed to replace them. The standard charge is $110 per book. If you return the book, the Library will issue a $100 credit. The remaining $10 is a processing fee assessed by the Library. Questions about bills and blocked or revoked privileges should be directed to the Library Privileges Desk (Doe Library, floor 1).

See the Library (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/index.html)

Residence Telephone “Telecom”…

The campus provides students who live in the Residence Halls, Manville, and International House with access to a land telephone line. The basic charge for this line is required in the terms and conditions of the housing contract, whether or not the line is used. The fee is billed to CARS for the semester.

See Residence Telephone (http://rts.berkeley.edu) or your housing contract.

This page last updated on July 12, 2007