Third-party sponsorship

When an individual student’s tuition and fees are billed directly to an outside agency the process is termed a “third party contract”. Sponsors and students alike must inform the University that a sponsorship is taking place so that the contract can be initiated and the student’s fee account affected.

What needs to be submitted to add a student to a third-party contract?

The University will require a letter from the sponsor, on letterhead, in order to set up the contract. You can refer to the following two documents to see what information is needed in the letter, and a template of what the letter should look like:
- File Template Sponsorship Letter
- PDF icon Sponsorship letter specifications

Letters can be emailed to sponsorshipadmin.finserv [at] mcgill.ca.

When should sponsorship documents be submitted?

Sponsorship letters will be accepted up until the last day of the first month of each term (September for Fall, January for Winter, May for Summer) in order to have no interest penalty for the student on the charges covered by the sponsorship.

If a letter is received after this date but within the term it will still be accepted, but no interest will be reversed.

If a letter is received after the end of the term it will still be accepted, with conditions:
- The sponsor will have a $25 fine per student applied to their account “Late Processing Fee”
- No interest will be reversed on the student’s account.

Any interest or late payment fines that have accumulated on the account are the responsibility of the student, and will not be transferred to the sponsor’s account for invoicing and payment.

What are the restrictions for a third-party contract?

A new sponsor contract will only be accepted on the following condition:
- There must be at least three students on the contract OR
- If there are less than three students, the students must be registered in a degree, diploma or certificate program.

A contract will not be set up for personal companies belonging to the student or a family member.

McGill reserves the right to refuse to set up a third-party contract if there has been payment issues in the past with that particular sponsor.

How does the billing work?

When a student is added to a third-party contract, there are ‘payments’ that appear on the student’s account for what is covered by the sponsor. There are corresponding charges on the sponsor’s account, and the University then issues an invoice to the sponsor. So even though the student’s account looks like it has been paid, it does not mean that the University has received the payment from the sponsor. Invoices will be produced by Student Accounts on a bi-monthly basis. The first invoice to sponsors for a term is at the end of the first month (September for Fall, January for Winter, May for Summer). This is so that the withdrawal with refund period has ended and the sponsor invoices are as clear as possible.

We bill in Canadian dollars. Please pay attention to what you are sending if payment is in USD, to account for the exchange fluctuations.

Invoices are typically mailed out through regular post. PDF’s of the invoices can be emailed upon request. This should be indicated in the sponsorship letter.

How do sponsors make payment?

Typically sponsors will either pay by cheques, or wire. Cheques can be mailed to:

McGill University
Student Accounts Office (Sponsorship)
3415 McTavish Street
Montréal, Québec
H3A 0C8

You can send an email to sponsorshipadmin.finserv [at] mcgill.ca if you require our wire information for payment.

What are the payment terms, and what happens if payments are late?

Typically payment is expected within 28 days of billing. Action will be taken by the Student Accounts office once billed balances have reached certain aging:

- 60 days past due: The students affected will be emailed by the Student Accounts to explain that their sponsor has not paid. The sponsor will be copied on such emails.
- 90 day past: A hold will be applied to the students’ accounts. The hold will prevent students from accessing registration within Minerva, as well as requesting a transcript or receiving their diploma.
- 120 days past due: The charges will be reversed back to the student for payment.

What is the student’s responsibility?

- Ensure the sponsorship letters are received at sponsorshipadmin.finserv [at] mcgill.ca within the prescribed deadlines.
- Charges in the student fee account not covered by the sponsorship contract be paid in full by the billed due dates.
- That health and dental insurance plans are opted-out of if the student is eligible to do so and does not want the insurance.
- That any academic updates/transcripts are submitted to the sponsors as required; this is not something that Student Accounts will do on the student’s behalf.
- If the sponsorship ends, but sponsor payments (“Amount Transferred to Sponsor”) are still appearing on the Account Summary by Term, the student must inform Student Accounts immediately.
- Ultimately the student is responsible for the balance owing should Student Accounts not be able to collect from the sponsor.
- Student invoices should not be sent to the sponsor for payment. The sponsorship should be set up so that the sponsor is billed directly.

What is the sponsor’s responsibility?

- Ensure that invoices are paid in a timely manner.
- Do not accept and pay invoices that a student has sent. Only invoices addressed to the sponsor are the official invoices to be paid. If there is a discrepancy please contact Student Accounts if you want to cover additional charges.
- That when emails, letters, or phone calls are received from Student Accounts that they are replied to in a timely manner.
- That when there are changes in the sponsorship, whether it be who is sponsored, for what periods, what charges are covered, that the Student Accounts office is informed promptly.
- Changes to contact information for the sponsor must be communicated to Student Accounts.
- When payments are sent to Student Accounts, it must be accompanied by a list detailing the IDs, amounts and terms that are being paid. If paying a particular invoice in full simply indicate the invoice number.
- Payments can be made by wire transfer or cheque, in Canadian or US dollars. Internal sponsors can pay by FOAPAL.

What is Student Accounts’ responsibility?

- Invoices will be sent on a regular basis.
- Sponsorship information will be up to date.
- Regular communication with students when there are issues with their sponsor.
- Student Accounts reserves the right to terminate management of a sponsor agreement should the sponsor be uncommunicative or fail to respond to our invoices.

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