The Yamasa Institute is a non-profit organization and endeavours to provide fair outcomes for all students. We recognize that circumstances and schedules can change suddenly, and try to provide a flexible approach. If you need to cancel or defer please do so in writing only (fax or email). Please read through the Deferral and Cancellation policies.
If you are unable to take up your place in a program and you wish to defer, Yamasa is able to allocate all of your payments toward the tuition/housing cost of the new program (subject to availability). The only exception is if you require a student visa. While Yamasa is flexible, the Immigration Bureau is not. If your preferred course of studies will require a student visa, then you will need to reapply for a student visa and you will need to pay the student visa application fee again.
If you have already paid for a program and before the commencement date you need to defer to a program that costs less, then Yamasa will remit the balance. There is no deferral charge but we require you to bear the cost of the bank charges.
1. If you cancel before you arrive in Okazaki:
If you are unable to take up your place in a program and you wish to cancel, then Yamasa will remit a full refund.
The exceptions are:
a) If you applied for a student visa then we apologize for not being able to refund the student visa application fee of 21000 yen. This is due to the high cost of the processing required. The 21000 yen fee does not in itself cover the full cost of the application for the certificate of eligibility.
b) For accommodation, there is no cancellation charge if you have paid for accommodation in Yamasa owned student housing, but there is a 15,000 yen cancellation charge for a homestay if you cancel 7 days or less before the scheduled commencement of your course or program. This is because the homestay families go to considerable effort preparing for your arrival.
With the exception of a) and b), the refund is in full, however we require you to bear the cost of the bank charges when we remit your refund.
2. If you cancel after you arrive in Okazaki or after the program commencement date:
Then it becomes a little more complicated due to the problem of fixed costs. Yamasa is non-profit and programs are supplied "at cost price" - we don't have the margins/markups used by profit oriented schools. To do this however we need to be able to calculate our fixed costs. Please understand that teachers hired cannot be suddenly unhired, accommodation allocated to you cannot suddenly be reallocated etc. Most universities and schools in Japan (and many elsewhere) wouldn't issue a refund at all or would have strict cancellation charges, but we do understand that the circumstances behind a cancellation are not always within your control. As a non-profit institute in the public service, we try to be as flexible, fair and transparent as possible. For cancellations after you arrive the following rules apply. We publish them here so that they are transparent.
a) Cancelling a program after commencement: If you are cancelling during a program (definition = any day after commencement/placement testing), then you cannot be refunded for the weeks/days remaining in a quarter/module that you have already started. You will however be refunded in full for all of your payments toward the quarters/modules that you have not yet started.
Examples:
AIJP - If you have paid for 4 quarters in advance and need to cancel midway through your second
quarter, then you can only be refunded for the 3rd and 4th quarter. We cannot refund you the
balance of the 2nd quarter.
SILAC Example 1 - If you have paid for 4 weeks and need to leave after 3 weeks, we cannot
refund you for the final week.
SILAC Example 2 - If you paid for 8 weeks and need to cancel after 4.5 then we can refund you the last 2 week module
(weeks 7 and 8) but not the remainder of the module (weeks 5 and 6) that you have already started.
b) Cancelling pre-paid accommodation: Accommodation is paid for on a monthly basis for students with a student visa, and on a formula for all other students.
If you have a student visa and need to cancel, then the subsequent months will be refunded in full. If you cancel on or before the 15th day of the month then you will also be reimbursed for 1/2 a month provided you give Yamasa's housing office a minimum of 72 hours notice.
Example:
AIJP - If you have paid for 6 months in advance and need to cancel during the 1st week of
your 4th month, then we can refund you 1/2 of the 4th month plus the 5th and 6th months.
We cannot refund you for 5 days or 1 week etc.
If you do not have a student visa and need to cancel, then you will be refunded in full for the accommodation fees that correspond to the program/course modules you are being refunded your tuition for. However you will not be refunded for the accommodation fees that correspond to the module you have already commenced.
Examples:
SILAC - If you have paid for 8 weeks accommodation in advance and need to leave after 5 weeks,
then we can refund you for weeks 7 and 8 but not for weeks 5 and 6 or for week 6 only. This
is because the room cannot be reallocated to another student that easily.
Please note that if the refund needs to be done by foreign bank transfer then we will require you to bear the cost of the bank charges.