ENROLLMENT AGREEMENT

Big yikes, a contract! Well, our lawyers made us do it. NewU requires all students to sign this to enroll at the university. But don’t worry, we keep the legal stuff to a minimum, and we use plain language to help you understand what we really mean.

Do I really need to sign? Yes, you do. Think of it like signing up for Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, or Venmo. To use a service, you read and accept their Terms of Service. Same thing here. College education is a service, and we ask you to “click” on the ACCEPT button prior to using it. Our ACCEPT button is your signature at the end of the document. See, it’s not that complicated.

Ready to jump in? Let’s get to it.

You, the student named below, born on the date and residing at the address entered below (“you” or “Student”), agree to enroll as a student at NewU University (“we”, “us”, “NewU Inc.”, “NewU”, or “University”), and follow the rules we set for our community.

If the Student is under 18 or otherwise a minor, the Student’s parent or legal guardian signs this Enrollment Agreement, is bound by it, and is responsible for all obligations under it, including payment. If the Student is 18 or older, the Student signs and is bound. In this agreement, “you” and “your” mean the Student and, for a minor Student, the parent or legal guardian together, jointly and severally, except that the financial and legal obligations of a minor Student are the responsibility of the parent or legal guardian.

Your studies at NewU shall begin on the first day of classes of the semester selected below. The semester starts on the date specified in the NewU Academic Calendar published on our website, but this Enrollment Agreement comes into effect on the day it is fully signed.

Being a Student here has a lot of benefits like some of the lowest tuition around, and a 3-year Bachelor’s in a great location, but you also have responsibilities.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

1. You must study quite a bit and be a good student. But isn’t that what college is for? This means you must always do a few things right:

   1. You must study. Hard. We require all our students to keep a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0. If yours drops below 2.0, we will send you an academic warning and ask you nicely but very firmly to get mandatory academic advising hours. If it is still below 2.0 a semester later, you go on academic probation. If you stay on probation a second semester in a row, or your GPA for any semester falls below 1.0, we may even dismiss you. That’s very bad for you and for us. Nobody wants that, so please just do your best, and ask us for help as soon as you need it.

   2. You must attend class. If you miss more than 20% of the sessions of any class, we can’t give you a passing grade. If you are very late for class, your professor may mark you absent. If life gives you lemons and serious challenges cause you to be late for class or miss class because of an emergency, just tell your professors in advance or as soon as possible.

   3. You must behave responsibly. You must treat your classmates, your professors, and all of us at NewU University with respect. This means you must respect yourself first and behave as a responsible adult, and you must be polite, honest, and respectful of others. We have a bunch of written policies on everything from the Code of Conduct to Academic Integrity (this is the “no cheating policy”), and more to help you know what is acceptable and what isn’t. They are a bit boring, but super important, so you must read them and act accordingly. If you make a mistake, we can be forgiving if we believe you genuinely messed up, but some violations of our policies can carry severe penalties, including un-enrolling you from NewU. Most student policies are in the Student Handbook publicly available on our website.

2. You must do certain grown-up things like pay your bill, provide us with documents, and file documents with the government when required or when we ask you.

   1. You must pay your NewU bills. NewU is one of the most affordable private nonprofit universities in the United States, and we are counting on you to pay in full and on time, so we can keep our tuition and fees low and everyone happy. Your most recent Financial Aid Letter specifies your NewU net price which is the amount you will be billed. We may charge you late fees if you pay late, and we may suspend your registration privileges if you continue to be late, and we may even un-enroll you from NewU if you are super late paying. If you use VA education benefits, we never charge late fees or block your access to classes while a VA payment is on its way, as our Tuition, Fees, and Refunds policy explains. If you need help making your payments, raise your hand early and talk to us as soon as you think you won’t be able to pay on time or in full.

   2. You must provide and/or sign documents. You must sign this Enrollment Agreement to enroll at NewU. You must give us your official final high school transcript or diploma, or an equivalent credential, before you enroll, and you must show us an ID during Orientation. If you are awarded a NewU scholarship, we may ask for financial documents for you and/or your family. We may require additional documents or your signature on documents from time to time.

   3. You must complete and file a FAFSA and/or another local, state, or government grant, scholarship, and/or assistance application when requested by NewU. If you are eligible to apply and you do not submit such an application on time or promptly when we ask, NewU may reduce your NewU financial aid at its sole discretion. We will provide reasonable assistance to you in filing any such application.

3. You must let us know if you change your mind about starting or continuing to be a student at NewU. We may allow you to defer, and you may withdraw by written notice, but we need to work together. If you do not have a formal written authorization for a deferral to a future semester, or a leave of absence approval signed by an authorized NewU official, and you have not sent the Registrar’s Office a written withdrawal notice, your financial obligations to NewU continue to accrue throughout the end of the semester during which you receive the appropriate NewU approval or the Registrar’s Office receives your withdrawal notice. In simple terms, if you do not show up for classes without agreeing with us in advance to defer your start date or leave the university, you must still pay your bill until your deferral is approved or your written withdrawal notice reaches the Registrar’s Office.

You must abide by all university policies and rules as published in the Student Handbook and/or other policies. All university policies are publicly available at https://newu.university/policies.

NEWU RESPONSIBILITIES

NewU University must do a lot of things, too. Running a university takes a lot of work, and we must do everything from providing everyone with adequate work and study space to hiring great professors to working with everyone and make sure you and everyone else is happy here. Because there are what seems like a million things we must do, we summarized them in a high-level list for you:

1. We have to put you, the Student, at the center of our world. Seriously. You are the reason we exist, and we must treat you like our future depends on it, because it does.

2. We must keep our end of the bargain. If we promised you something in our formal written communications to you, we must deliver on it. No exceptions.

3. We must abide by our rules, too. We have a bunch of policies and procedures, so we must follow those. All NewU policies, including student, faculty, staff, and organizational policies, are posted on our website at https://newu.university/policies.

LEGAL STUFF

Well, we just couldn’t get out of this one, so bear with us for just a little more.

Governing law. This Enrollment Agreement is a legally binding agreement between NewU Inc. and the Student (and the parent or legal guardian, where applicable) and is governed by the laws of the District of Columbia, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Any NewU policies or annexes to this agreement are incorporated in it by reference.

Dispute resolution: internal first. Most things get resolved by talking. If something feels off, raise it through Student Grievance and Appeals in the NewU policies. All disputes must go through that internal process before any external action begins.

Binding arbitration: please read carefully. If a dispute is not resolved internally, you and NewU agree that all remaining disputes will be settled by binding arbitration, not in court. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) administers the arbitration under its Consumer Arbitration Rules then in effect. The arbitration takes place in Washington, DC. The arbitrator’s decision is final and binding on both parties, subject only to the narrow grounds for review under the Federal Arbitration Act.

Class action waiver. You and NewU each agree that any dispute will be brought in your individual capacity only, and not as part of a class, group, collective, or representative action. You waive any right to participate in a class proceeding against NewU. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims brought by different parties.

Jury trial waiver. You waive the right to a jury trial for any dispute covered by this arbitration agreement.

Arbitration costs. NewU pays all AAA filing and administrative fees and all arbitrator fees, except that you pay a filing contribution equal to the filing fee for a small claims case in DC Superior Court at the time you file. NewU waives your filing contribution on your documented showing of inability to pay. The arbitrator may reallocate fees, including fees NewU would otherwise pay, against any party whose claim or defense the arbitrator determines was frivolous or brought in bad faith.

Mass arbitration. If 25 or more arbitration demands are filed against NewU by or with the coordination or involvement of the same law firm or organization, and the demands raise common questions of law or fact, the demands are administered together in staged batches rather than all at once. The parties first arbitrate a bellwether batch of up to 10 demands chosen by the claimants and up to 10 chosen by NewU. After the bellwether decisions, the parties use the outcomes to attempt a global resolution of the remaining demands through mediation. Demands awaiting their batch are not active: their AAA filing and arbitrator fees do not accrue, and any applicable limitations period and fee deadline are tolled, until those demands are activated in a later batch.

What arbitration does not cover. Nothing in this agreement limits the right of either party to bring or pursue: (a) claims of sexual abuse, child abuse, or physical injury to a minor student, which may be brought in court; (b) any individual claim in small claims court, if within that court’s jurisdictional limits; (c) any action for injunctive or equitable relief in court, including to protect NewU’s name, trademarks, and intellectual property; (d) any reporting obligation or right under mandated reporter law (D.C. Code section 4-1321.02 and equivalent state laws); (e) any complaint to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education or the District of Columbia Higher Education Licensure Commission; or (f) any government agency’s investigation, enforcement, or other action.

Binding on minor students. A parent or legal guardian who signs this agreement for a minor student agrees to this dispute resolution section on the minor’s behalf and binds the minor to it, except where the law does not permit such binding.

Severability. If any part of this dispute resolution section is held unenforceable, the rest survives. If the class action waiver is held unenforceable for a particular claim or remedy, that claim or remedy may proceed in court, not in arbitration, but everything else in this section continues to apply.

Indemnification. You will indemnify and hold harmless NewU Inc. and its officers, directors, members, employees, faculty, contractors, volunteers, successors, and assigns from third party claims, losses, and reasonable costs arising from the Student’s or your breach of this agreement, violation of NewU policy or law, or wrongful or negligent acts.

Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the total liability of NewU Inc. and its officers, directors, members, employees, faculty, contractors, volunteers, successors, and assigns arising out of or relating to enrollment is limited to the tuition and fees paid for the then current semester. NewU is not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages. Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

No guarantee of outcomes. NewU does not guarantee any particular academic result, grade, rate of progress, graduation, scholarship or financial aid beyond what NewU has offered you in writing, admission to or acceptance of credit by any other institution, or employment. The three-year bachelor’s degree describes the program’s design for a full-time student who meets all requirements; it is not a promise of any individual result.

Term and amendments. This agreement comes into effect on the date it is fully signed and stays in effect for the duration of the Student’s enrollment at NewU, but this Legal Stuff section and your payment and financial obligations survive its termination or expiration. NewU may update its policies from time to time, and continued enrollment after notice of an update constitutes acceptance. Tuition and fees are set under Tuition, Fees, and Refunds, including the Tuition Freeze. Amendments to the financial and dispute resolution terms of this agreement require mutual written agreement, and no update changes tuition for a year already begun or the dispute resolution terms for a pending dispute.

Assignment. NewU may assign this agreement to a successor in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. You may not assign your rights or obligations under this agreement without NewU’s written consent.

Termination and force majeure. You may withdraw under the terms stated above. NewU may terminate this Enrollment Agreement or the Student’s enrollment for the reasons set out in the NewU policies referenced in it, or as otherwise stated in it. NewU may have to cease in-person or other activities in response to a pandemic, other catastrophe, or other force majeure circumstances, in which case no tuition or fee refunds will be given, except at NewU’s sole discretion. A move of on-campus instruction to online delivery in these circumstances is not a breach of this agreement and does not entitle you to a refund or fee reduction. NewU is a private institution and retains the right to terminate a student’s matriculation at any time the student’s academic performance is seriously deficient, the student’s conduct becomes injurious to the maintenance of good order or to others or disruptive of an academic atmosphere, or the student is found to have engaged in conduct, before or after matriculation, that violates NewU’s standards of conduct, mission, values, reputation, or integrity.

Entire agreement. This agreement, your financial aid offer letter, and the NewU policies incorporated in it are the entire agreement between you and NewU regarding enrollment, and supersede all prior or contemporaneous statements, marketing, brochures, websites, and oral representations. You have not relied on any statement outside this agreement, your financial aid offer letter, and those policies.

Incorporated by reference: NewU Student Handbook and other policies and procedures affecting students, all publicly available at https://newu.university/policies. Where this agreement and a NewU policy address the same subject, this agreement controls.

Seen and agreed: by the signatures below. If the Student is not an emancipated adult at the time of signing, a parent or guardian signature is required in addition to the Student signature, and the parent or guardian accepts this agreement, including the dispute resolution terms, on the Student’s behalf and binds the Student to it.