A career school enrollment agreement is the contract between the school and the student, required by state licensing agencies and accreditors. Their checklists overlap: the parties, the program and its length, start and end dates, an itemized schedule of tuition and other charges with nonrefundable items marked, how the student will pay, the refund and cancellation policy as it reads in the catalog, a complaint procedure, licensure disclosures where a license is needed to work, and the dated signatures of the student and a school official. Several require a fully signed copy to reach the student before instruction begins. The payment plan goes on it as the schedule of payments.
Who requires an enrollment agreement?
Two sets of rules, and a school usually answers to both. The state agency that licenses the school publishes what the agreement must contain, often with a sample form. The accreditor adds its own checklist. Georgia's Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission, Texas Workforce Commission, Maryland Higher Education Commission, New York's Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision, Virginia's SCHEV and California's Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education all publish one. NACCAS and ACCSC each keep an enrollment agreement checklist for the schools they accredit.
Massachusetts says it plainly: a school may draft its own agreement, but it has to contain the listed fields to be approved.
What is on every list?
The lists differ in wording and order, but the same sections come up on nearly all of them.
| Section | What to put there |
|---|---|
| The parties | The school's legal name, address and contact details; the student's name, date of birth and contact details |
| The program | Its title, length in clock or credit hours, schedule, start date and scheduled completion date, and the credential awarded |
| The charges | Tuition, fees, books, supplies and the total cost, itemized, with nonrefundable items marked |
| How the student pays | The method, and the payment plan if there is one |
| Externships and placement | Any externship or clinical hours, and what placement help the school gives |
| Refunds and cancellation | The refund and cancellation policy, in the same words as the catalog |
| Complaints | How to complain, and the state agency's contact details |
| Licensure | A disclosure where a license or certification is needed to work in the field |
| Signatures | The student and an authorized school official, each dated |
Two items trip schools up in audits. The refund policy on the agreement has to match the catalog, in the same language as the catalog, in Maryland's checklist. And the agreement has to be fully signed before instruction begins: New York requires the student and an authorized agent of the school to date and sign it before the time instruction begins, and NACCAS requires a copy of the fully executed agreement to reach the enrollee before classes start.
What do states add on top?
- California. Education Code section 94911 lists the contents: the institution and program, the program's length, a schedule of total charges with nonrefundable items marked, the totals for the current period and the entire program on the page the student signs, a caption reading "STUDENT'S RIGHT TO CANCEL" with the refund policy under it, and a statement above the signature beginning "I understand that this is a legally binding contract.".
- Texas. The Texas Workforce Commission checklist requires the statement "APPROVED AND REGULATED BY THE TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION, CAREER SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES, AUSTIN, TEXAS." and a revision date on the form, with tuition, other expenses, books, supplies and the total cost listed.
- Georgia. The refund policy must meet the commission's minimum standards and may not be a fixed refund table. An application fee is capped at $150 and must be listed as nonrefundable.
- Virginia. The program name, start date, total hours to complete and the credential awarded.
Use your own state's current checklist. The sample agreements the agencies publish are a starting point, not a safe harbor.
How does the payment plan go on it?
As a schedule, not a sentence. "Monthly from the start date" leaves the amount and the last date open. Write the deposit and the date it is due, then each payment with its amount and date, and the total. If the student pays by automatic bank debit, the agreement is also the authorization, which Regulation E requires to be signed or similarly authenticated (12 CFR 1005.10(b)). What a payment plan agreement should cover has the full list for the plan itself.
When the plan changes later, revise the agreement and void the old one. Editing a document the student has already signed leaves two versions and no record of which one they agreed to. Changing a payment plan after it starts covers the plan side.
Can the student sign it electronically?
Under the federal E-SIGN Act, a signature, contract or record may not be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic (15 U.S.C. 7001(a)). When a law requires the record to be given to a consumer in writing, the consumer must first receive the required disclosures and consent to electronic records in a way that reasonably demonstrates they can access them (7001(c)). Most states' Uniform Electronic Transactions Act says the same and lets a signature be attributed to a person by any means, including a security procedure used to determine who the record or signature belongs to. Electronic signature covers what to keep.
Whether your state agency or accreditor accepts an electronically signed enrollment agreement, and what record they expect to see at a site visit, is a question to put to them directly.
What should the school keep?
The copy that was signed, unchanged since it was sent, with who signed, when, how their identity was checked, and the consent text they agreed to. Keep it with the student's account and the plan, so a withdrawal, a dispute or an audit starts from one record.
Sources
- California Education Code section 94911 and BPPE: Enrollment agreement minimum requirements
- Texas Workforce Commission: Career schools and colleges student enrollment checklist (Nov 2022)
- Georgia GNPEC: Enrollment agreement/student contract guidelines
- Maryland MHEC: Private career school enrollment agreement checklist
- New York State Education Department, BPSS: Sample enrollment agreement
- Virginia SCHEV: Enrollment agreement requirements
- Massachusetts DPL: Technical assistance handout
- NACCAS Policy IV.03: Enrollment agreement requirements and checklist
- ACCSC Standards of Accreditation and Bylaws (July 2026), Section IV (C)(2)
- Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.10
- 15 U.S.C. 7001, E-SIGN Act
Payment plans built from the deal in HubSpot or Pipedrive, with each location paid into its own account and books.
Paycove builds the enrollment agreement from the deal with the payment schedule filled in, collects the student's signature and your countersignature, and keeps the signed copy with its signature certificate on the record.
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