OTCAS

FAQs > Application Fees

Table of Contents

• Q: What is the charge for the OTCAS application?

  A: The OTCAS fee is $125 to apply to one program and $45 for each additional program. Your designated OT program may also require you to send a supplemental fee directly to the institution.

• Q: When do I pay for my application?

  A: The OTCAS payment screens are not available until after you e-Submit your application. The total amount owed depends on your total number of designated OT programs. Once you are satisfied that all required sections of your application are complete and correct, click the e-Submit button on your My Application page and follow the on-screen instructions to submit payments.

• Q: What forms of payment does OTCAS accept?

  A: OTCAS accepts money order and credit card payments only. OTCAS does not accept personal checks to pay for your application.

• Q: How do I pay my application fee with a money order?

  A: To pay for your application with a money order, select “Pay by Money Order” after you have e-Submitted your designations and follow the instructions that follow. All money orders must be payable in U.S. funds to OTCAS. You must include your name and OTCAS ID number on the memo line and attach the OTCAS payment form, which will be generated when you confirm your selection of Money Order as your payment option.

• Q: Where do I mail my payment?

  A: Mail your payment to this mailing address:

  OTCAS
  Application Fees
  P.O. Box 9120
  Watertown, MA 02471
  

  OTCAS cannot guarantee the receipt of any mailed items, regardless of the method of delivery.

• Q: Can I send my payment along with my transcripts?

  A: No. If you pay by money order, your payment must arrive separately from your transcript. Your official transcripts must come directly from your institutional registrar or records office. If your payment arrives with your transcript, OTCAS will consider your transcript unofficial and your file incomplete.

• Q: How do I pay my application fee with a credit card?

  A: To pay by Credit Card, select “Pay by Credit Card” after you e-Submit your application and follow the payment instructions.

• Q: Which credit cards do you accept?

  A: OTCAS will accept the following credit cards:

  • MasterCard
  • Visa

• Q: Does OTCAS accept any money order or credit card payments by phone?

  A: No. OTCAS cannot take any payments by phone. OTCAS will only accept (1) credit card payments submitted online or (2) money orders sent to OTCAS.

• Q: Can I change my payment option from money order to credit card after I e-Submit my application?

  A: No. Once you have e-Submitted your application, you cannot change your payment option.

• Q: Why hasn't the money order that I sent to OTCAS been applied to my application?

  A: There are four primary reasons your payment was not processed.

  1. Payment has not yet been received by OTCAS. Please allow up to 10 business days from the date your payment was received for it to be processed by OTCAS.
  2. You have not yet e-Submitted your application. You must e-Submit before your check/money order payment can be applied to your account. Once you have e-Submitted, please allow two to three days for your payment to be marked as received in your OTCAS application.
  3. Payment does not match amount owed. If you have e-Submitted your application but have provided payment that does not match your total application fees, please contact OTCAS customer service at otcasinfo@otcas.org.
  4. Payment cannot be matched to file. Your money order payment may have arrived at OTCAS but was not attached to your OTCAS Payment Form and did not contain adequate identification information (name and/or OTCAS ID). If you suspect that this is the case, or if you have any other questions or concerns regarding your money order payment, please contact OTCAS customer service.

• Q: What happens if I dispute my credit card payment?

  A: OTCAS will assess a service charge of $20.00 for credit card charge backs not authorized by OTCAS. You will be instructed to pay the application fee and service charge within 10-business days. If you do not comply, OTCAS will stop the processing of your application and notify your designated OT programs. You will not be allowed to apply to OT programs through OTCAS in future cycles until all fees owed to OTCAS from previous cycles are paid in full.

• Q: How do I withdraw my application?

  A: Your application is not made available to any OT programs until after you e-Submit your application, so you should be confident in the accuracy of the information contained in your application and your initial selection of designated programs before you e-Submit and provide payment. If you decide against applying to a particular OT program before you e-Submit your application, simply do not e-Submit until you make the change on your application.

  If you have already e-Submitted your application but wish to withdraw your application from ALL of your designated programs, you must contact OTCAS in writing with explicit instructions to place your application On Hold and to notify ALL of your designated OTCAS programs that you have withdrawn your application from consideration. Your request must include your OTCAS ID number, must be legible, and must be signed and dated.

  If you applied to more than one program and wish withdraw from only one or some of your designated programs, you must notify the institution(s) directly. OTCAS does not grant fee refunds under any circumstances, even if you withdraw your application.

• Q: Can I obtain a refund for the OTCAS application if I withdraw my application or if my application is never mailed due to missing application materials?

  A: No. Once you have e-Submitted your application, you cannot receive an application fee refund under any circumstance. You are expected to have given careful consideration to your selection of programs before you e-Submit your application. Keep in mind that you are able to add additional designations after you e-Submit, so if you are unsure as to whether you wish to apply to a particular program, e-Submit your application only for those programs you are certain about and wait to add any other programs until you are confident that you want to apply. Please be advised, it is your responsibility to monitor the receipt status of your required application materials by OTCAS. OTCAS will NOT notify applicants of missing application materials

• Q: Can I obtain a refund if I miss a deadline?

  A: No. Once you e-submit your application to OTCAS, refunds will not be issued. You must comply with program deadlines and policies, as provided on the OTCAS program pages. It is your responsibility to be sure your application has been e-Submitted to OTCAS before 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the deadline date of your selected OT program(s). Your designated OT programs will consider you to have met their deadlines as long as you have e-Submitted your application and all required documentation by these dates, even if your application has not been verified. If your transcripts or other materials (e.g., references) arrive after the program's deadline, OTCAS will process your file normally; however, your designated OT programs may not consider your file as complete by their deadline. It is your responsibility to regularly monitor the status section of your application to ensure that all documents are received by the program's deadline and to receive any messages that OTCAS might send you regarding the processing of your application.