Registration

New students for ESL and English special courses must be able to take the placement test on one of the the testing dates in order to be eligible to take classes. Absolutely no exceptions. Tests are available only by appointment, which is made during online registration.

Click here for the upcoming set of placement test dates.

You will select a test time and make an appointment upon registering and paying for your courses. There are no make-up test dates, so please consult your calendar prior to registering. You will not be eligible to take our courses if you cannot come for the placement test.

To take the exam in person, students must:

• Bring their official photo ID
• Bring their own headphones with a working microphone (if possible)

To take the exam remotely, at home, and have it proctored, students must have:

• High speed Internet
• A laptop or desktop computer that has a working camera and microphone. The test cannot be done on a phone or iPad/tablet.
• The Google Chrome browser on their computer. Click here to download Google Chrome.
• An updated operating system. 
• A quiet place without other people or distractions for the full appointment time (approximately 2.5 hours).

Space in the following focused skills classes is very limited and on a first-come, first-serve basis every semester: Conversation, Pronunciation, ESL Writing, Grammar & Writing, and TOEFL. We strongly encourage you to take an ESL class as an alternative.  

Students may register for whichever courses they are interested in, however, it is important to know that the focused skills courses (Conversation, Grammar & Writing, ESL Pronunciation, ESL Writing, and TOEFL) have a minimum level requirement of around Intermediate. If the student registering is just beginning with English, these courses won’t be right for them until they have spent several semesters building their English.

Please read the details below very carefully about our refund policy.

EARLY REFUND REQUESTS FOR ALL CLP CLASSES:

• More than two weeks (14 days) before the semester start date: A full refund will be made upon request. To request a refund more than two weeks (14 days) before the first day of the semester, the student must only forward their payment receipt to clp@tc.columbia.edu and include the reason for the cancellation in the email body. 

LATE REFUND REQUESTS FOR CLP CLASSES ONLY:

• Between 14 days before the semester start date and the posted refund deadline after classes begin: All refund requests will be subject to a $20 cancellation fee.

LATE REFUND REQUESTS FOR IRLP CLASSES ONLY:

• Between 7 days before and ONE day after the first in-person or synchronous [live] meeting: All refund requests will be subject to a $20 cancellation fee.

To request a refund during the LATE REFUND REQUEST period, students must:

     1) Complete the refund request form and provide a reason for the cancellation 

     2) Forward their payment receipt to clp@tc.columbia.edu. The staff will process the refund request accordingly.

See more details on the Policy Page of our website. 

REFUND REQUESTS FOR ALL LIVE ESL LESSONS:

• Refund requests for the Summer Live ESL Lessons will be accepted up to 24 hours before the lesson. All refund requests less than 24 hours before the Lesson will not be accepted.
• To request a refund,  the student must forward their payment receipt to clp@tc.columbia.edu. 

Students are very strongly encouraged to think about workload and their personal schedules before registering for multiple classes. Students may not register for more than 3 classes.  Any student who registers for more than 3 courses without authorization from the Program will lose his/her seat in the additional courses.