The camp kept the tuition. Here is what New York allows.

NY Penalty Rule · GBL § 349

The enrollment agreement controls, until it doesn't.

Start by reading the enrollment agreement, the parent handbook it incorporates, and the registration confirmation. Look for four things: the deposit amount and whether it is described as non-refundable; the withdrawal deadline and any sliding refund schedule tied to it; what the program promises if it cancels, closes, or changes the session; and any clause making you responsible for the full season's tuition regardless of attendance. Many programs also bury a rule that a withdrawal is only effective when received in writing by a specific person. Comply with that now, today, even if you already spoke to the director.

If the agreement gives you a refund and the program will not honor it, you have a plain breach-of-contract claim. The harder cases are the forfeiture clauses and the full-tuition clauses, which is where New York's penalty rule comes in.

Forfeiture clauses and the penalty rule.

New York enforces a liquidated-damages clause, which is what a non-refundable deposit or a full-season tuition obligation really is, only when the amount is a reasonable estimate of the harm the program would actually suffer from your withdrawal and when that harm was hard to estimate at signing. A clause that operates as a penalty, meaning it is out of all proportion to the real loss, is unenforceable under New York common law.

For camps and daycares, the reasonableness question usually turns on timing and waitlists. A $1,000 deposit kept when you withdraw in February from a July session at a camp with a waitlist is hard to justify; the spot will be filled and the camp will suffer no loss. The same deposit kept on a withdrawal two weeks before the session starts, after the camp has hired staff and bought supplies for your child's headcount, is much easier to defend. A clause requiring you to pay the entire year's daycare tuition when you withdraw in October, while the center fills your spot from a waitlist in November, looks like a penalty and a double recovery.

Ask the program, in writing, whether your child's spot was filled. Programs that advertise waitlists have a hard time claiming they lost money when a family left.

When the program cancels, closes, or cuts the session short.

If the camp cancelled the session, the daycare closed, or the program shortened the day or the season materially, the program has not performed and cannot keep money for services it did not provide. That is true regardless of any non-refundable language, which protects the program from your withdrawal, not from its own failure. You are owed a refund of the unused portion, and, if you had to pay more for replacement care on short notice, that difference is at least arguable as damages.

Watch for a variation: the program offers a 'credit' toward next year instead of a refund. You are not required to accept one. A program that closes permanently and offers credits has offered nothing; a program that closes and keeps the money may have crossed into deceptive practices under General Business Law § 349, particularly if it was accepting new deposits while it knew closure was likely. Our main guide to deposit disputes discusses § 349 remedies, which include damages and attorney's fees.

Licensing and who to complain to.

Most programs you pay in New York are licensed or permitted. Children's overnight and day camps are regulated by the New York State Department of Health through local health departments; child care centers and family day care are licensed or registered by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, or in New York City by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for group child care. Licensing complaints are about health and safety, not refunds, so they will not get your money back directly. But a program facing a licensing inquiry and a demand letter at the same time tends to resolve the letter quickly. The Attorney General's consumer bureau takes complaints about deceptive refund practices statewide.

Special cases: medical withdrawal, expulsion, and tuition insurance.

If your child cannot attend for medical reasons, check for a medical withdrawal provision; many camps have one and will pro-rate on a doctor's note. If the program asked your child to leave, the analysis flips: a program that terminates the enrollment has ended the contract, and keeping the remaining tuition is very difficult to justify unless the agreement specifically addresses it and the amount survives the penalty test. If you bought tuition insurance or a 'cancellation protection' add-on at registration, read it now; these policies often cover exactly the situation you are in and programs rarely remind parents they exist.

What a demand letter does here.

Camps and daycares are relationship businesses in small communities. Most directors have never received a letter from a lawyer and do not want to. A demand letter from a New York attorney states the terms of the enrollment agreement accurately, explains why the forfeiture is unenforceable as a penalty or why the program's own non-performance requires a refund, puts a number on it, and sets a deadline with small claims or a civil action as the alternative. Where the facts support it, the letter notes § 349 and its fee provision. We keep these letters firm and unemotional, because a director who feels attacked digs in and one who sees a clear legal problem writes a check.

Our camp and school refund letters are flat fee, handled online through DemandLetterNY. More on how flat-fee demand letters work.

When a letter is not the right tool: if you withdrew the week before camp from a program with no waitlist, the forfeiture will likely hold and a letter will not change that. If the dispute is a $150 registration fee, file in small claims yourself or let it go. If the program has closed and its operator has disappeared, a chargeback and a claim against any bond or insurance are the realistic routes.

Chargebacks and small claims.

If you paid by credit card, especially for a program that cancelled or closed, dispute the charge with your issuer promptly; services not provided are a standard dispute category and the window often runs from the date the service was supposed to be delivered. For larger balances, small claims court handles up to $10,000 in New York City and lower limits elsewhere; see our small claims guide and the comparison of a demand letter versus small claims. Contract claims carry a six-year statute of limitations in New York, so the deadline is not your problem; the program's continued existence is.

Related reading: the same penalty analysis governs wedding vendor deposits, and our page on gym memberships that won't cancel covers programs that keep auto-billing after withdrawal.