Leave of Absence Policy Students who wish to apply for a leave of absence must complete the Leave of Absence Request Form. Students should also contact humdos@uchicago.edu and/or their department for questions/concerns. The University policy can be found in the Student Manual. Leave of Absence status carries no tuition charges and confers no privileges such as registering for courses, accessing the libraries, borrowing money, deferring loans, access to health insurance or the Student Health and Counseling Service unless the student is on a medical or parental leave of absence. Access to University e-mail accounts is maintained in Leave of Absence status. Students who do not return from the Leave of Absence as indicated on their Leave of Absence Request Form will be withdrawn from the program.
Please Note: For information on grading, financial responsibilities, and other considerations associated with a Leave of Absence, please review the attached document. For PhD students who matriculated post Summer 2016, all leaves stop the registration clock. For other students, we request that you contact the Dean of Students Office for information on how the leave request impacts registration clock and other milestone extensions.
Please Note: Any graduate student can also be administratively placed on a leave of absence. An administrative leave of absence will be applied to graduate students who are restricted from registering, and who do not clear their restrictions by the end of the third week of the quarter. Note that if a student has a hold placed on their account after the week of registration and is already registered for classes, they will be allowed to remain in the next quarter's coursework, however should work to resolve the hold as quickly as possible.
Withdrawal from the University Humanities students who wish to voluntarily withdraw from their program should complete a Withdrawal Form. All withdrawals are assumed to be permanent.
Ph.D. students who reach their registration limit (see also Registration for Students in PhD Programs) will not be allowed to register further in their degree programs and will be administratively withdrawn by the Dean of Students Office. Students who have been admitted to candidacy by the end of their registration limit can, however, still be allowed to petition and defend their dissertation and graduate with their department and school or division’s permission.
Additionally, students can be administratively withdrawn from the University via academic progress concerns/lack of good academic standing and/or be administratively withdrawn due to restricted registration holds. Graduate students who are restricted from registering must clear their restrictions by the end of the third week of the quarter or they will be put on an administrative leave of absence in that quarter. At the beginning of the next quarter, if the student has failed to clear all restrictions, the student will be administratively withdrawn from the University by their Dean of Students (unless the student is on a documented non-administrative leave of absence).
Request for Resumption of Studies
Individuals wishing to resume studies following a withdrawal must complete the Request for Resumption of Studies form. The Dean of Students and department will review the request, and the student will be notified of the decision. If the student is allowed to return, a reinstatement fee of $250 will be assessed to the student account. Further information is available in the Student Manual. Please note for Master's students -the Division will not consider petitions more than five years beyond matriculation per our divisional policy.
