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On Leave Policies

Graduate School Continuous Enrollment Policy

To maintain graduate status, a student must be enrolled on a full-time, part-time, or on-leave basis from the time of first enrollment in the Graduate School until completion of all requirements for the graduate degree. (Graduate students are automatically considered on-leave for Summer Quarter if they were either registered or officially on-leave during the prior Spring Quarter.)

Students who have been registered for even one day of a quarter are deemed to have status for the quarter and will be eligible to register for classes or apply for On-Leave for the following quarter (Spring enables registration for Summer or Autumn); the student’s e-mail account will be active for the quarter, but library privileges will not be maintained once courses are dropped. (See Applying for Leave section below if On-Leave status is desired after the first day of the quarter and courses were not dropped before the quarter began.)

Graduate students must be registered for the quarter in which 1) they apply for the Master's degree, 2) take the Master's examination(s), 3) take the doctoral General or Final examinations, 4) file the thesis or dissertation, and 5) receive the degree. Students may either be registered or eligible to use the Graduate Degree Late Fee for filing the Request for Master’s Degree, submitting a thesis or dissertation, and receiving the degree. Students must be either registred, or (if eligible) pay the Graduate Registration Waiver Fee for filing the Request for Master's Degree, submiting a thesis or dissertatin, and receivinig the degree.

A graduate student cannot simply "take a quarter off" by not registering or not going on leave during any quarter of the academic year. Failure to maintain continuous enrollment (as a registered student or one officially on-leave) constitutes evidence that the student has resigned from the Graduate School. In such cases the student must reapply to the Graduate School if he/she wishes to be considered for readmission to his/her program. Periods spent out of status are included as part of the maximum time periods allowed for completion of a graduate degree.

Readmission

A student previously registered in the Graduate School who has failed to maintain graduate student status but wishes later to resume studies must file the on-line application for readmission to the Graduate School by the regularly published closing dates.

An application for readmission carries no preference and is treated in the same manner as an application for initial admission, including the requirement of payment of the application fee. If the student is readmitted by the department, registration will occur during the usual registration period. If the student has attended any other institution during the period not registered at the University of Washington, official transcripts in duplicate of the student's work must be submitted.

On-Leave Status

See Graduate On-Leave Status for more detailed information about the Graduate School’s leave policies and procedures.

To be eligible for On-Leave status, the student must have registered for, and completed, at least one quarter in the University of Washington Graduate School; international students must complete three consecutive quarters (see International Graduate Students section below). The student must also have been registered or officially On-Leave for the immediate past quarter (except Summer Quarter). Periods spent on leave are included as part of the maximum time periods allowed for completion of a graduate degree.

Students who wish to go on-leave for a quarter for which they have already registered, must drop all classes before the first day of quarter

If a student who is in On-Leave status registers in any other status, i.e. Extension, Non-matriculated, Graduate Non-matriculated, etc., it will terminate their official On-Leave status for that quarter, even if they subsequently drop those courses.

On-Leave Policy for International Students

International graduate students must be registered full time, (10 or more credits) for three consecutive quarters in order to be eligible for On-Leave status. It is the student's responsibility to know and be in compliance with F-1 student immigration requirements.

Recent changes in Immigration Law assess severe penalties to those who violate their immigration status. Penalties can bar a person's return to the U.S. for up to ten years. International graduate students must follow the On-Leave Status procedures stated below to ensure that F-1 student immigration status remains valid. When the Petition for On-Leave Status form has been approved by the graduate program, the student must take the On-Leave Graduate Student Card to the International Services Office and consult with an international student advisor who will then document the On-leave status in the U.S. Immigration system. International students and Permanent Resident Aliens must inform the International Services Office of where they will be and when they plan to return for the purposes of I-20/Visa confirmation.

Departmental On-Leave Policy

The Department of History normally grants on-leave status to graduate students in good standing who meet the Graduate School's eligibility requirements under the following circumstances:

Applying for Leave

To apply to go on-leave, students must submit to the Registration Office (225 Schmitz Hall) a Petition for On-Leave Status no later than the fifth day of the quarter. The form is available to download and print from the Graduate School’s webpage. The petition must be approved by the departmental Graduate Program Coordinator before it is submitted. The student must pay a nonrefundable fee (currently $35) for on-leave student status covering four successive academic quarters (including Summer) or any part thereof. The Registration Office will issue an On-Leave Graduate Student Card which must be presented with the UW Student ID at campus libraries and computer labs.

The student should submit the completed leave form to the History Graduate Office before the first day of the quarter for which leave is requested. This deadline will allow time to get the GPC’s signature and return the form to the student for submission to the Registration Office by the fifth day of the quarter.

If a student is unable to submit the leave form to the Registration Office in person, the History Graduate Office staff will secure the GPC’s signature and submit the leave form and check to the Registration Office only if the student provides the completed form and the check to the Graduate Office before the first day of the quarter for which the student wants to go on leave. In this case, the student must also provide a self-addressed, stamped envelope with the signed petition and check so that the Registration Office can mail the On-Leave Graduate Student Card.

Any student who has registered for a quarter may not submit a Petition for On-Leave Status form directly to the Registration Office for that quarter unless he/she officially withdraws from all courses before the first day of the quarter. If a student failed to drop classes before the first day of the quarter, and the department GPC believes On-Leave status is needed for the quarter (i.e. it would work a hardship on the student to be without UW library privileges for the current quarter), it is possible for the student to go on leave for the quarter. The student must complete the Petition for On-Leave Status and submit it to the History Graduate Office so that the GPC can sign it. The student must then take the signed form to the Graduate Education Services Office in the Graduate School for their approval before the student submits the form and the fee to the Registration Office. The Registration Office will not accept forms from students who have been registered for any portion of the quarter without the additional signatures of the Graduate School staff. The leave form (with the required departmental and Graduate School signatures) and the fee payment must be submitted to the Registration Office by the fifth day of the quarter.

On-Leave Privileges

On-Leave status entitles students in good standing to use the University libraries and maintain access to their email accounts. They are NOT entitled to extensive faculty and staff counsel, examinations of any type (except for language competency), thesis/dissertation filing, University housing, student insurance, or any form of financial assistance. Students may use the Hall Health Primary Care Center on a pay-for-service basis and can pay to use the IMA.

Loan Deferment while On Leave

The Graduate School has established a procedure to allow on-leave graduate students who are engaged in full-time research to request a loan deferment for the quarter(s) that they are or will be officially on leave. Graduate students who are engaged in full-time, off site dissertation work or equivalent off-campus activities (such as an archeological dig, internship, Peace Corps duty, practicum, etc.) that are either required or encouraged for their degree are eligible for this loan deferral procedure Students must meet the following conditions and complete the following steps:

  1. the student is not registered for requested quarter(s) of loan deferral
  2. the student has attained On-Leave Status for requested quarter(s) of loan deferral
  3. Student submits a completed Required Off-Site Educational (R.O.S.E.) Approval form to the Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC) in his/her department.

After verifying the information submitted by the student, and approving the request, the GPC submits the R.O.S.E. form to the Graduate School’s Graduate Education Services; if approved by the Graduate School, the request will then be forwarded to the Office of the Registrar.

The Registrar will change the student’s status in the national enrollment reporting system (NSLDS) for the quarters indicated, thus deferring loans that would normally come due for non-enrollment. There will be no additional fee for this service, beyond the normal fee to students to apply for On-Leave status. Students may apply for R.O.S.E. status for 1-4 quarters at a time for a lifetime maximum of 8 quarters. (Students pursuing the Peace Corps Master’s International are allowed a 9 quarter maximum to accommodate their 27 months of required service in the Corps and this may be filed for all at once, along with 9 quarters of On-Leave.)

Graduate School approval ensures the student is eligible as described in paragraph one (above); is in On-Leave status and that the allowed, maximum period of loan deferral is not exceeded. It should also be noted that students choosing to take On-Leave status to work on their dissertations are not eligible for R.O.S.E. loan deferral; the work/research the student is pursuing while loans are being deferred must be required, or encouraged by their department for the degree, and must be work/research that can only be performed full-time at locations remote from the University of Washington campuses. (This is a Graduate School policy and is subject to revision without prior notice).

History graduate students must submit the completed R.O.S.E form to the History Graduate Office before the beginning of the quarter for which the loan deferral is requested. This will allow time to get the form approved and signed by the GPC, and submitted to the Graduate School by their deadline of the fifth day the quarter.

Coming Off Leave

To come off leave, the student simply registers for the quarter immediately following the expiration of the on-leave period (or any quarter during the leave period). A student who is on-leave through spring quarter is eligible to register for either summer or autumn quarter. Failure to register or file an extension to the on-leave petition constitutes a violation of the Graduate School's Continuous Enrollment Policy. International students and Permanent Resident Aliens must also make arrangements to show proof of funding before returning to the University of Washington for the purposes of returning registration and I-20/Visa confirmation.

Time to Degree and Limits for On-Leave Status

The Graduate School normally allows six years to complete requirements for a master's degree, and ten years for doctoral degree or the masters and doctoral degrees. Periods spent On-Leave or out of status are included in these limits.

Because History Department policy requires that a graduate student be in good standing to be eligible to go on leave, the History Department does not normally approve leave for a student who has exceeded the Graduate School’s limits on time to degree, except in extreme circumstances. Before approving a Petition for On-Leave Status for a student whose leave period will take them in excess of these limits, the department must first file a Petition to the Dean of the Graduate School explaining why this action is being requested. This Petition to the Dean must be approved by the Graduate School before the Petition for On-Leave Status is filed.