A Leave of Absence refers to a specified and approved period of time away from your course.It is intended for students who intend to complete their studies but who wish to hit the “pause” button and resume them at a later time.
Any student wishing to take a Leave of Absence should first read UCD’s Leave of Absence policy and this student guide to the process.
If you have any questions about Leave of Absence, you should reach out to your college/school office, your Student Adviser or the Student Desk.
The following are some key points to keep in mind when thinking about taking a Leave of Absence:
- Depending on your programme, you can apply for a Leave of Absence period of one, two or three trimesters within an academic year.
- Although you are encouraged to apply for a Leave of Absence before the period of leave commences, for the autumn and spring trimesters the deadline for applying is the end of the eighth week of teaching.
- You make a Leave of Absence application through SISweb.
- While on leave, you are not registered to your programme, you should not be engaged in any programme activity and you do not have access to the campus facilities.
- If you are in receipt of SUSI or other state funding to support your education, you should ensure you make contact with the awarding body to discuss your leave of absence.
- You will not be charged fees for the period of time you are on leave.
- The policy is not prescriptive regarding the total amount of leave of absence time that a student may be permitted to take over the lifetime of their programme. However, a period 1/3 of the total length of the programme is recommended as the maximum amount of leave of absence time.
- If you require more time away from your studies than is normally permitted, you should discuss withdrawing from your programme with a view to re-entering it at a later date with an appropriate staff member.