Military leave

Students can take a leave of absence for active military service. If you need to take military leave and return to the University, you will be given immediate readmission under your previous academic status and program requirements as long as the cumulative length of your absence and all previous absences for military service does not exceed five years.

Withdrawing for active military duty

Under current University policy (informed by State statute), if you are serving in Reserve or National Guard units and are called to active military duty, you may be able to withdraw from classes with a full refund of tuition. If you are a financial aid recipient, you will be subject to refund policies as provided by the aid program sponsors.

Spouses of service members called to active duty

Students who are the spouse of a service member and have a dependent child are able to withdraw from classes with a full refund of tuition if their spouse is called to active duty. Students should follow the procedure below for their specific situation.

Procedure

Contact your instructors, academic advisor, and the University Veterans Services team as soon as possible to discuss your options and next steps: 

  1. Connect with your instructors regarding the best path forward to either withdraw, pause, or complete your current coursework. Please see the Policy on Makeup Work for Legitimate Absences.
  2. Connect with your academic advisor to notify them of your military leave and determine the best option to proceed with your degree progression when you return to school.
  3. If you are using VA education benefits, provide a copy of your orders to University Veterans Services at [email protected]. They will assist in coordinating your benefits with the VA.
  4. If you are withdrawing from some or all of your courses, request a Tuition Refund Appeal and include your orders as justification for a refund of tuition and fees.

    Note: The tuition refund policy does not apply to students called to Active Duty for training, such as Annual Tour, AIT, or drill weekends.

  5. Ensure all remaining tuition and fees on your student account have been paid before leaving for active military duty.

Exceptions

Please note this refund policy does not apply to students called to Active Duty for training, such as Annual training, AIT, or drill weekends.

Consider incompletes instead of withdrawing

In some circumstances, you may want to ask your instructors about incompletes for coursework as an alternative to canceling. When appropriate, instructors may make arrangements for you to take an incomplete for the courses in question. University Senate policy requires an incomplete be made up within one calendar year of the end of the term in which the incomplete is given. When you are called to active military duty, and reach agreement with your instructor(s) to take an incomplete, you will have up to one calendar year following your discharge from active duty to complete any incompletes.

Short-term leaves

If you will miss classes for short-term military leave or military training exercises (example: annual training for National Guard and Reserve members), you must contact your instructors as soon as possible so appropriate accommodations can be made. For further details, please see the Policy on Makeup Work for Legitimate Absences.

Please be proactive in alerting your instructors to possible absences and contact us if you have any questions.