Revised January 2014
For domestic students, the academic advisor in the department/school enters a leave of absence in GRAD.INFO, one semester at a time, for up to four semesters (fall and spring). Different departments/schools have different procedures and forms, but all academic units are expected to keep a departmental record of the approval from either the student’s committee chair, and/or department’s chair or director of graduate studies.
A student who has had four semesters of LOA and requests another must appeal to the Graduate School via a “Graduate School petition” generated by the academic advisor using the Graduate School online petition process. Once the form is signed by the student, his/her committee chair, the department chair/graduate director and the Dean, it is submitted to the Graduate School for final approval.
The LOA must be entered no later than the drop/add deadline of the LOA semester. Retroactive LOAs are not permitted. A student who fails to enroll and does not get an LOA approved by the drop/add deadline must request readmission for a later term. The department may enter the READMIT in GRAD.INFO as long as the student’s GPA is above 3.0 and the student has been enrolled within the last two years.
Special Note: International graduate students must obtain approval from the Office of International Services as well as from the department, Dean and the Graduate School. When the OIS form is signed by the immigration advisor, the student or department sends the paperwork to Degree Progress, where the LOA is entered in SIS.