A Leave of Absence (LOA) is a temporary interruption in a student’s program of study. LOA refers to the specific time period during an ongoing program when a student is not in academic attendance.
LOA will be granted for:
- In accordance with Title IX (including for pregnancy and related conditions or other Title IX covered reasons)
- If a student is called into active duty for the military.
- On a case-by-case basis, the school will also consider a LOA for a student who has experienced a personal medical emergency with a letter from the student's doctor.
- COVID related with a letter from the student's doctor.
- Death of an immediate family member. (spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent)
- Jury Duty
These are the only times leave of absences are granted.
In order to be placed on LOA, the student must:
- Complete and sign the school’s Leave of Absence Request Form.
- State the reason for the LOA.
- Students who receive military orders must provide a copy of their military orders.
- Students who receive jury duty must provide a copy of their jury duty court documents.
- Be approved by the Financial Service Office.
- Leaves must be a minimum of 5 days and must not exceed a total of 120 days in an 8 month period. In the case of a student receiving military orders that are less than 14 days, the LOA will be granted for the shorter period of time. This timeframe must be reflected on the student’s military orders. In the case of a student receiving jury duty that is less than 14 days, the LOA will be granted for the shorter period of time. This timeframe must be reflected on the student’s jury duty court documents.
A student on a LOA date of withdrawal determination shall be the earlier of the scheduled date of return from the leave of absence or the date the student notifies the school that the student will not be returning. A leave of absence will extend the student’s contract period and maximum time frame by the same number of calendar days taken in the leave of absence.
Changes to the contract period on the enrollment agreement due to an approved LOA must be initialed by all parties or an addendum must be signed and dated by all parties to reflect the new contract end date.
There will be no additional charges for a LOA. If the Student fails to return from a leave of Absence (LOA) on the documented return date, the student will be terminated from school as of the date the student began the LOA. If the Student fails to contact the School Financial Services Leader in regards to not returning from a LOA or extending the LOA, the student will be terminated from school as of the date the student began the LOA. The termination date for the purpose of calculating a refund is always the student’s last date of attendance. A Student may not take an unapproved LOA.
For federal aid recipients, the student’s payment period is suspended during the LOA and no federal financial aid will be disbursed to the student while on a LOA. Upon the student’s return, the student will resume the same payment period and coursework and will not be eligible for additional federal student aid until the payment period has been completed. If the student is a federal student loan recipient, they will be informed of the effects that the failure to return from a leave may have on the student’s loan repayment terms, including the exhaustion of the student’s grace period. A contract addendum will be completed upon return from the LOA to extend the contract end date by the applicable number of calendar days.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the school may grant a LOA to a student in the case of an emergency, where the student is unable to complete the LOA request such as a car accident or other medical issue (i.e., coma) that would prevent the student from requesting the LOA prior to the incident occurring. In these cases, the school will collect the request from the student as soon as possible and document the reason for the granting of the leave after the incident has occurred.
The beginning date of the LOA will be based on the first date it has been determined that the student cannot come to class due to the accident or medical situation.
In order to grant a Leave of Absence there must be the expectation that the student will be returning to school.
A student who is granted a LOA that meets these criteria is not considered to have withdrawn and no R2T4 refund calculation is required at that time.
If a student does not return from a LOA, the grace period for the Direct Loans may have elapsed in part or in whole. If the student uses 120 days of a LOA, the student will have used 100% of his/her grace period and be in immediate repayment of his/her Direct Loan.