Withdraw from a paper or course
Find out what happens to your Student Allowance or Student Loan if you drop a paper, or fail/withdraw from a paper or course.
On this page:
What happens to your Student Allowance or Student Loan living costs if you drop a paper
You must tell us straight away if you drop a paper.
If you drop a paper you may not be studying full-time any more which means you probably won't qualify for the Student Allowance or Student Loan living costs. If you don't tell us, you could be overpaid, which means you'll have to pay the money back.
Contact us to discuss your options.
What happens to your Student Allowance if you withdraw from a course
Your Student Allowance needs to stop from the day you stop studying full-time. If you withdraw, it could mean you won't pass over half of your course.
If this happens, you won't be able to get the Student Allowance in the future - unless you:
- postpone your course - your education provider needs to confirm this or
- pay back your Student Allowance - you need to apply for this or
- withdraw for reasons you couldn't control - such as illness or bereavement (you need to write to us and supply proof) or
- pass more than half the work of a full-time tertiary course for which you have met your course costs and living expenses by any other means such as working, savings, scholarships or Student Loan.
If you withdraw from your course, but remain enrolled on a part-time basis, you are able to repay the assistance you have received to retain your future eligibility for Student Allowance.
If you want to pay back your Student Allowance, you must have withdrawn from your course before the start of your final exams and make the repayment within 12 months of the start of a full-year course or before the end of the course in every other case. If you do repay your Student Allowance, the number of weeks you received it for won't count towards your 200 week (for tertiary study) or 92 week (for secondary study) entitlement.
What happens to your Student Loan if you withdraw from your course
If you withdraw from your course you are still responsible for repaying your Student Loan.
You will need to ask your education provider if you qualify for any fee refund. Any refund will be paid directly to your loan account.
If you withdraw from a programme and receive a full refund of your tuition fees or, withdraw within 30 days of the date it started and receive a partial refund of your fees before the end of that programme, it will not be included in your performance assessment or lifetime limit.
If you withdraw from study and don't tell us, and your education provider tells us you're not meeting attendance and programme requirements, your loan will be suspended.
That means you won't get any money for living costs, and any payments for fees and course-related costs will be put on hold.
