Leave of absence

Graduate students who experience circumstances that prevent them from maintaining active status through continuous registration (excluding summer term) and who, through consultation with their Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), advisor(s), and relevant offices determine that a leave of absence (LOA) is appropriate, must request a LOA from their college office. A leave may last up to two years. 

To request a leave of absence:

  1. Consult with your faculty advisor and DGS.
  2. Check the guidance for leaves of absence on page two of the LOA request form and consult with your program coordinator. 
  3. Develop a plan for your leave of absence: when your leave will start, when it will end, checkpoints along the way, what a return to the program and lab will entail.
  4. The DGS writes a letter outlining this plan.
  5. Submit the DGS letter along with the LOA request form to CBS College Coordinator for Graduate Programs (Sara Eliason, seliason@umn.edu).
  6. The CBS Associate Dean for Graduate Education will review the LOA request.
  7. The College Coordinator will enter the LOA on your student record after final consultation with the DGS.   

If your leave of absence is precipitated by a persistent medical condition that needs your attention, you may be eligible for a medical leave of absence with health care benefits. Please refer to the Guidance for Granting Medical Leave of Absence with Health Care Benefits for Graduate Students in the College of Biological Sciences.

To return from a leave of absence:

  1. Consult with your faculty advisor and DGS.
  2. Revisit your leave of absence plan. Revise and solidify this plan, including updates to your return plan timeline and details of returning to the program and a lab (expectations, funding, remaining course requirements, remaining degree completion steps, checkpoints for tracking progress, etc.).
  3. The DGS writes a letter outlining your return from leave of absence plan.
  4. Check the guidance for leaves of absence on the leave of absence reinstatement request form and consult with your program coordinator. 
  5. Submit the DGS letter along with the leave of absence reinstatement request form to CBS College Coordinator for Graduate Programs (Sara Eliason, seliason@umn.edu).
  6. The CBS Associate Dean for Graduate Education will review the leave of absence reinstatement request.
  7. The College Coordinator will enter the return from leave of absence date on your student record after final consultation with the DGS.