Skip Navigation | ANU Home | Search ANU | Students | Staff

Deferring Your Offer

 

If you have just been made an offer of admission to an undergraduate or graduate coursework program, you may be eligible to defer your enrolment for one or two semesters. Current students who have completed one or more semesters at The Australian National University must apply for program leave NOT deferment. Please contact the Enrolments Office for information on program leave.

Returning from Deferment? See information below

Undergraduate

Eligibility

You can defer your enrolment if you meet the following conditions:

1. You apply on or before the census date for the relevant semester (31 March for First Semester; 31 August for Second Semester).

• note that it's preferable to apply for deferment before semester begins.

2. Your program is one that can be deferred:

• all undergraduate programs except Music
• note that if you wish to defer until Second Semester, there may be restrictions on what courses you can commence in Second Semester (especially languages and those courses which have First Semester pre-requisites).

3. You have a valid reason for wishing to defer. These include:

• wanting to take a break between school and university
• wanting to travel or undertake a 'gap year'
• needing to work before commencing study
• health reasons

4. You can not undertake any other study while deferred. This is because ANU considers the full academic record of its applicants, so if you undertake additional study while deferred we would need to re-assess your qualifications against any new entrance requirements.
   
   There are some exceptions:
• undertaking an exchange year in a secondary school
• undertaking TAFE / AQF studies at Certificate level

If you intend undertaking any other study, please explain your intentions fully when you apply for deferment and be aware that deferment may be refused. You would then need to re-apply for admission via UAC for the following year.

Procedures

Applying for deferment:

Applying for deferment is simple - click here to apply online [applications will be open from midnight Wednesday 21 January 2009 until Tuesday 31 March 2009 for defering a Semester One 2009 offer]

Returning from deferment:

When the period of your approved deferment is over, you need to confirm that you intend to commence study.

For students who are returning in First Semester 2010, please complete the online form found here - Return from Deferment Confirmation- First Semester 2010
You must complete this poll by 30 November 2009 or your deferment will no longer be valid and your offer will lapse.

For instructions on how to enrol once you have confirmed your return, please see http://www.anu.edu.au/sas/enrolments/instructions/
Questions about enrolment should be directed to the Enrolments Office on (02) 6125 3339 or enrolments@anu.edu.au

 

If for some reason, you are not able to apply online, you may write to:

The Admissions Office
Student Administration Services
The Australian National University
CANBERRA ACT 0200

Graduate

Contact your academic area to check on their policies and procedures. You cannot apply online to defer a graduate offer. To return to study after graduate deferment, please contact your academic area.