Leave of Absence Policy: Master’s Degree, Specialist Degree, and Pre-Candidacy Doctoral Students

The university has a continuous enrollment policy for one category of graduate students, namely doctoral students who have achieved candidacy. For other categories of graduate students – pre-candidacy doctoral students, specialist degree students, and master’s degree students – while there is an expectation of enrollment each semester in order to make progress toward the degree, there is no specific continuous enrollment requirement. For that reason, The Graduate College does not require notification if a student decides not to enroll in a given semester. However, students may want to inform their program that they are stopping out for a period of time, and programs may find that information useful in tracking student progress. In those cases, students may complete the Leave of Absence Form for Master’s Degree, Specialist Degree, and Pre-Candidacy Doctoral Students form and provide it to their program. The program should then provide the form to The Graduate College to expedite processing readmit applications.

Leave of Absence is a separate process from withdrawing. Withdrawing from the university (dropping all classes) is an official action whereby a student informs Texas State that they will cease to attend all classes in which they are enrolled. The deadline to withdraw (go to zero hours) from Texas State is two weeks preceding final examinations during the fall and spring semesters and one week preceding final examinations during the two parts of the summer term. Visit the registrar's office website at www.registrar.txst.edu or contact the registrar's office at 512.245.2367 for the proper procedures.

Process for Returning to the University after a Leave of Absence

Upon resuming graduate studies after a semester of non-enrollment, all students must submit reentry paperwork, regardless of whether or not a Leave of Absence form is on file. If the student is returning after an absence of less than one calendar year, only the Update Enrollment form is required. If the student is returning to studies after an absence of over a calendar year, it is necessary to submit a readmit application to the program through the admission portal.