You can defer most course offers for up to 12 months. There’s no cost to defer and you won’t be charged any fees while you’re on deferment. You may be able to extend your deferral for up to 24 months (in some circumstances).

When deferring your offer, you’re still guaranteed a place – you’re just choosing to delay starting your course. However, we may not approve other studies you complete while on deferment, or give you credit for it.

Offers you can't defer

You can't defer:

• multiple offers
• enrolments in single units
• internal course transfers
• cross-institutional enrolments at Monash
• enhancement study enrolments.

If you receive more than one offer of a place at Monash, you can defer only one offer. If you have already deferred one offer but then decide that you want to go with a different one, you’ll need to discontinue the first deferred offer. For help doing this, contact Monash Connect.

You may not be able to defer some courses, so it’s a good idea to submit an enquiry through our virtual assistant to get some free advice and support before you apply.

Not all scholarships can be deferred. If you’re a scholarship holder, you should also check the conditions before you apply for deferment.

When to apply

You need to apply to defer before the enrolment deadline in your offer letter (you won't be able to defer once the offer expires).

If you're not sure yet, you should accept your offer (by enrolling in units) – this will give you until 11.59pm on the census date (Melbourne time) to apply to defer.

Postgraduate law students

If you’re already enrolled, you must defer your offer before the earliest Withdrawn Early end date of your units. See discontinuation dates for postgraduate law students.

How to apply

After the census date

You won’t be able to defer your course after 11.59pm (Melbourne time) on the census date, so if you want to start your studies later on, you need to apply for intermission. Just keep in mind that if you withdraw from units after the census date, you may incur financial and academic penalties. See intermission (study leave) for more information.

Next steps

If you’ve requested to defer your course, we’ll email your Monash account with more information (including services and assistance available during your deferment), so make sure you check your account regularly for updates.

Your faculty will contact you at least three months before you return to study to confirm your offer for the following semester. This letter will tell you how to enrol or extend your deferment.

Enrolling after a deferral

We’ll contact you to enrol, so keep your postal address up-to-date in WES. You’ll then need to follow the steps to enrol.

If you want to return early, submit an enquiry through our virtual assistant to check whether you can enrol mid-year.

Extending your deferral

In certain cases (e.g. financial difficulties, compulsory military service), you may be able to defer your offer for up to 24 months (applications are accepted on a case-by-case basis).

You’ll need to be approved for a deferral of up to 12 months first. If you need longer, you’ll need to make another request:

• Domestic students: Submit an Application to Defer.
• International students: Submit a post application enquiry.

If you're a research student looking to defer your offer for more than 12 months, contact the Monash Graduate Research Office.

Don’t forget to include details about why you need to defer for longer than 12 months (including any extenuating circumstances, and additional study or work activities you’re committed to during the deferral period). You may be asked to provide supporting documents – if that’s the case, we’ll let you know.

Relevant policy

17. Deferring commencement in a course – Admission to Coursework Courses and Units Procedure (pdf)