Underloading

Domestic students

If you’re a domestic student, you can usually choose to study part-time. Just keep in mind, if you change your intended study load below 18 credit points per semester, you may not be eligible for government payments such as Youth Allowance, Austudy or public transport concessions.

When to underload

To avoid academic and financial penalties, make sure you underload (by withdrawing from units) before 11.59pm (Melbourne time) on the census date for the relevant teaching period.

How to underload

Before census date

To change your study load before the census date:

Log into the Web Enrolment System (WES).
Click Enrolment/Re-Enrolment.
Click Study Load.
Click Change Now.

After census date

To change your study load after your teaching period’s census date has passed, you’ll need to submit an Enrolment Amendment form. Academic and/or financial penalties may apply. You can view the census dates and late withdrawal deadlines on our census dates and teaching periods page.

WES may force you to enrol for the entire year, and in more credit points than you plan to study. If this happens, and you think this requirement doesn't apply to you, submit an Enrolment Amendment Form.

International students

If you're on a student visa, you must complete your course in the time stated on your Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE). To do this, you need to enrol in a full-time study load (this equates to 24 credit points per semester or 48 credit points per academic calendar year). If you’re completing a unit in a winter or summer semester, these count towards your study load for each semester:

winter units count towards semester two
summer A (SSA) units count towards semester two
summer B (SSB) units count towards semester one.

The Web Enrolment System (WES) won’t allow you to submit your enrolment unless you enrol in enough units to meet your approved study load requirement, so you’ll need to apply for approval from your faculty before you can reduce your study load.

If your application is approved, you may need a new CoE with an updated course completion date. See extending your visa for more information.

Examples of study load combinations View

Examples of study load combinations
Credit points per semester	Total credit points	Load type/Approval needed
Semester one: 24 Winter semester: 6 Semester two: 18	48	Full-time load – no approval required
Semester one: 24 Semester two: 18 Summer A: 6	48	Full-time load – no approval required
Semester one: 24 Semester two: 18 Summer B: 6	42 this year & 6 next year	Underload – approval required

Reasons for underloading

You can apply for approval to underload due to compassionate or compelling circumstances.

Compassionate or compelling circumstances

Compassionate or compelling circumstances are personal circumstances that:

are involuntary and outside your control (such as medical, family, wellbeing, or enrolment circumstances), and
present you with limited or no choice but to underload your study.

Examples include:

serious illness or exceptional personal circumstances
course structure, progression rules or unit availability that prevents a standard enrolment load.

When you don't need approval

You won’t need to apply for approval to underload if you:

are in your final year and will complete your course within the time stated on your CoE
are enrolled in a combination of standard semester and summer or winter units that total at least 48 credit points per academic year
are required to reduce your study load by your faculty’s Academic Progress Committee.

When to apply

Submit your application by 11.59pm (Melbourne time) on the census date for that teaching period to avoid penalties.

How to apply

To apply for approval, submit an application with your supporting documents.

Underload Request form

Supporting documents View

Do not, under any circumstances, submit fraudulent documentation

You must give us information that is true, accurate and complete – without intending to mislead or gain advantage. If you make a false statement or provide a falsified document:

your application will be rejected, and
we'll refer the matter to Student Conduct and Complaints for an academic misconduct investigation.

You’re responsible for making sure the documents you supply to us are genuine, accurate and complete. Penalties for submitting a forged, altered or falsified document can include exclusion from the University, a fine of up to AUD $1,000 and a permanent record in Monash systems.

To find out more about your responsibilities (and what you should do if you don’t have the required supporting documents), see our documentation integrity page.

You’ll need to provide supporting documents that clearly show:

your compassionate or compelling circumstances
when they occurred
how long they lasted
their level of impact.

All documents need to:

be from an independent source or authority
be recently dated
confirm that your circumstances are ongoing and relevant to the timeframe.

To support your underloading request, you can provide a:

medical certificate or letter from a medical professional which specifically suggests reducing your study load and for how long
letter from a social worker, lawyer, or psychologist
detailed statement from a counsellor (like the University's Counselling and Psychological Services team) who has been involved in your assessment and/or treatment
death notice or certificate and evidence of relationship
police report
statutory declarations from you or relevant people.

Depending on your circumstances, you may need to provide more than one of the documents listed above.

If you have been seeing a counsellor in an ongoing way about issues affecting your study, you can talk to your counsellor about completing a Health Professional Report (HPR) to support an application under compassionate and compelling circumstances.

Overseas medical certificates issued in a language other than English must be translated into English by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) or an overseas notary department with a common seal.

For more details, see supporting documents for compassionate or compelling circumstances.

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