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Fee reversal and Withdrawn grade (special circumstances)

Fee reversal and Withdrawn grade (special circumstances)

If you’ve experienced special circumstances that cause you to fail a unit or withdraw from a unit after the census date, you may be eligible to have your fees reversed, and your fail grade converted to a WDN grade.

Special circumstances are circumstances that were beyond your control, made it impossible for you to complete unit requirements, and occurred or worsened after the unit census date. If this happens, you might be able to get:

Your unit fees reversed
If you’re approved for a fee reversal and you have a HELP-loan for the unit, your debt will be removed (this is also called remission of debt). If you paid up front, your fees will be credited to the next teaching period, and you’ll be able to apply for a refund.
Your grade changed to Withdrawn (WDN)
WDN grades don’t count towards your Grade Point Average (GPA), Weighted Average Mark (WAM), or academic progress risk level. If you received a fail grade and experienced special circumstances, you may be eligible to have it changed to a WDN grade.

If you're having trouble with your studies, we encourage you to reach out for support at any time. You can get help from support services. You can also apply for an extension or special consideration to help you manage your assessments.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you must meet these conditions.

Special circumstances

You’ll need to meet certain criteria to qualify for special circumstances.

Special circumstances criteria

A. Circumstances were beyond your control

Circumstances are beyond your control if a situation occurs, which:

is not due to your action or inaction (either direct or indirect), and
you were not responsible for, and
is unusual, uncommon or abnormal.

B. Circumstances did not make their full impact until on or after the census date

Circumstances did not make their full impact until on or after the census date if the circumstances occurred:

before the census date, but worsen on or after that day
before the census date, but the full effect or magnitude is not apparent until on or after that day, or
on or after the census date.

C. Circumstances made it impracticable for you to successfully complete the unit requirements

Circumstances that make it impossible for you to complete the requirements of the unit may include:

Medical circumstances. For example, your medical (including mental health) condition has changed to such an extent that you’re unable to continue studying.
Family/personal circumstances. For example, death or severe medical problems within your family or unforeseen family financial difficulties, that make it unreasonable to expect you to continue your studies.
Employment-related circumstances. For example, your employment status or arrangements have changed so you’re unable to continue your studies, and this change is beyond your control.
Course-related circumstances. For example, Monash has changed the unit offered and you’re disadvantaged by either not being able to complete the unit, or not given credit towards other units or your course.
Other special circumstances, such as a natural disaster or mandatory obligations to emergency or military service obligations.

You’ll also satisfy this requirement if you’re unable to:

complete the necessary private study required, attend sufficient lectures or tutorials, or meet other compulsory attendance requirements to meet your course requirements
complete the required assessable work
sit the required exams, or
complete any other course requirements because of your inability to meet the three requirements above.

We may refuse your application if it was already not practicable for you to meet the requirements of the unit when your special circumstances emerged.

Apply at the time special circumstances impact you

You should apply as soon as possible after you withdraw from your unit or fail because your special circumstances have impacted your ability to continue with the unit and made it impossible for you to complete unit requirements.

No academic misconduct findings (for WDN grades only)

You must not have any findings of academic misconduct against you for the unit to be eligible for a WDN grade as a result of a special circumstances application.

What to do, when

If special circumstances beyond your control made it impossible for you to meet unit requirements, it’s important to submit your application as soon as possible after recognising their impact:

Apply as soon as possible after withdrawing from a unit because of special circumstances.
If you’ve failed because of special circumstances, you can apply once your fail grade is finalised in WES.

You have up to 12 months to submit your application for a fee reversal:

If you withdraw after the census date, you’ll have until 12 months from the withdrawal date to apply.
If you failed the unit, you’ll have until 12 months from the last day of the teaching period to apply.

To be eligible for a WDN grade, you have up until 10 University working days after your unit’s results release date to apply. However, you can apply earlier in the teaching period if your fail grade is finalised before results release, or you withdraw during the Withdrawn Fail period.

How to apply

Apply for special circumstances

Supporting documents

Make sure you provide correct, accurate and genuine supporting documents as evidence of your special circumstances when you apply.

Late applications

Late applications may be accepted if it was not possible for you to meet the deadline, and you provide evidence to support this. You’ll still be required to pay the full fee amount up front for your current and previous teaching periods by the due date while you wait for your application to be assessed. Not having your documents ready is not a valid reason for a late application. You must still submit your application on time and tell us in the form when your supporting documents will be provided.
No supporting documents?

If you don’t have your supporting documents yet – don’t worry. Just submit your application before the deadline without your documents and send them to us as soon as you’re able (by return email). Do not, under any circumstances, submit forged, altered or falsified documents.

Outcome

We’ll assess your application and email you with the outcome.

Fee reversal
WDN grade

If your application is approved and you paid up front, any fees you paid up front will be credited to the next teaching period. If you don’t want to keep the credit, you can submit a refund request.

If your application is approved and you have a HELP-loan, your HELP debt will be removed. We'll contact the ATO to have your debt removed – you won't need to do anything.

Any Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) that has been paid or deferred to SA-HELP cannot be credited or refunded, even if a special circumstances application is approved.

If you are eligible for a WDN grade, your transcript will be updated and your previous grade for the unit will be removed from your Grade Point Average (GPA) and Weighted Average Mark (WAM), and won’t be included in academic progress processes.

Appeals

If we don't approve your application, you can request a review. See the complaints and review page for more information.

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