FAQs for Withdrawn or Discontinued students

Withdrawn students have either chosen to leave, or take a break from, study or who have been deemed to have withdrawn by Registry because they are not actively engaging with their degree or have not met the minimum progression requirements to continue with the next level of their degree.

You can register for reassessment for a course even if you are not registered as a student as long as you have a valid Class Certificate for that course.

Information on how to apply for reassessment can be found at Reassessment.   

Courses taught in the first term are examined in December and during the summer resit diet.  Courses taught in the second term are examined, along with the small number of full-year courses, in May and during the summer resit diet each year.   

You can find out what term your course was taught in from the Course Catalogue.

A Class Certificate means that you were registered on a course and can take assessment in that course.   The class certificate last for the academic year in which you were registered on the course, and the academic year immediately following.  

Students holding a valid Class Certificate are permitted a total of three opportunities of assessment within this period – usually the original exam/assessment and two attempts at reassessment.   After this point the class certificate expires.  You can apply for an extension to the class certificate if you still need to take reassessment, see below.  

Students who have lost a class certificate due to non-engagement on the course are given a C7.  This means you have not met the learning outcomes and have been withdrawn from the course.   This means you cannot apply for assessment or class certificate extension.

To apply for a class certificate extension, you will need to email your Registry Officer outlining the reasons you wish to take reassessment on the course.  The Registry Officer will consult with the Student Progress Convenor (SPC) on your behalf and let you know the outcome of your request.   A link to your Registry Officer email addresses are found at Study Spaces, Support & Resources under the Registry Officers tab.

We understand that you might still want to access University resources while you are taking a break from study.  This is referred to as Associate Student Status.   If you withdraw part way through an academic year you will be regarded as an Associate Student for the rest of that academic year.    

More information on Associate Student status and how to apply can be found on the Changes to Studies page.

If your studies are discontinued, or you are regarded as having withdrawn, and you hold a Student Visa the University must report to the Home Office that you are no longer a student at the University. You should make arrangements to leave the UK as your visa is only valid whilst you are a full-time student at the University.   

If you apply for readmission in the future you will have to apply to the University for sponsorship of a new student visa, which may not always be possible. You should contact an International Student Adviser for advice at least 3 months in advance of a new start date.

Before you submit your suspension of studies or withdrawal form, please reach out to usaloans@abdn.ac.uk to discuss how this will impact your loans and to receive guidance on completing your exit counselling (if required). The US loans team will confirm whether you have any “unearned” funds that need to be returned or advise you of the “safe date” by which you will have “earned” all the funds you have received.  

More information can be found on the US Loans webpages.

If you receive tuition fee support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) or from a Local Education Authority (LEA) the University will write to your sponsor or to the Student Loans Company (SLC), to confirm your position.  If you plan to take resits, you should write to your sponsor and the SLC indicating that you hope to return to full-time study in the future.    

If you are sponsored by SAAS remember that you must re-apply for tuition fee support each academic year.

Depending on how many credits you achieved while studying you might be eligible to receive an award or degree even if you are not returning to complete your studies. For a list of the qualifications we offer and the minimum credits required for each, please visit the Undergraduate Degree Classification. 

The University does not award qualifications automatically and you would need to apply to graduate.

You can apply to return to study on the same degree or to a different degree on a full, or part time, basis.  

To apply you need to complete and return a readmission application form. More information on the process, and the form are available on the Applying for Readmission page. 

Please note that a student who has been discontinued will normally be required to have made up any missing credit before readmitting to study but can apply to readmit at any time.   

If you have been discontinued, you can still apply to register for individual courses. Registering for individual courses forms part of our Individual Subject Study programme.  This is a flexible learning programme on which you would pay tuition fees for each individual course, and study part-time. 

If you have a query or a difficulty – please do not hesitate to ask somebody at the University for assistance. Remember, it’s never too late to ask for help.   

The Student Advice and Support Office gives impartial and confidential advice and support on a range of issues, including finance, disability information and more.   

You can also contact your Registry Officer by calling 01224 273505 or by email