Students who are taking time away from Earlham College for educational and/or personal goals may take a Leave of Absence or formally Withdraw. The first step in initiating a leave or a withdrawal is to contact the Registrar’s Office, who will assist in facilitating either process. At that time, students may obtain all necessary forms and discuss procedures for resuming enrollment at Earlham.
The following options are available to students who are considering taking time away from Earlham to serve educational and/or personal goals:
Leaves-of-Absence
Leave of Absence (LOA) is used when a student decides for personal, academic or financial reasons to leave the college for a semester. The leave should be requested during the summer or semester preceding the semester to be taken off. Students may request one-semester extensions up to a total of one year.
Applications for leaves within a semester will be considered through the last day to drop a class. Contact the Registrar’s Office to apply for an LOA. Students may request one semester extensions up to a total of one year. The College Refund Policy will apply to the semester in which the leave is taken within the first 10 days of an academic semester.
Medical Leave of Absence (MLOA): Students may apply for a MLOA from the College when a leave is necessitated by the student’s health. Students wishing to apply for a MLOA must contact the Student Life Office prior to the 12th week of the semester.
Withdrawals
Student Initiated: Earlham College is firmly committed to assisting students in exploring all alternatives to formally withdrawing from the College. All withdrawals should be requested during the summer or semester proceeding the semester in which the withdrawal would be effective.
Students seeking to withdraw within a semester must provide official notice of their plans to withdraw from Earlham College. The last day to withdraw from a class is the last day a student may withdraw for the semester. A transcript entry of “W” is recorded for each of the courses not yet recorded. Failure to complete withdrawal procedures during a semester or withdrawing from the College after the last day to withdraw from a class may result in failing grades in all courses.
A student who has withdrawn from Earlham College for any reason, including medical, is no longer enrolled. Consequently, as of the date of the withdrawal, such a student cannot continue to attend classes or complete work that was assigned in the term in which the withdrawal occurred, even if the deadline for such assignments was previously extended. A student who withdraws may at some time in the future decide to return to Earlham. The student will then need to re-apply for admission to Earlham College.
College Initiated: A student who is not making sufficient progress or demonstrates inability to pass following early semester reports of student academic progress any of their courses may be withdrawn from the College by the Registrar’s Office.
A student who is not making sufficient progress in all courses and will be unable to pass any of their courses, or who is suspended or dismissed for social violations will be withdrawn through the Student Life Office or the Registrar’s Office. The student will be required to vacate campus housing and leave the campus grounds. The student’s parent(s) will also be contacted. If the student intends to continue study at Earlham in the future, they will need to go through the process of readmission by contacting the Registrar’s office.