The UWM Graduate School’s Academic Leave of Absence (ALA) policy allows graduate students to suspend pursuit of their degree goals temporarily in order to take care of certain life events. The policy may be most useful for dissertators subject to the continuous registration requirement, but it can stop the clock on time limit to degree for all students in doctoral, master’s, and certificate programs. The main goal of the ALA policy is to facilitate retention to graduation, without unduly prolonging time to degree.
ALA is not a form of paid leave from an assistantship, nor does it guarantee the resumption of an assistantship after the leave is over. Students planning to take ALA should discuss with their programs whether their funded assistantship will continue after their return. Programs are strongly encouraged to pause the clock on any time limits related to long-term commitments for assistantship funding while students are on ALA.
For more information, please review the full Academic Leave of Absence Accommodation for Graduate Students.
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