Fee reversal and Withdrawn grade (special circumstances)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
Your grade changed to Withdrawn (WDN) (non-fail grade)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.

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. Exception applies as set out in the Assessment Procedure.

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.

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 College 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

Submitting the Fee Reversal and Withdrawn (WDN) Grade Application Form

Supporting documents

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

Outcome

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

Fee reversal
WDN grade

Appeals

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

Monash College