Here are some key things to note before you start the Temporary Withdrawal (TW) process:

1. We advise you speak with us as well as your Personal Tutor before making any decisions and make an appointment with the Money Support team to check your financial status. Once a TW has been approved, you cannot reverse the decision. However, it is a quick process to get approved once you've made your decision. 
2. Once you are on a TW you are technically not registered with the University for that time period. You cannot attend lectures, be a signatory or committee member for a club/society or have the same level of access to the University wider support services as usual. You are effectively 'pausing' your studies and therefore the University will not communicate with you as a regular student until needed. 
3. You can still reach out to your Personal Tutor, module leaders, the Centre of Wellbeing or us if you have any queries but these are case-by-case basis and in general, we would expect you to be away from the University. 
4. You do not need evidence if you decide to withdraw, but you can only do it during teaching periods in Semester 1 and 2, and similar to an EC it is for the present and future. If you are unsure please get in touch and we can advise. 
5. If you are wanting to withdraw but also want to include previous assessments and teaching which you have already completed, you may need to submit a Backdated Temporary Withdrawal aka Academic Appeal. We can guide you through this if needed as they are hard to get approved and need lots of evidence!
6. If you have an approved TW, you would essentially slot back into your studies once it has completed. The University would reach out to at this point to check that you wish to re-register and return to studies. This is when you can also ask us or your Personal Tutor any questions if you are unsure. 

To submit a TW (after you have spoken with your Personal Tutor and/or your Students' Union advisor first!) you go onto your Self-Service and under the Extenuating Circumstances Tab you should see an option to confirm you are submitting a Temporary Withdrawal. 

You will then need to complete the form stating the date you wish the TW to start and when you wish to return. Once the form is completed the University will then process the application and email you back with a confirmation. TW's are rarely rejected unless you are asking for a backdated version and need to do an Academic Appeal instead or similar. If your TW is rejected please get in touch and we can help!

Once you get approval the process will start straight away. This is the time we hope that you achieve what is needed during your break from the University, whether that be support, recovery or time away for a specific reason. 

If you are living in University accommodation you will need to move out (unless you have specific needs, please check with us if you're not sure) and from that point you would not be expected to attend any teaching and/or extra-curricular activities linked with the University. But, you would still have access to your University email account in order to maintain contact before returning.

You could still be liable for outstanding tuition fees for the time that you are temporarily withdrawn. It is important to check this before you submit your application. If you need any guidance about your particular situation then you can contact feesandfunding@surrey.ac.uk who can confirm for you. 

If you are currently receiving student finance payments, you would not receive these whilst on 
temporary withdrawal as you would not be needing to pay fees. These would resume when you 
returned to study, as you would then be incurring tuition fees again.

There may be some significant financial implications to temporary withdrawal so we would 
strongly suggest you contact the Money support Team via Student Money Support to discuss the 
potential financial implications of withdrawal, especially those who are funded by SFE (tuition and 
maintenance) or on a Visa with Surrey. 

If you are taking a temporary withdrawal mid-way through a SFE maintenance loan payment, you may be required to pay some money back to SFE – to then receive it again when you return to study.

If you are taking a temporary withdrawal before the tuition fee liability dates, then you may not 
have to pay anything. The image below shows the fee liability for various dates of 
withdrawal for UK/EU undergraduates, but please check the full details here. 

Tier 4 and International visa students

It is highly likely that if you take a temporary withdrawal then your Tier 4 visa will be curtailed, as you are no longer studying, and you may have to return home during your temporary withdrawal.

We would strongly advise you make a booking with the International Student Advice team to discuss any potential visa implications.  Please note that students on visas are not able to take a backdated withdrawal, as to do so would be in breach of UK Home Office regulations, unless you have evidence of ECs. We are happy to chat with you about this, but we are not able to give specific legal visa advice, so please do book in with the team above. 

If you do take a Temporary Withdrawal then you may need to reapply as follows:

If your Temporary Withdrawal is under 60 days:
The University will continue to maintain sponsorship of the Student Visa.             

If your Temporary Withdrawal is 60 days or longer: 
You will need to apply for a new visa to return. The university cannot maintain sponsorship where the Temporary Withdrawal is over 60 days, this will be reported to UKVI who will take steps to end the Student Visa. You will be notified of this and asked to leave the UK within 60 days.

Around 3-4 months before you are due to return, you need to contact the university at 
International Student Advice to request a new CAS letter which will be required to make a new visa 
application for returning to study.