Deferral of Enrollment Policy

At Saint Michael’s College we are asked on occasion if a student may postpone enrollment. There are a variety of reasons that students make such requests ranging from enrollment at a prep school for a postgraduate year, enrollment in a gap year program, athletic training, employment, military service, addressing personal or family health challenges, and attending to other personal needs. Enrollment at another college or university for 12 or more academic credits after graduating high school makes a student ineligible for deferral and that student would need to re-apply as a transfer candidate.

Types of Deferral

Before placing an enrollment deposit, an accepted student may request to defer admission for up to one year. This means that the student withdraws from the current application round and requests consideration for admission in a future application round one semester or one academic year later. To reactivate the application, the student would need to complete and submit a simple Reactivation Form for the desired future semester (meeting application deadline requirements). In addition to the application reactivation form, the student must submit a final high school transcript and, if applicable, transcript(s) from any post-graduate secondary or college level academic work. Barring any decline in academic readiness after deferring admission, in all likelihood, the student’s status as an admitted student will be reinstated upon receipt of the Reactivation Form and review of supporting materials.

After placing an enrollment deposit, an enrolling student may request to defer enrollment for up to one year. This means that the student withdraws after deposit from the current application round. Students who defer enrollment commit to attending Saint Michael’s College one semester or one year later and the expectation is that they will not submit a double deposit and will not be applying to other colleges. Please note that the enrollment deposit is non-refundable but is also applied toward tuition when the student enrolls at Saint Michael’s College.

Students who defer their enrollment beyond one year forfeit their deposit and must formally reapply for admission.

Deadlines

With the exception of personal or family health emergencies, all deferral requests must be received by June 15 prior to the fall start term.

Implications on Financial Aid and Student Type

Students who defer admission or enrollment and do not take any university-level classes will not see a change in merit awards, however full-tuition scholarships are only valid for the entry term for which they were offered.

All students who defer admission or defer enrollment must submit a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid during the following academic year to be considered for need-based financial aid.

In order to be considered for admission, students with more than 12 academic credits earned after high school graduation would need to apply for admission as a transfer student and would be awarded merit and need-based financial aid based on the transfer aid policies set by the Office of Student Financial Services.