Withdrawing from your studies | University of Westminster, London

If you withdraw from your studies, you’ll be leaving your course completely with no intention of returning.

When you withdraw, you’ll no longer be considered a student. If you decide you would like to study with us again, you’ll be required to complete the admissions process from scratch.

You should consider:

If your decision will have an impact on the Student Finance England (SFE) funding available for your current course or any future course
Whether the date you make a change to your studies will impact the tuition fees you owe or any refund you may be entitled to. See the ‘fee liability’ section below for more information
Whether SFE will consider you have been overpaid the Maintenance Loan if you withdraw mid term
Whether you will be liable to continue to pay for your accommodation or halls of residence. You may have signed a contract for a set period and if you decide to leave, you may still be liable to pay rent for the remainder of the contract
How you will financially support yourself while not attending your course

Before you withdraw, the University has different support teams in place that might be able to help you:

If you're struggling with your work and need academic advice, contact your Personal Tutor or Course Leader or your Registry Office via [email protected]
If you’ve been unable to submit coursework or attend exams due to illness, our mitigating circumstances process exists to ensure that you are not disadvantaged in your studies by serious, unforeseen and unpreventable circumstances
If you’re having personal difficulties and you’d like emotional support, consider making an appointment with our counsellors to talk about the issues in confidence
If your problems relate to your finances, funding or immigration status, speak to our Student Advisers
If you have an ongoing health issue/disability/Specific Learning Difficulty that's affecting your studies, register with our Disability Learning Support team and find out whether you are entitled to any individual assessment arrangements

How to withdraw

To withdraw from your studies, you must submit a Withdrawal of Studies form. Find out more about the university process of Withdrawing from your studies and download the Withdrawal of Studies form on our Interrupting or withdrawing from studies page.

Fee liability

It's important that you check what fees you are liable to pay before submitting your Withdrawal of Studies form. The fees you pay back depend on when you leave the course during the academic year.

The University also has a 14-day cooling off period before the start of teaching week three when you can withdraw without charge.

If you withdraw during the academic year, you'll be liable for tuition fees for all or part of that year. How much you are charged depends on when you leave the course:

during term one – 25% of the annual fee
during term two – 50% of the annual fee
during term three – 100% of the annual fee

Please contact the University’s Credit Control team for more detailed information about your personal fee liability at [email protected].

The University will allow you to withdraw without charge during the 14-day cooling off period:

If you're a new student and you’ve enrolled on a course, your cooling off period is the 14 days from the date you accepted our offer
If you're a continuing student, your cooling off period is from the start of the new academic year (re-enrolment) until midnight on the day before the start of teaching week three

If you're a new student and you accept our offer less than 14 days before the start of teaching week three, you're still eligible for the 14-day cooling off period, even where this extends beyond the start of teaching week three. This is subject to the University receiving formal written notification from you by this deadline, using the Withdrawal from Studies form.

Full details of fee liability dates and refund policy can be found in the University’s Student Fees and Other Charges Policy.

If you have questions about your personal fee liability following your withdrawal, email the Credit Control team on [email protected].

Can I leave with a qualification?

Depending on the course you’ve studied and what stage you’ve reached, you may be eligible to receive an exit or intermediate award if you withdraw before you complete your course. You may discuss this issue with your Registry Office by emailing [email protected].

Student Finance England funding implications

If you receive funding from Student Finance England (SFE), withdrawing from your studies will affect your SFE funding and entitlement.

Read more about how withdrawing affects the different student loans you may receive below.

Once you submit your withdrawal from studies form, your Registry Office will notify SFE of your withdrawal through a Change of Circumstance. You must also notify SFE that you are withdrawing from your course so that they can revise your funding entitlement and cancel any further payments of your Tuition Fee Loan.

If you withdraw partway through the academic year, SFE will reassess your funding entitlement for the year and you may be asked to repay some of the Maintenance Loan and/or any grants you've received, eg Parents’ Learning Allowance, Adult Dependents Grant or Childcare Grant.

Any overpayment of your Maintenance Loan will be calculated from the day you withdraw from the course. You won’t be asked to repay any funding received for any period of study until the April following your withdrawal and when you reach the relevant repayment threshold.

If you’re withdrawing from your course to start another degree course at another university, any overpayments may affect your entitlement to a Maintenance Loan or grants for your new course. See further information on transferring below.

As with undergraduate courses, when a postgraduate student withdraws from their course, all future payments of Postgraduate Master’s Loan will be cancelled. Any overpayment of your Master’s Loan will be calculated by reassessing the maximum loan available.

You should therefore ensure you submit your Withdrawal from Studies form to your Registry Office to ensure that the next payment of your Master's Loan is not released and minimise any overpayment to the university or Student Finance. It’s also good practice to contact SFE yourself to let them know you have withdrawn. You’re entitled to keep any payments of loan you received up until you withdraw. If you receive a loan payment after your withdrawal date, this will be treated by SFE as an overpayment and you will be asked to return this payment.

You’ll be ineligible for another Master’s Loan (even where you did not receive full payment of your loan) unless you can prove that you did not complete the course due to a compelling personal reason (CPR), such as illness, bereavement or personal difficulties. You should discuss your case with Student Advice if you think this applies to you.

Overpayments

When SFE receive confirmation from your Registry that you have withdrawn from your course, they’ll reassess your entitlement to Student Finance. Any loans or grants paid to you during a period when you’re no longer studying or attending your course will be reassessed. This may result in an overpayment. This is because you're only entitled to receive student finance when you are fully enrolled and attending your course. SFE will ask for the overpayment to be repaid to them and will decide on the method of recovery. You’ll need to discuss the repayment options with SFE.

It's important to note if you decide to start a new degree course in the future and you have not repaid any overpaid loan or grant amounts, SFE can deduct the overpayment from your new SFE funding entitlement. You should discuss the repayment options with SFE.

Find out more about overpayment recovery on the gov.uk website.

For more detailed information and advice about the effect on your funding and options available, contact Student Advice.

Previous study and SFE funding

Previous study on a degree level course undertaken in the UK or any other country affects SFE funding. Attendance on Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) also counts as previous study for SFE purposes.

Your attendance on your course or any previous degree level course will reduce your entitlement to receive a Tuition Fee Loan, Maintenance Loan and Special Support grant for a future degree-level course, even if you only attended for one day and even if you did not apply for or receive any SFE funding. Visit the previous study page for more detailed information.

Repaying your student loan

You’ll only repay your student loan when your income is over the threshold amount for your repayment plan. The threshold amounts change on 6 April every year.

The earliest you’ll start repaying is:

the April after you leave your course
the April four years after the course started if your course is longer than four years, for example if you’re studying part-time or doing a Postgraduate Doctoral course
April 2026 if you’re on Plan 5

Your repayments automatically stop if either:

you stop working
your income goes below the threshold

Read more about repaying your student loan on the gov.uk website.

Transferring to another course or university

If you’re transferring to another university, you must complete the Withdrawal from Studies form and state that you’re transferring to a new institution. They’ll need to confirm to SFE that they accept you as a transfer student.

If you’re transferring to another course at Westminster, you must complete the Internal Transfer form. The University will notify SFE of your change in circumstances, but we recommend you also notify them that you are transferring.

If you stop attending your current course part way through the year, your SFE funding should also stop and you won’t be entitled to any further payments until you resume studies. The amount of student Maintenance Loan (and grants, if you receive these) you’re entitled to receive for the year will be recalculated and can sometime result in an overpayment.

Regardless of whether you are treated as a new or continuing student, any years or part years you have studied as a full-time degree student will reduce the funding available to you for your new full-time course.

Social security benefits and Council Tax

If eligible, you may be able to claim social security benefits from your official withdrawal date. Any claim will be assessed under the general benefit eligibility rules. Some of your student finance may reduce your benefit entitlement. If you’re unsure about your eligibility for benefits, contact Student Advice about your individual circumstance.

As you’ll no longer be registered as a student, you’ll no longer be exempt from paying Council Tax. If you’re liable to pay Council Tax where you live, you may be entitled to apply for help towards paying this from your local council. Support varies depending on where you live. Find out more about council tax on the gov.uk website.

Student visa implications

Seek urgent advice to discuss visa implications from Student Advice before you withdraw.

If you withdraw from Westminster before completing your course, the University’s Visa Compliance team has a duty to notify UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). This is part of our responsibilities as a Sponsor.