Defer your offer

The University allows you to defer your course for up to 12 months, but in certain cases (e.g. financial difficulties, compulsory military service) you can apply to extend this to 24 months. There’s no cost to defer and you won’t be charged any fees while you’re on deferment.

If you defer your offer, you’re guaranteed your place – you’re just choosing to delay starting your course. However, we may not approve other study you complete while on deferment, or give you credit for it.

You can't defer:

  • enrolments in single units
  • internal course transfer places
  • cross-institutional enrolments at Monash
  • enhancement study enrolments.

You may not be able to defer some courses, so it’s a good idea to submit an online enquiry (through our virtual assistant) to get some free advice and support before you apply. Not all scholarships can be deferred. If you’re a scholarship holder, you should also check the conditions before you apply for deferment.

When to apply

You need to apply to defer before the enrolment date in your offer letter (you won't be able to defer once the offer lapses). If you're not sure yet, then you should accept your offer (by enrolling in units) – this will give you until 11.59pm on the census date (Melbourne time) to apply to defer.

Postgraduate law students

If you’re already enrolled, you must defer your offer before the earliest Withdrawn Early end date of your units. See discontinuation dates for postgraduate law students.

How to apply

Domestic coursework students

If you want to defer your course, you’ll need to:

  1. Create your Monash account.
  2. Submit an Application to Defer. It’s best to apply before enrolling in units (but we’ll still process your application if you’ve already enrolled).

We’ll get back to you within two University working days to discuss your request and take you through the process.

International coursework students

To defer your course, follow the steps in defer your studies.

Research students

You should contact the Monash Graduate Research Office for start dates and deferral information.

After the census date

You won’t be able to defer your course after 11.59pm (Melbourne time) on the census date, so if you want to start your studies later on, you need to apply for intermission. Just keep in mind that if you withdraw from units after the census date, you may incur financial and academic penalties. See intermission (study leave) for more information.

Next steps

If you’ve requested to defer your course, we’ll email your Monash account with more information (including services and assistance available during your deferment), so make sure you check your account regularly for updates.

Your faculty will contact you at least three months before you return to study to confirm your offer for the following semester. This letter will tell you how to enrol or extend your deferment.

Enrolling after a deferral

We’ll contact you to enrol, so keep your postal address up-to-date in WES. You’ll then need to follow the steps to enrol.

If you want to return early, contact Monash Connect to check whether you can enrol mid-year.

Relevant policy

17. Deferring commencement in a course – Admission to Coursework Courses and Units Procedure (pdf)

We're making some changes...

Soon all online enquiries will be made through our virtual assistant. You can get in early and try our virtual assistant right now.

You may have a question our virtual assistant can answer immediately.

If you're following up on an enquiry you submitted earlier, you can also do this in our virtual assistant.


If you want to send an attachment, you’ll need to make your enquiry using our virtual assistant.