Refund of debt in special circumstances for international students

Applications for Refund of debt in special circumstances must meet the following criteria:

• Application is received within 12 months from the date of withdrawal or the end of the study period, whichever date is earlier.
• Your special circumstances must be beyond your control, and something for which you are not responsible, or caused by your action or inaction and be unusual, abnormal or uncommon for you during the applicable study period.
• Your special circumstances did not make their full impact on you until on, or after, the census date.
• Your special circumstances made it impracticable for you to complete the requirements for the unit/s during the study period.
• You provide supporting documentation to confirm your personal statement. Do not submit an application without supporting documentation.

To have your application approved, it must meet all of the above criteria. Applications are assessed based on the supporting documentation provided, so you should ensure you provide the most relevant and informative documents to support your application. We will not request further documentation from you and will not source external documents on your behalf.

You are not eligible to apply for Remission of debt in special circumstances for a unit, if you have a substantiated academic misconduct outcome which led you to fail the unit, as this is considered to be within your control. If you have a pending Academic misconduct review meeting, we recommend you wait for the outcome of that hearing before you apply.

All medical documents, letters or certificates provided with your application will be confirmed directly with the medical practice or health care professional. We recommend you inform your healthcare professional of this when requesting documentation. Additionally, do not submit a Special consideration in assessment form, as this form is intended for use in the Special consideration process only.

Any student who is found to have submitted a false statement or supporting documentation will be referred to the Student Conduct team.

You may receive a refund if:

• you submitted your application for refund of debt in special circumstances within the 12 month application time limit*
• you experienced special circumstances outside your control and
• these special circumstances impacted your studies on, or after the census date, and
• these special circumstances made it impracticable for you to successfully complete the requirements of your unit/s of study.

You are not eligible to apply for refund of debt in special circumstances if you have a proven academic misconduct outcome, as this is considered to be within your control. If you have a pending academic misconduct hearing, you will need to wait for the outcome of that hearing, before you apply.

^{*Applications must be submitted within 12 months of the end of the study period, the date or withdrawal of the date of the final assessment for the study period (e.g supplementary examinations). Applications for study periods completed more than 12 months prior will not be accepted.}

To meet the special circumstance criteria, your circumstance must be unusual, uncommon or abnormal for you and be beyond your control. The full impact on your studies must occur on or after the census date.

Determination of special circumstances is based largely on the information and documentation provided in your application. Assumptions about your special circumstances will not be made by the assessor. The University has no obligation to seek additional supporting information for persons (e.g. doctors) beyond verifying the authenticity of a document.

If your special circumstance is known to you before census date (a pre-existing condition), your application must demonstrate the date when your circumstance changed/escalated and the impact it had on your ability to complete your studies.

If you experienced difficulty discontinuing from a unit or your course, please do not apply for Refund of debt in special circumstances. Please contact Student Central or make an inquiry to student complaints to have your situation investigated.

Medical circumstances

Your medical circumstance must have occurred or changed/escalated (for ongoing circumstances) after census date, to such an extent that you were unable to continue studying.

Pregnancy or child birth without complications is not considered a special circumstance for refund of debt purposes. In addition, if it is not you who gave birth or experienced the pregnancy related complications you will need to obtain detailed medical letter explaining how your studies were impacted by this circumstance.

If you apply based on medical reasons you must provide medical documents.

All medical documents, letters or certificates provided with your application may be verified directly with the medical practice or health care professional. We recommend you inform your healthcare professional of this when requesting documentation.

Family/personal circumstances

You family or personal circumstances must have occurred or changed/escalated (for ongoing circumstances) after census date to such an extent that you were unable to continue studying.

If you apply based on family or personal reasons you must provide independent supporting documents, for example a carer certificate.

Examples include: death or severe medical problems within your family or unforeseen natural disasters. If your family or personal circumstances is known to you before the census date, for example family care responsibilities, you will need to demonstrate an unplanned escalation in your care responsibilities.

Employment related circumstances

Your employment related circumstances must have occurred after the census date to such an extent that you were unable to continue studying. Please note, choosing to increase hours of work or to undertake additional employment is not considered beyond a student's control.

If you apply based on employment reasons you must provide a letter from your employer.

Examples include: unplanned changes to your employment conditions or your employer increases your hours or expectation on you after census date and these changes have a significant effect on your ability to study.

Ongoing or pre-existing circumstances

If you have pre-existing or ongoing circumstances, your application needs to clearly demonstrate how your circumstances changed after the census date. A change or escalation must have occurred after the census date.

Course related circumstances

Refund of debt in special circumstances does not apply to course related circumstances, please contact your faculty. If you were unhappy with your mode of studying, please contact Student Central.

If you did not follow advice from the University, prior to census date, regarding withdrawal or intermission from your studies, and you later withdraw after the census date, this does not meet the criteria as it is not considered beyond your control.

Academic misconduct is not considered a special circumstance.

What documentation do I need to support my application?

Your application will be assessed based on the documents provided. Therefore, you should ensure you provide the most relevant and informative documents to support your application. We will not request further documentation from you and will not source documents on your behalf.

• Your application must include independent documentation to support your personal statement/s. All personal statements must have supporting documents. This means,
  • if you apply based on medical reasons, you must provide medical letters, specifically written by your treating healthcare professional for the purposes of refund of debt in special circumstances
  • if you apply based on employment reasons, you must provide a letter from your employer. This must be on company letterhead, dated, signed and contain the contact details of the signatory
  • if you apply based on family/personal reasons (not covered by medical or employment reasons) you must provide documents from an independent source who can confirm your circumstances.
• Supporting documentation must be:
  • date-based - that is include the date your circumstances first occurred or escalated and state the length of time you were impacted
  • relevant to the study period, census date and/or exam period
  • detail the special circumstance/s which occurred
  • explain the impact they had on your ability to complete your studies
  • signed by the author and be on official letterhead.
• If you reference an assessment extension or special consideration in your personal statement, you must provide copies of emails from Deakin confirming the original due date and the new due date for assessments and/or examinations. Your application will be considered incomplete if you do not provide these documents.

Medical documents

All medical documentation must be in the form of a letter from your healthcare professional who saw you during the relevant study period. If you provide medical documentation you should inform your healthcare professional that a representative of Deakin University may contact them to verify the document. Medical documents must:

• confirm the date of appointments attended during the study period
• include information from a medical professional who saw you at the time
• confirm the date your circumstances first occurred or escalated
• confirm the dates/length of time you were impacted
• confirm an impact on your studies.

If your medical documents do not state the date your circumstances change and confirm the dates the health professional saw you during the trimester, your application may not be successful. Medical documents must provide date based information relevant to the study period.

Do not provide copies of referral letters, test referrals, test results, medication scripts, hospital admission or discharge paperwork. Your documents must be in the form of a letter written by your treating healthcare provider specifically for refund of debt in special circumstances.

Employment documents

If your application is based on employment reasons please provide a letter from your employer stating

• the date your employment conditions were changed
• the length of time the changes were in place for
• what changes were made
• that these changes were made by your employer.

Employment letters must be on letterhead and include the contact details of the writer.

Personal/family documents

The documents you provide will depend on your circumstances. Please ensure you provide independent documents that confirm your circumstances impacted your studies after the relevant census date. Letters from family and friends are notconsidered support documents, therefore you must provide other independent documents to support your personal statement.

If your application is based on carer duties, you must provide a carer certificate or other independent document to confirm the details of your carer duties. Please note, letters from friends of family members are not considered independent.

What if my documents are not in English?

If your documents are not in English, you will need to provide official, certified translations. In Australia, you must use translators accredited by the National Accreditation Authority of Translators and Interpreters.

What file types should I provide?

Acceptable files include, PDF, ZIP and JPEG. Please convert Word files to one of these types before submitting your application. Clear photos of documents are accepted.

What if my circumstances are ongoing?

If you have pre-existing circumstances your documentation needs to clearly demonstrate how your circumstances changed after the census date. If no change or escalation occurs remission is not available to you.

What other documents can I provide to support my application?

You may wish to include the following documents to support your personal, medical and/or employment documents:

• a police report
• a death certificate
• legal documents
• correspondence with your faculty, unit chair or lecturer. We may contact the faculty for more information (emails are considered a support document, therefore you must provide other independent documents to support your application).

The following documents are not accepted for remission applications on their own, other documentation must also be provided:

• statutory declarations or letters from family members are not considered independent
• documentation dated outside the relevant study period – you must provide documents relevant to the study period
• travel itineraries – you must provide travel documents that show when your travel was booked and the dates of travel
• hospital admission statements – you must provide a letter from a health professional
• pharmacy statement or prescription
• medical documents not accompanied by a letter from your medical provider
• pathology report
• Special consideration medical form – this is for special consideration only. You must provide a letter from your doctor explaining your circumstances and supporting your personal statement.

Any student who is found to have submitted a false statement or supporting documentation will be referred to the Faculty Student Misconduct Committee.

If your application is unsuccessful, you can request an internal review of the decision. You must submit a formal request using the online form link provided in your outcome letter. Make sure to submit your review request within 28 days of receiving your outcome. The internal review will be undertaken by a staff member who occupies a position senior to that of the original decision-maker and was not involved in the initial decision.

You should receive an outcome of your request for an internal review within 45 days. If you do not receive an outcome within this timeframe, you can assume the reviewer has confirmed the original decision and you can apply for an external review via the Ombudsman.