Personal Or Medical Leave Of Absence

(1) A student may be granted a medical or personal leave of absence from attendance at an eligible postsecondary institution, which may include failure to enroll within sixteen (16) months of graduation, a break in continuous enrollment, or unapproved changes of enrollment from full-time to part-time or part-time to less than part-time, and receive or resume receiving an award upon resumption of the student’s attendance at an eligible postsecondary institution if all other applicable eligibility criteria are met. Each eligible postsecondary institution shall adopt procedures for considering student requests for leaves of absence. Allowable medical or personal reasons include, but are not limited to, illness of the student, illness or death of an immediate family member, pregnancy, extreme financial hardship of the student or student’s immediate family, fulfillment of a religious commitment encouraged of members of that faith, fulfillment of required military service, a student’s participation in an internship or co-op program that is required or encouraged as part of the academic program in which the student is enrolled, or other extraordinary circumstances beyond the student’s control where attendance by the student creates a substantial hardship. In the event an institution denies a student’s request for a medical or personal leave of absence, the student may appeal the decision in accordance with these rules.