Compelling and Compassionate Circumstances
If you hold a student visa, you may need to make adjustments to your enrolment due to compelling and compassionate circumstances.
To confirm whether your situation is considered 'compelling and compassionate circumstances' for University purposes, please read through the below information.
Examples of compelling and compassionate circumstances include but are not limited to:
| Circumstances | Example supporting documentation |
| Severe medical conditions (physical and mental health) or injury | Medical certificate or GP letter clearly outlining the period you were affected by illness/injury (you do not need to go into detail about your illness/injury); completed Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment (MACA) forms. See below for further information about the information required in supporting documents for medical conditions. |
| Bereavement of close family members, such as parents or grandparents | Where possible, a death certificate should be provided. |
| Major political upheaval or natural disaster in your home country requiring emergency travel, which has impacted your studies | Copies of plane tickets for your flights home; letter from your Counsellor |
| Critical situations within your family | Documents relating to the critical situation; letter from your Counsellor |
| Victims of crime or domestic violence | Police reports, hospital reports; letter from your Counsellor |
| Military service in your home country | Military service notice from home country |
| Course structural reasons (e.g. a core course is not available in a study period) | Correspondence with Faculty Program Advisors; approved Study Plan. |
| Maternity leave (6 months) | Medical certificate |
Examples of situations that are not considered compelling and compassionate circumstances:
- Making more time for a part-time job
- Failing a course that is not mandatory for your program
- Timetable clashes
- Wanting to under-enrol to improve your grades
- Wanting to under-enrol to save money
- Having trouble with English
- To undertake an internship
- Wanting additional time to finalise your thesis
Still unsure?
You can discuss your situation further with an International Student Advisor to determine whether it constitutes compelling and compassionate circumstances.
If you have a medical condition necessitating a change to your enrolment, you will need to provide a statement from your treating doctor. If it is due to other compassionate reasons, including family or personal circumstances, you can provide a statement issued by your Counsellor. Please ensure your supporting documentation includes the following information:
Date of assessment of the medical condition and compassionate circumstances;
- Confirmation that your study ability has been significantly impacted by your health condition or current circumstances;
- A recommendation or support for you to either take a leave of absence or reduce your enrolment load for a particular study period. If a load reduction is required, please indicate the recommended load, e.g. 75% or 50%;
- The date range or timeframe required for your adjusted study arrangement, e.g. “for Semester 2, 2022”.
- Please note the supporting statement does not need to include specific details about your medical condition or compassionate circumstances. Instead, it needs to confirm that these circumstances have significantly impacted your ability to study.
- All supporting documentation submitted as part of a compassionate/compelling circumstances application must be translated into English or (if in another language). The translation must be conducted by a NAATI-accredited translator.