Students who are not receiving Federal Student Aid (FSA) may request to be placed in a Program Hold status when their professional or personal obligations will cause them to be unable to take courses for up to 24 months.  Students who are in a Program Hold status will be reported as “withdrawn” for Department of Education tracking purposes, but will remain in an active, non-enrolled status in the APUS student database.  These students will not have to reapply for admission to APUS if they resume taking classes prior to the expiration of their Program Hold status, and their academic program requirements will remain as specified in the APUS catalog in effect at the time they were placed on Program Hold. Periods of Program Hold are counted in the calculation of time spent towards degree completion.

The following examples are situations that could qualify for approval of Program Hold status:

1. Military Deployment
2. Other professional commitment, such as a member of FEMA deploying to New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina
3. Medical (surgery with long-term recovery, for example)
4. Personal/Family Issues (divorce, complicated relocation, adoption of a foreign child, etc.) 

To request Program Hold status, students will submit a Program Hold request form to the Registrar, and include rationale for the request along with a tentative date of return.   Students who are unable to submit the form electronically may do so in hard copy via regular mail or FAX. The effective date of the Program Hold period, will be the date the request was submitted by the student. Students must not be enrolled in classes or have a grade of “incomplete” at the time their Program Hold request is submitted.  Periods of Program Hold must be between 6 and 24 months.  Students who have outstanding Federal student loans may be required to repay the loans while in an Program Hold status, and should contact the loan holder to determine if they can apply for a deferment or forbearance on the loans.

To resume taking classes, students will submit a request to the Registrar prior to the expiration date of their Program Hold period, notifying APUS of their intent to register for classes.  The Registrar will ensure their status is changed from Program Hold to allow them to register for classes.  Students who do not resume taking classes prior to the expiration of their Program Hold period will be placed into an inactive, non-enrolled status.  Students who are in an inactive, non-enrolled status must reapply for admission if they desire to resume taking classes, and their academic program requirements will be as specified in the APUS catalog in effect at the time of their readmission. This could result in a loss of credit upon readmission.