On-Leave Status

Students in good standing who desire to take a quarter or quarters off from their program of study without having to go through the reinstatement process must apply for on-leave status for each quarter they do not register. For complete details on eligibility and the procedure for requesting leave, see the UW Graduate School's website on Graduate On-Leave Status.

On-Leave Checklist

  • Complete the Graduate School processes linked above.
  • Email your faculty advisor to let them know of your plans.
  • Email your faculty's grant manager to confirm that they are aware of your plan to not work as an RA for the period of leave.
  • Email payroll@cs with the expected dates of your leave and your intent to not work for your period of leave. Respond to their inquiries.
  • Email grad-advising@cs and let us know you've completed the check list!
  • Don't work when you're on leave. You're not being paid.

Maintaining GAIP During Leave

You are entitled to continued GAIP coverage under Article 17 of your union contract. There are two ways to obtain continued health care coverage during your leave:

If you are taking both an academic leave as well as a leave from your employment for the entire quarter:

  1. Request leave from the UW Graduate School using the MyGrad Program.

  2. Submit a copy of your Graduate Leave Approval Confirmation along with your GAIP petition for self pay to the UW benefits office (uwgaip@uw.edu) which you will receive after your leave request is approved and you have paid the fee.

If you are not taking an academic leave and do not plan to take an entire quarter away from your employment:

  1. Send grad-advising@cs the following information:

    • Your employee ID number (EID) from Workday

    • The dates for which you intend to take leave.

    • Your employment status (RA, TA, fellowship) for the period of time you are taking leave.

  2. The Graduate Advising team will send an email to the benefits office approving of your leave of absence from employment outside of the quarterly schedule.

In either case, you may qualify for Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) through the state of Washington. You apply for this separately through the Employment Security Department of Washington State.

It’s important to take one of these steps as soon as you’re aware of your plans to allow enough time for the paperwork to be processed. Email the grad advising team if you have any questions.