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Withdrawing from your studies

If for any reason you decide to withdraw from your course, we hope you will talk to us first. Students choose to withdraw for a wide range of reasons and it may be that we will be able to make arrangements to help you complete your course.

Financial burdens

If you are a 'home' student studying a Certificate of Higher Education, foundation or undergraduate degree, and have not studied at that level before, you may be eligible for Government Financial Support. Please visit our Student Financial Support pages for more information or contact the Student Financial Support Office to make an appointment with one of our advisors.

We also have a limited amount of bursaries that may be able to help towards educational related costs. Visit our Student Financial Support pages for more information.

If you are not eligible for any of our bursaries or government financial support and are struggling to pay your fees, we may be able to offer you alternative instalment payment arrangements. Please contact our Fees Office to discuss making alternative arrangements to pay your fees.

Coping with academic demands

We offer a range of academic development workshops and one-to-one sessions throughout the year; please visit our learning support and skills training pages and online academic skills tutorials for more information. You can also speak to your personal tutor or course administrator for further study support advice.

Withdrawing from programme enrolments

If you decide to withdraw from your course before it's completed, you must do so via your My Birkbeck Profile.

  1. On the home page of your My Birkbeck Profile, click on the change link next to the enrolment you wish to withdraw from.
  2. Select the option to withdraw, enter the requested information and submit your request.
  3. You will receive confirmation by email that your request has been submitted, and subsequently when the request has been complete.

Withdrawing from modular enrolment modules

If you decide to withdraw from any of your modules before you have completed them, you must notify the College in writing.

Written notification (preferably by email) must be sent to your academic school or department. To find out whom you should address your letter to please contact your department administrator.

In your correspondence, you must include the following details:

  • Your full name and student number
  • The full title of the programme you are withdrawing from
  • How you paid for the course (including if you have applied for/received through PTG1/Government funding)
  • Your reason(s) for withdrawing
  • If you are also requesting a refund, a medical certificate is required, where applicable.

For all withdrawals

Please note that if you are requesting a refund, a medical certificate is required, where applicable.

Please refer to our refund policy below to check your eligibility. Please note that we only accept scanned pdf medical certificates with the medical practice and doctor’s name and signature clearly visible. We are unable to accept word documents. You will need to pay an administration fee.

The date of withdrawal for fees purposes will be the date of receipt of your written notice, unless your academic department has confirmed in writing an earlier last date of attendance.

View the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment PDF icon for information on our refund policy.