Stanford
Student Services

Withdrawal from Graduate or Undergraduate Programs

Degree-seeking students can permanently withdraw from one or all of their degree programs. Students can submit the necessary form(s) to permanently withdraw in the Student eForm Portal in Axess. 

Steps for Undergraduate Students 

  1. It is strongly recommended that you speak with your department first to fully understand the impacts of a permanent withdrawal from one or more programs. If you are an international student, it is also highly recommended to speak with Bechtel International Center to understand how a permanent withdrawal may impact your status.
  2. Submit a Permanently Withdraw from an Undergraduate Degree Program form, found in the Student eForms Portal in Axess.
  3. Once you submit your form, it will need to be approved by all of your departments. Your withdrawal will be entered by the Registrar's Office, with the effective date being the last date of attendance you specified on your form. 

Steps for Graduate Students

  1. It is strongly recommended that you speak with your department first to fully understand the impacts of a permanent withdrawal from one or more programs. If you are an international student, it is also highly recommended to speak with Bechtel International Center to understand how a permanent withdrawal may impact your status.
  2. Submit a Permanently Withdraw from a Graduate Degree Program form, found in the Student eForms Portal in Axess.
  3. Once you submit your form, it will need to be approved by all of your departments. Your withdrawal will be entered by the Registrar's Office, with the effective date being the last date of attendance you specified on your form.
    • Note: In certain circumstances, graduate student may discontinue a program via Grad Program Authorization petition. However, grad auth petitions will always be effective at the end of the quarter chosen on the petition. If you need your grad auth discontinuation to be effective earlier than this, submit the Permanent Withdrawal eForm after your grad auth is approved and use your intended discontinuation date.

Steps for Coterminal Students

  1. Coterminal students who wish to withdraw only from their graduate degree program must submit the Permanently Withdraw from a Graduate Degree Program form, found in the Student eForms Portal in Axess.
    • If you are changing from one coterminal master's to another, you must submit the permanent withdrawal form for your current graduate program before you will be matriculated into the new one.
  2. Coterminal students who wish to withdraw from all of their programs at Stanford, must submit the Permanently Withdraw from an Undergraduate Degree Program form and the Permanently Withdraw from a Graduate Degree Program form. Both of these forms are found in the Student eForms Portal in Axess.
    • If a coterminal student withdraws from their undergraduate program, they must also withdraw from their graduate program. The undergraduate program withdrawal will not be processed until the graduate program withdrawal is also submitted.
  3. Once you submit your form, it will need to be approved by all of your departments. Your withdrawal will be entered by the Registrar's Office, with the effective date being the last date of attendance you specified on your form(s). 

 

Deadline

The deadline to permanently withdraw from one or more degree programs for the current quarter is the term withdrawal deadline, posted in the Academic Calendar.