Leave of Absence in College: When Taking a Pause Can Be a Strong Path Forward
In This Guide
When College Doesn’t Go as Planned: Why Families Consider a College Leave of Absence
What We See as University Deans: Why Leaves of Absence Are More Common Than Parents Think
What Is a Leave of Absence in College? Medical, Personal, and Academic Leaves Explained
When Taking a Leave of Absence Can Be a Strong Choice
Common Reasons College Students Take Leaves of Absence
Why Pushing Through College Struggles Instead of Taking a Leave of Absence Often Backfires
What Makes a Leave of Absence Productive
How Parents Can Support Their College Student During a Leave of Absence
After a Leave of Absence: Returning to College or Transferring
Why Readiness Matters More Than Timing
When College Doesn’t Go as Planned: Why Families Consider a College Leave of Absence
Students may consider a college leave of absence for many different reasons, ranging from academic or health-related challenges to broader questions about readiness and engagement.
In such moments, families often assume they are facing an unusual or extreme situation. However, each year, large numbers of capable students step away from college temporarily — sometimes by choice, sometimes at the institution’s recommendation — in order to address academic, health, or personal challenges.
We explore the broader context of college struggle and recovery in our article When College Doesn’t Go as Planned: How to Help Your Student Recover and Thrive. Here, we focus specifically on how families think through the question of a leave of absence, and how to understand it as one of several tools colleges use to support students’ long-term success.
What We See as University Deans: Why Leaves of Absence Are More Common Than Parents Think
In our work as university deans at institutions including Tufts University, Wellesley College, and Harvard University, we regularly supported students whose paths through college included interruptions, detours, or changes in enrollment. While the idea of completing college in eight consecutive semesters remains a common expectation, it does not reflect how many students actually move through higher education.
Students take leaves of absence or pause enrollment for many reasons: health concerns, family responsibilities, academic recalibration, or the need for additional time to develop the skills and supports required for sustained engagement. Institutionally, these pauses are not viewed as failures, but as structural mechanisms designed to support readiness and sustained engagement upon return.
From our time as deans, we know that considering a leave of absence from college can be scary for both students and parents. It is true that stepping away will often extend a student’s graduation timeline. However, in many cases, a deliberate pause ultimately results in less overall disruption than continuing under the circumstances.
Students who take a leave of absence deliberately may avoid academic consequences such as repeated failed courses, probation, or required withdrawal that can significantly lengthen time to degree or interrupt enrollment entirely.
Coverage in The Chronicle of Higher Education on time to degree and student persistence has consistently reinforced what we’ve seen on the ground: students who are supported in making thoughtful, readiness-based decisions are more likely to complete their degrees successfully. From an institutional perspective, leaves of absence are one of the tools colleges use to support that long-term success.
What Is a Leave of Absence in College? Medical, Personal, and Academic Leaves Explained
A leave of absence in college is an administrative status, not a diagnosis or judgment about a student’s ability or commitment.
The same underlying issues may lead to a medical leave, a personal leave, or an academic leave, depending on institutional policy, timing, and a student’s individual circumstances.
Medical, Personal, and Academic Leave: What’s the Difference?
Medical Leave of Absence
A medical leave of absence is typically used when physical or mental health concerns are significantly interfering with a student’s ability to engage academically. Institutions often require documentation from a healthcare provider and may outline conditions for return focused on health stabilization and readiness to reengage. For a deeper look at how medical leaves function institutionally, including documentation and return expectations, see our guide Medical Leave of Absence in College: What Families Need to Know About Readiness, Documentation, and Return.
Personal Leave of Absence
A personal leave of absence applies more broadly and may be granted for a wide range of reasons, including health-related concerns, family circumstances, or other personal factors that affect a student’s ability to engage.
Academic Leave of Absence or Required Withdrawal (Academic Standing)
An academic leave of absence, required withdrawal, dismissal, or suspension is most often tied to academic standing, such as sustained low grades or failure to make adequate degree progress. While these actions can feel punitive to families, institutions generally frame them as pauses intended to create space for academic recovery and future success.
Importantly, the label applied to a leave does not always capture the full picture of why a student is taking a leave of absence. Institutions vary widely in how they define and apply these categories, and no single framework applies across all colleges.
Why the Leave of Absence Category Matters Less Than Readiness
From an institutional perspective, what matters most is not whether a leave is labeled medical, personal, or academic, but whether the time away allows a student to return better prepared to engage consistently and sustainably.
Colleges are primarily concerned with readiness: Has the student addressed the factors that interfered with their ability to succeed? Are appropriate supports, skills, and structures in place for their return? These questions are central to advising and reentry decisions, regardless of how a leave is categorized.
This readiness-based approach aligns with best practices in academic advising, including guidance from organizations such as NACADA on academic advising and student readiness, which emphasize development, preparation, and realistic planning over rigid categorization.
Understanding leaves of absence as institutional tools rather than as judgments or diagnoses helps families shift their focus away from labels and toward the real question colleges are asking: what will support this student’s sustained success upon return?
We support students navigating leaves, reentry, and academic recovery.
When Taking a Leave of Absence Can Be a Strong Choice
When college becomes difficult, many students frame the decision to continue as a test of strength. They tell themselves, and may be told by others, that if they were stronger, more resilient, or more disciplined, they would simply push through.
From an institutional perspective, we see something different.
Strength in college may be measured by self-awareness, judgment, and the ability to recognize when conditions no longer support learning or health. It is often stronger to step off the expected path than to push through when a student is not well.
For many students, taking a leave of absence carries real costs: explaining to others why they are no longer enrolled, watching peers move forward, living with uncertainty about when they will return, navigating financial and logistical unknowns, and experiencing a loss of student identity.
Precisely because these costs are real, choosing to take a leave of absence often requires real strength. It asks students to tolerate uncertainty, advocate for themselves, and prioritize their long-term well-being over staying on a prescribed timeline.
We have worked with many students facing serious health or personal challenges who initially resist taking a leave of absence. For some, that resistance reflects a sense that they have already sustained losses as a result of their struggles, and a fear that stepping away from college would only compound them.
In these conversations, we often use a simple analogy. We ask students whether they would expect themselves to run a marathon on a broken leg. Almost universally, the answer is no. Yet many students hold themselves to that standard when they are struggling physically or mentally, believing that pushing through is a measure of strength rather than a signal that something needs to change.
In many cases, however, once students do take the time needed to recover and put appropriate supports in place, what follows looks very different. We often see students return healthier and better able to engage with their coursework. For many, this translates into greater academic success than was possible before the leave.
In retrospect, many students tell us they are grateful they took a leave of absence, because it allowed them to finally be the student they were capable of being.
From our experience as deans, students rarely regret taking a leave when they truly need one. Far more often, they express relief at having the space to heal, recalibrate, and return ready to engage fully.
Seen this way, a leave of absence is not an admission of defeat. It is a strategic, self-aware decision that prioritizes long-term success over short-term appearances.
Common Reasons College Students Take Leaves of Absence
Students take leaves of absence for many reasons. In the context of academic difficulty, health concerns, or loss of engagement, leaves often reflect a convergence of academic, personal, and developmental factors rather than a single isolated issue. Common reasons include:
Physical or Mental Health Concerns
Physical or mental health concerns can interfere with a student’s ability to attend class, complete coursework, or engage consistently. When health needs must take priority, time away can create space for treatment, stabilization, and recovery. Guidance from organizations such as The JED Foundation highlights the close relationship between student mental health and academic engagement, underscoring why pauses are sometimes necessary to restore both.
Burnout and Chronic Overload
Some students arrive at college already depleted after years of sustained academic pressure. When motivation, energy, and emotional reserves are exhausted, continuing without interruption can deepen disengagement rather than resolve it.
Executive Functioning Challenges
College demands a high level of independent organization, time management, and follow-through. Even capable students can become overwhelmed when these skills are stretched beyond their current capacity, particularly in unstructured academic environments that provide far less external scaffolding than high school.
Personal or Family Crises
Family illness, caregiving responsibilities, financial disruption, or other significant life events can make sustained academic engagement unrealistic for a period of time.
While these reasons are often discussed separately, they frequently overlap. What matters most from an institutional standpoint is not the label attached to the leave, but whether stepping away allows the student to regain readiness to learn and engage sustainably upon return.
Why Pushing Through College Struggles Instead of Taking a Leave of Absence Often Backfires
When students attempt to push through college difficulties without addressing the underlying issues, academic performance typically deteriorates over time. Missed assignments lead to poor exam results. A single difficult course can become multiple difficult courses. What may begin as failing college classes can quickly evolve into academic warning or probation if they continue unchecked.
By the time formal academic actions are in play, colleges are determining whether continued enrollment is wise. At that stage, families are often navigating next steps reactively rather than proactively, with higher stakes and fewer options.
An early, deliberate pause can preserve academic standing, protect a student’s academic record, and maintain agency in decision-making. In contrast, pushing forward through mounting difficulty often leads to institutional action that is no longer fully within the student’s control.
In short, persistence without readiness rarely works out well. Rather, students who pause early, address what is interfering with their learning, and return prepared are more likely to experience more positive outcomes.
Does your student need support navigating academic disruption or transition?
What Makes a Leave of Absence Productive
A productive leave of absence creates space for recovery, readiness-building, and planning. It allows students to address the factors that interfered with their ability to engage academically—whether health-related, emotional, academic, or developmental—and to put appropriate supports and structures in place before returning.
From an institutional perspective, what matters most is not simply time away, but how that time is used. Because of this, decisions about returning to college benefit from thoughtful planning rather than speed. We explore this in more detail in our guide to returning to college after a leave, which outlines how readiness, timing, and structure shape successful reentry.
How Parents Can Support Their College Student During a Leave of Absence
For families, a leave of absence can feel unsettling. However, from an institutional standpoint, taking time away is a legitimate and often healthy part of a student’s academic trajectory.
As deans, we’ve observed that students tend to use a leave most productively when families are able to maintain this perspective and allow time for recovery and readiness to develop, rather than pushing for quick resolution. A calm, steady presence from parents often helps create the conditions that allow students to return more prepared, confident, and able to engage fully.
After a Leave of Absence: Returning to College or Transferring
For some students, returning to their original institution after time away is the right next step. With recovery, readiness, and appropriate supports in place, many students are able to reengage successfully and continue toward their degree in a familiar environment.
For others, a leave creates the opportunity to reassess fit more broadly. Changes in academic needs, health considerations, learning style, or support structures may point toward a different institution as a stronger long-term match. In those cases, transfer is a strategic decision informed by greater self-knowledge and clarity.
What matters most is not whether a student returns or transfers, but whether the next step aligns with their readiness and supports sustained engagement going forward. Both pathways can lead to strong outcomes when chosen deliberately.
We explore the planning considerations for return in more depth in Returning to College After a Required Leave or Academic Suspension, which focuses on readiness, timing, and institutional expectations. For families weighing whether returning or transferring makes the most sense after time away, Leave of Absence or Transfer? How to Decide What’s Right for Your College Student (coming soon) offers a comparative framework for thinking through that decision.
Why Readiness Matters More Than Timing
Choosing to take a leave of absence at the right moment can be an act of judgment, self-awareness, and long-term thinking. Colleges are not fleeting. The institution your student worked so hard to enter will still be there when they are healthier, better supported, and more ready to engage.
We have never had a student tell us they regretted taking a leave of absence when it was genuinely needed. Far more often, students describe relief—relief at having permission to heal, recalibrate, and return with greater clarity, capacity, and academic strength.
A leave of absence is not a step off the path to success. When used thoughtfully, it can be part of the path itself.
How Lantern Supports Students During Leaves and Reentry
Families navigating a leave of absence, return from leave, or period of academic disruption often benefit from steady, experienced guidance grounded in how colleges actually work.
Lantern’s College Success Coaching supports students during periods of academic disruption, including leaves of absence, returns from leave, and strategic transfer decisions. Our work is designed to help students rebuild readiness, confidence, and sustainable academic engagement.
Our team brings decades of experience as university deans and advisors. We understand institutional processes, readiness expectations, and what colleges look for when students step away and return. Families often come to us at moments of disruption or uncertainty. When they do, we work as long-term partners, helping students stabilize, rebuild readiness, and move forward with greater clarity and support.
Talk with experienced university insiders about your child’s next college steps.
Frequently Asked Questions About College Leaves of Absence
Will a leave of absence hurt a student’s future, including transfer or graduate school applications?
In most cases, no — not when a leave is taken thoughtfully. Colleges and graduate programs understand that students sometimes need time away to address health, readiness, or personal circumstances. Admissions decisions are contextual. Clear explanations, evidence of recovery or growth, and stronger academic engagement after a leave carry far more weight than uninterrupted enrollment paired with weaker academic performance.
How long should a college leave of absence last?
There is no universal timeline. The appropriate length depends on what needs to change for positive college engagement, whether that involves health stabilization, skill development, or rebuilding confidence. Institutions are generally more concerned with readiness than speed.
What should a student be doing during a leave of absence?
The focus should be on recovery, stabilization, and readiness-building. This may include addressing health needs, rebuilding academic or executive functioning skills, and identifying the supports or structures needed for a successful return to college. Often, prioritizing health and overall capacity is the wisest use of time. In some situations, it can also make sense to take carefully chosen coursework away from the home institution to strengthen skills or address academic gaps, so that a student returns better prepared to make progress toward their degree.
Do students usually regret taking a leave of absence?
In our experience as university deans and advisors, no. We have never had a student tell us they regretted taking a leave when it was genuinely needed. Far more often, students express relief at having the space to heal, recalibrate, and return better able to engage with their education.