Deferring your offer

Thinking about deferring your offer?

Congratulations on your offer to Flinders.

If you do not wish to commence studying straight away, you may be eligible to have your offer deferred for a full calendar year of study. Flinders can hold your place in a deferrable course for up to two consecutive years.

Alternatively, if you are finding the transition to university challenging, you may want to seek additional support before making the decision to defer. We offer a range of activities and services that can provide you with this support. Please see Transition to Uni for further information.

Commencing mid-year?

If you wish to delay commencing study only by one semester deferment is not necessary. For example, if you receive an offer for mid-year 2023 entry and you wish to commence in Semester One 2024 instead, you can do so by enrolling in topics when enrolment for 2024 opens in late 2023, provided the course offers two intakes per year.

Similarly, if you receive an offer for Semester One 2023 but do not wish to commence until Semester Two 2023 you can delay your study by enrolling in topics for mid-year only.

Already a student at Flinders?

If you are a continuing student (have already attempted at least one topic in your course) and wish to take a year break from these studies, you may be eligible for leave of absence.

Am I eligible to defer?

All undergraduate courses are deferrable, except for the following:

Bachelor of Clinical Sciences/Doctor of Medicine (SATAC code: 214941)
Bachelor of Paramedic Science (Regional External Program) (SATAC code: 224327)
Bachelor of Medical Science (Laboratory Medicine) (SATAC code: 244581)
TAFE SA dual offers
One-year honours
Undergraduate Certificates
Diploma in Aged Care and Disability Support
Diploma of Digital Technologies
Diploma in Sports Management

If you are an international student you need to contact Flinders International to defer.

Postgraduate courses cannot be deferred, with the exception of the following:

Bachelor of Letters (Archaeology) (Graduate Entry) (SATAC code: 2BG026)
Bachelor of Letters (Creative Writing) (Graduate Entry) (SATAC code: 2BG010)
Bachelor of Letters (Health) (Graduate Entry) (SATAC code: 2BG022)
Bachelor of Nursing (Graduate Entry) (SATAC code: 2BG007)
Bachelor of Psychological Studies (Graduate Entry) (SATAC code: 2BG008)

How do I defer my offer?

To defer your offer, you must Accept it in the Flinders Student Information System (SIS). If you do not enrol in topics or attempt any study for two consecutive semesters in the course, your offer will be deferred on your behalf.

To access the SIS, you must first:

Activate your student account; and then
Log in to the Student System.

If you accept your offer and enrol in topics but then decide to defer your offer, you will need to ensure you withdraw from any enrolled topics before the topic census date . See Amending your enrolment for details about how to withdraw from topics.

Provided you are not enrolled in the course or attempt any study after topic census dates, for two consecutive semesters, your offer will be deferred on your behalf.

Offers to limited intake courses*

If you receive an offer to one of the following courses, you will be required to either Accept and Enrol, or Defer the offer by the deadline stated in your offer letter to secure your place. Please read your offer letter carefully.

224071 Bachelor of Health Sciences/Master of Occupational Therapy
244631 Bachelor of Health Sciences (Vision Science)/Master of Optometry
214352 Bachelor of Speech Pathology
224321 Bachelor of Paramedic Science (Bachelor of Paramedicine from 2023)
224325 Bachelor of Paramedic Science (Northern Territory) (Bachelor of Paramedicine (NT) from 2023)
214431 Bachelor of Midwifery (Pre-registration)
214381 Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics
224081 Bachelor of Health Sciences/Master of Physiotherapy

To Accept your offer in the SIS, you need to:

Select the My Offers tab.
Click on the View/Respond to my Offer link on the left hand menu.

Click on Respond for the offer you wish to Accept.

Accept your offer by clicking on the Accept button

*For limited intake courses, you will need to either accept and enrol, or defer by the deadline stated in your offer letter:

Checking if your offer acceptance has been processed

After your application acceptance has been processed by the SIS, the status of your offer will change to Accepted after a few moments

You can also return to your application at a later time to view your offer status which will confirm acceptance and indicate your admission into the course

*For limited intake courses, the status of the offer can also be confirmed by returning to the SIS where the status may show as Accepted or Deferred for example, depending on your response and if deadlines met.

What happens if I change my mind?

If you change your mind and wish to commence the course after all, you can do so by enrolling in course topics, provided enrolment for your preferred commencing semester is still open.

For example, if you received an offer for Semester One and did not enrol nor attempt any study in the course in that semester and Semester Two enrolment is still open, you can enrol in topics to commence the course in Semester Two, provided the course offers a mid-year intake.

Courses with one intake per year

The following courses have only one intake per year. If you change your mind on deferring after the last day to enrol in topics for Semester One, commencement will not be possible until the following year:

214551 Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
214561 Bachelor of Creative Arts (Drama)
214571 Bachelor of Creative Arts (Screen)
244491 Bachelor of Early Childhood Education – Birth to 8
244501 Bachelor of Education (Primary)
234551 Bachelor of Exercise Science
234571 Bachelor of Exercise Science / Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology
234841 Bachelor of Human Nutrition
244531 Bachelor of Inclusive and Specialised Education (Early Childhood)
244541 Bachelor of Inclusive and Specialised Education (Primary)
244551 Bachelor of Inclusive and Specialised Education (Secondary)
2BG007 Bachelor of Nursing (Graduate Entry)
214311 Bachelor of Nursing (Preregistration)
214312 Bachelor of Nursing (Preregistration) Riverland
2BP003 Bachelor of Nursing (Re-Entry)

Deferred a limited intake course?

The following courses are highly competitive. If you defer your offer in the SIS by the deadline stated in your offer letter to the following year, your current year place will be offered to another applicant. Therefore, if you wish to commence the course after all, you will be added to a waitlist and if a place becomes available, you may be able to commence your study this year:

224071 Bachelor of Health Sciences/Master of Occupational Therapy
244631 Bachelor of Health Sciences (Vision Science)/Master of Optometry
214352 Bachelor of Speech Pathology
224321 Bachelor of Paramedic Science (Bachelor of Paramedicine from 2023)
224325 Bachelor of Paramedic Science (Northern Territory) (Bachelor of Paramedicine (NT) from 2023)
214431 Bachelor of Midwifery (Pre-registration)
214381 Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics
224081 Bachelor of Health Sciences/Master of Physiotherapy
214561 Bachelor of Creative Arts (Drama)

What happens after my offer is deferred?

Provided you are not enrolled in topics in an eligible course or attempt any study for two consecutive semesters, your offer will be deferred on your behalf.

We will be in touch with you in late November of the year you had your Semester One offer deferred with instructions on how to take up your offer the following academic year.

If your Semester Two offer was deferred, we will be in touch with you in May/June the following year with instructions on how to take up your mid-year offer that same year.

How do I take up my deferred offer?

Once you have received instructions from us on how to take up your offer and you wish to commence your studies, you will need to follow the enrolment process.

If you are eligible to defer again for another year, provided you Accept your offer and do not enrol in the course or attempt any study for two consecutive semesters, your offer will be deferred again on your behalf and the above information applies again.

Please note not all courses will allow you to enrol on a full-time basis if commenced in semester 2. Please seek course advice.

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