ÄûÃʵ¼º½

If you did not complete your degree within the time that was granted to you, you may apply for an extension (extended time) to your right to study. Extensions are approved for the purpose of completing a degree. That means you should apply for an extension only if you have the intention and the possibility to complete your thesis and remaining studies.

Before submitting an application, familiarise yourself with the Aalto University policy on extensions to the duration of studies.

If your right to study will expire at the end of the current academic term, Sisu’s frontpage will notify you about it and you will receive instructions on how to apply for an extension. You can ensure that your application will be processed before your right to study expires if you follow the instructions and apply by the given deadline (15 May or 15 November). The Sisu Instructions include information on how to apply for an extension.

Sisu link:  

Applying for an extension in Sisu: a summary of the steps

1. Sisu’s frontpage will notify you if your right to study will expire at the end of the current academic term.
2. If you are unable to graduate by the end of the term, apply for an extension:
   • Update or create your primary study plan in Sisu.
   • Schedule the courses you still need to complete by putting them on your Sisu ‘timeline’. You cannot apply for extension without scheduling your remaining courses.
3. Fill in the extension application and submit it.
4. Submit any appendices that, need to be submitted outside the Sisu system, according to instructions.
   • Master’s degree students: If your thesis is still in progress, ask your thesis supervisor for a free-form statement on its progress and on the schedule for completing it. Include the statement as an attachment to the application.
5. Pay the processing fee of €50. The application will not be processed until the fee is paid.
6. Sisu will inform you of the decision to approve or reject your application.

Please note that each school has its own schedule for processing extension applications. They process the applications only a few times a year, usually in May–June and November–December.

Failing to enrol, losing a study right and applying for an extension

You will lose your right to study towards a degree if you do not enrol as attending or non-attending for the academic year.

If you still have statutory study time left, you can apply for a return of your study right  you have lost. Note that study time continues to be consumed  even for any period when you did not enrol as attending or non-attending.

If you lose your study right because the statutory study time or a previously granted extension has expired and you wish to continue your studies, you only need to apply for an extension to your study right, not for return of your study right.

• You can apply for an extension to the study right later than the term when your study time ends.
• You can also apply for an extension again even if a previous application was rejected. In such a case, it is advisable to first contact your programmes’ Learning Services to discuss continuing your studies.

If you originally lost your right to study towards a degree because you neglected to enrol for an academic year and therefore your study time ended, you only need to apply for an extension to the study right. Hence, there is no need to separately apply for a return of the study right; rather, the return of the study right is considered together with the granting of an extension to the study right. You only pay one processing fee for the extension application.

When are extension applications not submitted in Sisu, and when can no extension applications be submitted at all? 

Generally, if you can log in to Sisu, you should make your extension application in Sisu.

Sisu is usually not used to submit extension applications in the following cases:

• Your Aalto username has expired and you cannot log in to Sisu.

In that case, you must (1) make a study plan, (2) schedule the courses you need to complete, and (3) apply for an extension. All three are done outside of Sisu. Contact the Learning Services staff of your programme.

• Your education path is personalised (which is rare) and your right to study has expired. In such cases, Sisu cannot be used in the normal way to apply for an extension.
  • Go to Sisu and make a study plan and schedule the courses you need to complete. Even though the status of your study plan will read ‘Selections against the rules’, this information is useful for the administrative staff who will process your application.
  • You need to apply for the extension outside of Sisu. Contact the Learning Services staff of your programme.
  • To find out whether your education path has been personalised:  See Sisu’s information on your study rights by going to Education path and checking to see whether Personalised appears next to your degree. 

You cannot apply for an extension at all if:

• Sisu shows the status of your study right to be cancelled, renounced or graduated,
• You do not intend to graduate from Aalto University using the given study right, or
• Your statutory right to study will expire later than the end of the current term.

Extension processing fees: the principles for fee refunds at Aalto University

The processing fee charged for extension applications (i.e. a student’s application to receive extended time in their right to study) is returned only under particular circumstances. Below are the conditions under which refunds are or are not issued.

The processing fee is refunded when

1. The fee was paid multiply due to a technical problem. If technical problems result in a student paying the processing fee more than once, the extra payment(s) will be returned. In such cases, students must themselves apply for the refund by contacting Learning Services.
2. The student paid both an extension application fee and a readmission application fee, though only one fee was charged. The readmission fee will be refunded if the extension fee was also paid.
3. The student was misinformed by the university about applying for an extension. The position of the OHA-Forum: The fee will be refunded if the application was submitted unnecessarily for reasons attributable to the university.
4. The application was left unprocessed and no decision was made.
   • For example, the student applied for an extension, even though their right to study was not ending at the end of the term.                       
     • This situation may occur with the open university’s AIMO registration system, where applications and fee payments are done separately.
     • Extensions may not be applied for in Sisu if the right to study is not ending at the end of the term.
       • Another scenario is if the student’s right to study is continuing and their statutory nonattending-student status is recorded in the student register, but they already completed the extension form and paid the processing fee. 

The processing fee is not refunded when

• The student withdraws their application. If the student completes an extension application and pays the fee, but later decides that the extended time was unnecessary, then the fee is not refunded.
  • Since the processing fee is meant to cover the administrative work of application processing, the fee remains payable.
• The application was superfluous, i.e. the student graduated without needing an extension. The fee is not refunded in such cases.
  • If a student will in fact not be able to graduate in time, they may apply for an extension at the end of the term.  
• The student applies for an extension, but withdraws it later because they are unable to study in the next term. The fee is not refunded in such cases.
• The student pays the extension processing fee, but never submits an application.

Students must themselves submit a request for the refund if they feel they have good grounds for it. The university considers requests on a case-by-case basis in order to ensure that refunds are justified. Please contact studentservices@aalto.fi