Application for extension to the right to study

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

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

If your right to study will expire at the end of your 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). Instructions for students on extension applications are on the Sisu instructions.

Sisu link: https://sisu.aalto.fi/student/frontpage

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 your current academic term.
2. If you are unable to graduate by the end of the term, apply for an extension:
   1. Update or create your primary study plan (HOPS) in Sisu.
   2. Schedule the courses you still need to complete by putting them on your Sisu ‘Timeline’.
   3. Fill in the extension application and submit it.
3. Submit any attachments that, according to the instructions, need to be submitted outside of Sisu.
   1. Master’s degree students: If your thesis is still in progress, ask your thesis supervisor for a free-form statement on its progress and your schedule for completing it. Include the statement as an application appendix.
4. 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.

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 this case, you must (1) make a study plan (HOPS), (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 (HOPS) 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 used by the administrative staff member who will process your application.
  • You need to apply for the extension outside of Sisu. Contact the learning services staff of your programme.
  • How can I find out whether my education path has been personalised? In your study rights, see the Education path, next to degree it says "Personalised" in this case. 

You cannot apply for an extension at all if:

• the status of your right to study is ‘revoked’, ‘waived’ or ‘graduated’,
• you do not intend to graduate from Aalto University using the given study right, or
• your right to study will expire later than the end of your current term.

Failure to enrol and losing the right to study

You will lose your right to study if you do not enrol as an attending or non-attending student. However, you may apply for a reinstatement of your study right if you still have time remaining in it. If you do receive a reinstatement of your study right, you will need to pay a re-enrolment fee. Note: Failure to enrol as an attending or non-attending student reduces the time remaining in your study right.

If you lost your right to study because the time you were granted for it, or a previous extension, has expired, you need only apply for an extension; you do not need to apply for a reinstatement. If you are granted the extension, you do not need to pay the re-enrolment fee.

• If you wish to apply for an extension, you may also do so later than the term in which your study right expired.
• You may also apply for an extension again even if an earlier application by you for an extension was rejected. In such situations, however, you should first contact the learning services staff of your programme.

If you lost your right to study because you failed to enrol as an attending or non-attending student and, as a consequence, the time remaining in your right to study expired, you need only apply for an extension. In that case, a separate application for reinstatement is not needed because Aalto will consider reinstating you when processing your extension application. If Aalto grants you an extension, your right to study will be automatically reinstated at the same time. You will need to pay the re-enrolment fee.