Terminating your studies

Terminating your studies at VUB

You want to go study elsewhere or quit your studies altogether? Be aware of the impact this might have on your tuition fees, child benefits, scholarships and learning account.

Consequences for your tuition fees

The possible refund of your tuition fee (or part of it) depends on the amount you already paid and on when you stop your studies:

• Until 30 November:  you will be refunded tuition fees paid for the courses of the first semester and year courses. The fixed administrative costs are never refunded.
• From 1 December to 15 March: you will be refunded tuition fees paid for the courses of the second semester.
• From 16 March: the full tuition fee remains due.
  
   

Please note: quitting your studies does not release you from your financial obligations at the VUB. Therefore, you must still pay the tuition fee due at the moment of your disenrollment/termination.

Continued education is not included in the Education and Examination Regulations. If you disenroll from a continued education course, you will not get your tuition fee back.

Consequences for your learning account

 

Find out all about your learning account and what the consequences might be if you change programmes or stop studying.

Learning account

Consequences for your threshold 

Find out all about your threshold and what the consequences might be if you choose to change or terminate your studies.

Study progress

Consequences for your child benefit if you stop studying entirely

If you stop studying at the VUB and do not continue your studies at another college or university, your child benefit or Growth Package as a student will be cancelled as of the month following your deregistration. The child benefit or Growth Package you received until then will not be claimed back. Your child benefit fund or Growth Package payer will automatically be informed of your deregistration via the Higher Education Database.

After you deregister, you may still be entitled to child benefit or Growth Package as a school leaver.

School-leaver

If you live in Flanders, you can still receive the Growth package as a school leaver.

• For a maximum of 12 months and as long as you are not 25 years old.
• You will lose child benefit or Growth Package for every month in which you work more than 80 hours.
• You can no longer work as a student.
• To make use of this credit of maximum 12 months Growth Package as a school leaver, you do not have to register as a jobseeker with the VDAB.
• If you are looking for work and you want to start the period of vocational integration, you do have to register as a jobseeker with the VDAB.

 

If you live in Brussels, you can continue to receive child benefit as a school leaver.

• If you have registered with Actiris as a job-seeking school-leaver.
• You are entitled to this for a maximum of 12 months and as long as you are not 25 years old.
• You lose the child benefit for every month in which you earn more than 551.89 euro gross.
• You can no longer work as a student.

Attention! Register with Actiris within the month of your deregistration to receive uninterrupted child benefit. An interruption in your entitlement to child benefit may adversely affect the monthly amount you receive. Contact your child benefit fund for more information.

Consequences for your child benefit if you continue studying at another institution 

Your right to child benefit or the Growth Package depends on the moment you deregister from the VUB and the number of credits for which you register at the other university or college of higher education.

As a student you are entitled to child benefit or the Growth Package when you are not older than 25 and are enrolled for at least 27 credits during the academic year (exception: diploma year).

When you live in Flanders, you have to enrol for a new course at another institution of higher education before the end of the month following your deregistration in order to receive an uninterrupted Growth Package. If you live in Brussels, this has to be done before the end of the month in which you deregister.

Termination before 1 December

To continue to receive child benefit or Growth Package, you have to enrol for at least 27 credits in your new course.

• The credits of your course at the VUB no longer count towards the 27-credit limit.
• If the number of credits in your new study programme is less than 27, you will no longer receive family allowance or Growth Package as a student from the month following the month of deregistration from your study programme at the VUB.
  
   

Termination between 1 December and 15 March

To continue to receive child benefit or the Growth Package, you need to have taken at least 27 credits after your enrolment in your new programme.

• To check whether 27 credits have been taken, the following are taken into account
  • the credits of the course units of the first semester of your study programme at the VUB
  • the credits of the course units in your new programme of study
• If the total number of credits is less than 27, you will no longer receive family allowance or Growth Package as a student from the month following the month of de-registration from your programme at the VUB.
  
   

Termination after 15 March

Normally, you will still be entitled to child benefits or the Growth Package because the credits of all course units of your programme at the VUB and of the course units in your new programme of study count towards the 27-credit limit. It is very likely that this total number of credits will be more than 27.

Terminating a credit contract 

For students who are enrolled with a credit contract, all course units are considered as having been taken at the moment of terminating, regardless of the moment of termination.

Consequences for your scholarship if you stop studying completely 

You are entitled to a scholarship if, during the academic year, you are enrolled and remain enrolled at one or more higher education institutions for a total of at least 27 credits under a diploma contract (exception: diploma year).

Termination before 1 December

You are not entitled to a scholarship since the credits for which you were registered at the VUB no longer count towards the scholarship.

• If the scholarship was already paid out, it will be claimed back in full by the Flemish department of scholarships.
• If the scholarship has not yet been paid, it is best to inform the Flemish department of scholarships as soon as possible of your deregistration.

 

Termination between 1 December and 15 March

For your scholarship, the credits of the course units of the first semester for which you were registered at the VUB are taken into account.

• First semester courses < 27 credits

You are not entitled to a scholarship. The Flemish department of scholarships will reclaim the scholarship in full (if it was already paid out). If the scholarship has not been paid yet, it is best to inform the Flemish department of scholarships as soon as possible of this new situation.

• First semester courses > 27 credits

The right to a scholarship remains, calculated on the total number of taken credits of the course units of the first semester. If you had already received the scholarship, the Flemish department of scholarships will reclaim part of your scholarship. If the scholarship has not been paid out yet, it is best to inform the Flemish department of scholarships of this new situation as soon as possible.

Termination after 15 March

For your scholarship, the credits of all course units for which you were registered at the VUB are taken into account (first and second semester course units + year course units). Your termination after 15 March has no effect on this. The scholarship will not be claimed back if you have already received it.

Consequences for your scholarship if you continue your studies at another institution

Your right to a scholarship depends on the moment you stop at the VUB and on the number of credits for which you register at the other university or college of higher education.

You are entitled to a scholarship if, during the academic year, you are enrolled and remain enrolled at one or more higher education institutions for a total of at least 27 credits under a diploma contract (exception: diploma year).

Termination before 1 December

To still be entitled to a scholarship, you need to take at least 27 credits in your new programme of study (with a diploma contract).

• If you enrol for less than 27 credits in the new programme, the Flemish department of scholarships will reclaim your scholarship in full, if you have already received it.
• If the number of credits in your new programme is more than 27 but less than the number for which you were registered at the VUB, the Flemish department of scholarships will reclaim part of your scholarship if you have already received it.

If the scholarship had not yet been paid out, it is best to inform the Flemish department of scholarships as soon as possible of this new situation.

Termination between 1 December and 15 March

For the calculation of your scholarship, the credits of the course units of the first semester of your study at the VUB and the credits of the course units in your new study programme count.

Attention: for generation students who change programmes between 1 December and the last day before the start of the first examination period of the first term, half of the course units of the first semester are considered as not taken. This does not apply to generation students who only change higher education institution and continue the same programme of study!

• If the total number of credits is less than 27 (VUB course + new course), the Flemish department of scholarships will claim back your scholarship in full, if you have already received it.
• If the total number of credits is more than 27 (programme VUB + new programme), but less than the number for which you were registered at the VUB, the Flemish department of scholarships will claim back part of your scholarship if you have already received it.

If the scholarship had not yet been paid out, it is best to inform the Flemish department of scholarships as soon as possible of this new situation.

Termination after 15 March

For the calculation of your scholarship, the credits of all course units for which you were enrolled at the VUB and of the course units for which you are enrolling in your new study programme count. You will receive a scholarship for the total of all these course units, taking into account that you can receive a study grant for a maximum of 60 credits per academic year.

Impact on your VUB account

 

If you deregister and/or you're leaving VUB, your VUB account will be automatically deleted. Find out how that works exactly:

VUB account