Executive Policy 5.217 Executive Policy 5.217

Reinstatement of Deployed Active Duty Military, Hawaii National Guard and Reservists

Executive Policy Chapter 5, Academic Affairs
Executive Policy EP 5.217, Reinstatement of Deployed Active-Duty Military, Hawai‘i National Guard, and Reservists
Effective Date:  June 2026
Prior Dates Amended:  April 2007 (est), October 2014
Responsible Office:  Office of the Vice President for Academic Strategy
Governing Board of Regents Policy RP 2.202, Duties of the President and RP 5.211, Admissions
Review Date:  June 2029

To establish and promulgate guidelines concerning the academic course of study for University of Hawai‘i students who are deployed due to their status as members of the active-duty military (and their authorized dependents), the Hawai‘i National Guard, or the military reserves, and who subsequently return for matriculation to the University of Hawai‘i.

1. “Active duty” means full-time duty in the active military service of the United States. Active duty includes full-time training duty, annual training duty, and attendance, while in the active military service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary of the military department concerned. Active duty does not include full-time National Guard duty.


2. “Appropriate officer” means a warrant, commissioned, or noncommissioned officer authorized to provide notification of military service.


3. “Armed forces” means the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard.


4. “Military service” (or “service in the uniformed services”) means voluntary or involuntary service in the armed forces, including service by a member of the National Guard or Reserve on active duty, active duty for training, or full-time National Guard duty under federal authority, for a period of more than thirty (30) consecutive days under a call or order to active duty of more than thirty (30) consecutive days. This does not include National Guard service under state authority.


5. “Service member” means someone who is a member of, applies to be a member of, performs, has performed, applies to perform, or has an obligation to perform, service in the uniformed services.


6. “Undue hardship” means an action requiring significant difficulty or expense considering the overall financial resources of the school and the impact of such action on its operations.

1. The University will promptly readmit service members who had to withdraw from their course of study due to military service to their original course of study on the UH campus they last attended and with the same academic status they had when they last attended.  Such students will have no loss of credit or privileges and will maintain registration priority consistent with their continuing student status when they return from military service to their original campus, as long as the program and courses still exist and remain viable.


2. Notification of military service should be made as follows:
   
   1. Upon receiving notice of military service, or as far in advance as is reasonable under the circumstances, the student or an appropriate officer of the armed forces or official of the Department of Defense, may provide either oral or written notice to the home campus registrar regarding the student’s military service.
   
   
   2. If it is not practicable to provide oral of written notice prior to military service, students may submit an attestation of military service which necessitated absence from school at the time of readmission.
   
   
   3. Upon receiving any prior oral or written notice of a student’s military service, the home campus registrar will request that the service member provide documentation to establish that:
      
      1. He or she has not exceeded the cumulative five-year limit on absences from the institution; and
      
      
      2. His or her eligibility for readmission has not been terminated.
   
   Once verified, the campus may readmit the student to the instituition.
   
   
3. Notification of intent to return to the University upon completion of military service shall be made as follows:
   
   1. When a student is ready to be readmitted to the University after completion of military service, they must provide written notification of their intent to return to the home campus registrar. Such notice must be provided within three (3) years of completion of the period of military service.
   
   
   2. Students who are hospitalized or convalescing due to an illness/injury incurred or aggravated during performance of military service must provide written notice of intent to return to the University within two (2) years after the end of their recovery period.
   
   
   3. Upon receiving written notice of a student’s intent to return after completion of military service, the campus will take the necessary steps to reinstate the student to active status for the term they have designed.
   
   
   4. Students who fail to provide notice of their intent to return within the time frames outlined above may still apply for readmission in accordance with the University’s established leave of absence policies and/or admissions practices.


4. Upon receiving notice of a student’s intent to return after completion of military service, the student will be readmitted:
   
   1. Into the next class or classes of the program to which they were last admitted or, if that exact program is no longer offered, the program that is most similar to that program, unless the student chooses a different program. Students may request a later date for readmittance or may be readmitted at a later date if unusual circumstances so require;
   
   
   2. With the same enrollment status;
   
   
   3. With the same number of credit hours previously completed unless the student opts to be admitted to a different program for which the completed credit hours are not applicable;
   
   
   4. With the same academic standing they previously had.
      
      If the student is readmitted to the same program, for the first academic year in which they return, the University will charge the tuition and fee rates that would have been charged for the academic year during which the student left the school. However, if the student’s veterans’ education benefits or other service member education benefits will pay the higher tuition and fee charges that other students in the program are paying for the year, the school may charge those rates to the student as well. 
      
      If the student is admitted to a different program, and for subsequent academic years for a student admitted to the same program, the school must assess no more than the tuition and fee charges that other students in the program are assessed for that academic year.
   
   
5. The cumulative length of the absence and of all previous absences for military service may not exceed five years. Only the time the student spends actually performing service is counted.


6. The University will not readmit the student if it is determined that:
   
   1. There are no reasonable efforts that can be taken to prepare the student to resume the program at the point where the student left off or which will enable the student to complete the program; or
   
   
   2. After reasonable efforts, meaning those that do not place an undue hardship on the University, are made, the student is not prepared to resume or complete the program.
   
   If the University determines that the student cannot be readmitted, it will provide written notice to the student of the reasons why readmittance is not possible.
   
   The University has the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the student is not prepared to resume the program with the same academic status at the point where the student left off or that the student will not be able to complete the program.

There is no policy specific delegation of authority.

Office of the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs
Telephone: (808) 956-2182
Email: avpsa@hawaii.edu

A. Link to superseded Executive Policies in old format https://www.hawaii.edu/policy/archives/ep/

B. Link to Administrative Procedures in old format https://www.hawaii.edu/policy/archives/apm/sysap.php

DoD MOU, paragraph 3.i.(1)
Chapter 3 of Volume 2 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook
**34 CFR 668.18 (e) Cumulative length of absence.**
AP 8.770

    President