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Externships – In Absentia Status

In absentia registration is available to eligible academic and professional students on fourth year externships who meet certain criteria. This status will provide an 85% reduction in the educational and registration fees for graduate students who will be out-of-state, or outside seven Bay Area counties, for an entire semester. Please note that full health insurance (if not waived) as well as campus and professional degree supplemental tuition will still apply. In an academic year, approximately two-thirds of the students in a class are eligible.

Students in their 4th year may be considered for In Absentia status by the University if they have an academic need to conduct “research” or “academic work” within the State of California or outside of California for a period of at least one semester (or the equivalent of one semester). This means that you will qualify for In absentia status if you have two rotations during the Fall and Spring semesters even if they are not consecutively assigned that are in counties outside of the immediate bay area (that is, NOT is Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, and Solano counties). Summer rotations do not “count” toward gaining In Absentia status because summer registrations are “owned” by Summer Sessions and operate differently than the University’s registration system.

For students who have “split semesters” for In absentia (e.g., out FALL 2 and out SPRING 2), we can only grant the In absentia status during the Spring semester, so that the University is assured that the out of the immediate Bay Area terms were indeed met.

Some examples for an academic year:

  1. Farrah Opter will be at VA Puget Sound for Fall 1 and Fall 2. She will then be in In Absentia status for the Fall semester. (If she were at VA Puget Sound instead for Spring 1 and Spring 2, she would then be In Absentia status for the Spring semester.)
  2. Wanda Glazzes will be at Omni New Jersey for Summer, then In-House for Fall 1, and at VA SF in Fall 2. She then goes to the VA New Mexico for Spring 1 and then In-House for Spring 2. She will NOT qualify for In Absentia because one of her two out of immediate Bay Area rotations occurred in the Summer.
  3. Violet Iris will be In-House for Summer, at VA San Jose for Fall 1, VA Portland for Fall 2, In-House for Spring 1 and at VA Miami for Spring 2. She will be considered In Absentia status for the Spring semester.

As long as you are out of the immediate Bay Area (that is, NOT is Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, and Solano counties) for any combination of two rotations during fall and spring only (summer excluded), you will qualify for In absentia status.

Please note that you cannot be a GSI or a teaching assistant and be on In absentia status in the same semester. Additionally, a student’s housing status (e.g. whether or not you hold a lease or are living in graduate student housing) does not affect In absentia status.

If you have any questions about In absentia, please contact the ASAO. You may also take a look at the In Absentia Application for answers to frequently asked questions.