How To Defer Admission In Nigeria University for Newly Admitted Students

Deferring admission or admission deferment is due to various reasons, and you being on this page means you want to do this. Before deferring your admission, there are various things you need to put into consideration first.

Admission deferment means your name has to appear on your school of choice admission list first before you can defer it. What is Admission Deferment?

This article will provide you a complete guide on how to officially defer admission, how to go about it if you’re in need, including the list of tertiary institutions accepting admissions deferments, conditions of accepting and approving deferments of admissions, and a lot of other related questions will be answered here too.

What’s Deferment of Admissions?

It’s an agreement signed with the school management that offers you admission to officially allow the student to miss the current or future academic year and resume when agreed upon (Usually, the next academic year). It helps you retain your studentship when missing out for an entire academic year. But you will certainly resume in the level you are supposed to be before asking for it.

However, it is important to note here that all Admission Deferment agreement has a deadline, and any student who failed to resume before the deadline will have his/her admission forfeited.

Acceptable Reasons for Admission Deferment.

When applying for admission deferment, the institution must ask you to provide a good reason why they should approve your request. Here are top-notched reasons that are hardly rejected.

• Health,
• Lack of finance (even though not usually applicable to foreign students),
• Loss of sponsors,
• Over-engagements (usually official),
• Change of location,
• Partial loss of interest,
• Pregnancy (especially in the case of Nursing students), etc,

Most times, a newly admitted student or a returning student can apply for deferment of admission which will aid the student to retain his/her studentship.

Generally, all universities, polytechnics, and colleges are required to have official provisions for students who may wish to defer their admissions based on reasonable excuses provided. This will not only help a distressed student to retain his or her studentship but also assist him or her to get over the concerns and later further his or her studies with the same institution on resumption at when due.

Although it is important to note here that not all tertiary institutions allow the deferment of admission for freshers.

If a student’s deferment request is granted, the affected students are mandated to resume the first-year academic work, and it is impossible to continue to year 2 or Level 200. This means that your fellow students will be a level higher than you, and you must resume from where you stopped.

It is impossible to ask for 6 months admission deferment, it’s always 12 months (1 year), which is a complete academic year.

Can 200 Level/300L Students Defer for a Year?

Whenever we hear the word ‘deferment of admissions’, it’s commonly associated newly admitted students. However, it’s possible and legal for students in their 200 or 300 levels to defer their academic year for any of the above reasons.

But you should know that certain tertiary institutions (Universities) limit deferring Admission to the 100 level candidates only, while other institutions allows admission deferment ONLY for returning students.

However, few Universities usuaully consider both categories of students for the deferment of admissions.

See List of universities, polytechnics, and colleges that may allow you to defer your admission.

Most Federal Universities.
Most State Universities.
Most Private Universities.
Most Federal Polytechnics.
Most State Polytechnics.
Most Private Polytechnics.
Most Federal Colleges of Educations.
Most State Colleges of Educations.
Most Private Colleges of Education.

While the process of admission deferment is not hectic, it’s necessary to state here that if not done properly through the right channels, you are likely to waste your money and lost the admission offer.

Here are list of Nigerian Universities that has their own specific procedures for admission deferment on their official websites.

• University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Enugu State.
• University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
• Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Kaduna State.
• University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Kwara State.
• Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Osogbo, Osun State.

How To Defer Admissions in Nigerian Institutions.

Generally, these steps will work for all universities, polytechnics, and colleges.

1. The foremost place to kickstart this process is the school official admission office. First, you need to go to your school admission office, if you want to defer your admission as a newly admitted student, I’ll recommend you do this immediately after being offered admission. It’s important to be there a few weeks before classes resume.
2. Table your situation before the admission officer and give a good reasons why you want to defer your admission. The admission officer will guide you right on the steps to take, including the following:

• How to write a deferment letter that will be approved,
• Required Admission deferment fees to pay,
• Provide you the necessary form to fill,
• Give you the deadline for the deferment application form,
• and other necessary information like when you’re expected to return for classes if approved.

Since some Universities like UNN has their own official guide on how to defer admission, here’s how you can do it.

According to the University of Nigeria (UNN), management requires the concerned candidates to:

1. Use your university e-mail address to send an email through your head of department to the admission office for re-admission.
2. The admission officer minutes to the Registrar using the dedicated email address.
3. If your request for deferment is approved by the Registrar, it will be sent to the director ICT for implementation.
4. The ICT director forwards the request to the appropriate unit for implementation.

The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) likewise provides its own guide on how to proceed with admission deferment.

1. The candidate must confirm his/her Admission Status first before requesting for deferment. To confirm your admission, you must pay the acceptance fee showing evidence of having accepted the offer of admission (This can be done on your JAMB CAPS).
2. The student seeking admission deferment must go through the online clearance process, up to the eligibility clearance stage to get cleared online.
3. When cleared online, the candidate should go to the admissions office with the following documents for physical clearance as listed below:
   (i) You are required to provide a colored Print-Out of Clearance Eligibility Form with Candidate’s “Clearance Status” boldly indicated Cleared on top of the Form.
   (ii) You are also required to provide your Original WAEC, NECO, or NABTEB certificates. Online colored printouts will be adequate if the Candidate’s Certificates are not originals/ available.
   (iii) You are also required to provide a coloured printout of JAMB Admission Letter (iv) Birth Certificate, but where this is not available, Statutory Declaration of Age is 100% acceptable.
4. Candidates seeking admission deferment and cleared at the Admissions Office must proceed to the Bank to pay a Deferment Fee of N5,000.00 (five thousand Naira only).
5. After making a successful payment, the deferring student should submit the Bank Teller to the Bursary Department of the University and obtain a receipt.
6. After you must have obtained a Receipt, the candidate should return to the admissions office with the Receipt and obtain a Deferment of Admission Form, take note that this deferment form must be duly completed by the Candidate, and after which, should be submitted to his/ her Faculty Officer for Processing.

Similarly, there could be a deferment of admissions based on a school’s recommendation.

For instance, the Osun State University (Uniosun) recently advised all students offered admission by the institution, but are below the officially recognized admission age of sixteen years (16) to defer their admissions. However, if they refuse to defer the admission, they’ll automatically lose it.

There are other cases like this, where a candidate offered admission is forced by the school todefer the admission offer, even if the affected students don’t apply for it.

Can Application for Deferment of Admission be Rejected?

Yes. In some faculties, admission deferment isn’t always approved. The process for deferment of admission is somehow tedious, depending on your school of choice. Here are some notable reasons why your admission deferment request may likely be rejected or denied.

1. Even for tertiary institutions accepting the deferments, approval is at the decretion of the school management. The fact that they approve for somebody else on a health basis doesn’t guarantee that your own request will be approved on the same ground.
2. You should also be aware that not every tertiary institutions have provisions for the deferment of admissions. This means that you won’t be able to request for admission or academic deferment.
3. Another reason why some deferment request is rejected are the reasons provided. If you are requesting for admission deferment and your reason are not strong enough for consideration, it will certainly be rejected. For example: saying you are experiencing financial constraints without a clear explanation on the means to get the fund if your resume the following year, your request may likely be rejected.
4. Another reason is if you are trying to get more than one year of deferment approved, you may not be approved as most schools won’t accept deferment beyond one academic year (which consists of 12 months).
5. If you are not capable of meeting their financial requirements, your deferment request may likely be rejected. e.g, some universities will still want you to pay the acceptance fee, which others may ask for the school fee for that year you want to miss out (depending on your course, and reasons provided for deferment), and other dues for that very year before you leave on deferment. If you can’t satisfy those payments, you may be out of luck.

Final Conclusion.

This is the complete guide for deferment of admission in Nigerian tertiary institutions. I hope this article help you and provide a clear path to differing your admission, and also answers any burning question(s) you have about admission deferring in Nigerian schools.

However, if your question isn’t answered above, feel free to use the comment box and reach out to us, we’ll reply you with answers.

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