The new school year is upon us, and with 2015 comes new rumors that Jeju-NU students no longer have the option to take a leave of absence for a single semester. In other words, students currently taking a leave of absence might not be able to return to the university for the coming fall semester.

In the past, incoming freshman and transfer students were allowed to take unlimited leaves of absence. However, the new leave of absence policy creates a small crisis for those university students who were planning on taking a leave of absence in the fall, or those students who were planning to return to school at that time. Since rumors and speculation have been running wild on campus, The Islander recently visited Jeju-NU’s Office of Academic Affairs to get some accurate information and details about the new policy.

According to the Office of Academic Affairs, the school no longer permits leaves of absence for incoming freshmen or transfer students. Additionally, now there is now a set limit for the amount of absences a student can be granted. Now students from four-year universities can only take eight semesters worth of leaves of absences, as oppose to the unlimited amount that students could take in previous years.

For students in the College of Nursing, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the College of Medicine, leaves of absences are now only allowed during their spring semester, with the leave of absence being a year long.

So-Ara’s leader of the student council performed a survey to see how many students know about these new school regulations. The results were astounding. Only 51 percent of students surveyed knew of the set limit of leaves of absence.

These results indicate that Jeju-NU would benefit from an improved system of alerting students to policy changes. Students who do not know of such important matters could be at a major disadvantage and face academic complications in the future.