You may apply for postponement /deferment of the scholarship during the course of studies using Form TSLS 04 if the attendance at the Higher Education Institute is affected due to the following reasons ONLY:

1. Medical ground- supported by medical report (not sick sheets for few days only) by a registered medical practitioner;
2. Military/Security deployment;
3. National duties;
4. Death in immediate family (spouse, children, parents living with the students, siblings only); or
5. any other reason(s) as deemed appropriate to TSLS.

 
You cannot apply for deferment before commencing studies under NTS as all Scholarships are tenable from academic term one of the academic year for which the award has been approved.
 
No deferment of studies will be approved in a retrospective manner. All such applications will be treated as the case of abandonment of studies and will result in termination of NTS and loss of the funding.
 
For an award to be deferred, the awardee must attend at least one full-time year of studies prior to the proposed deferment and meet the minimum criteria for renewal of the award during the academic term (s) attended prior to the application for deferment.
 
Enrolment at any other Higher Education Institute or acceptance of another award during the deferment period will result in an automatic cancellation of the award unless prior written approval from TSLS is obtained.
 
Deferment of studies without prior written approval from TSLS will be deemed as abandonment of studies and will result in an automatic termination of the award by TSLS.
 
TSLS’s general policy is that awards may be deferred for periods up to one academic year and approval is dependent on the availability of remaining scholarship funds.
 
No deferment of studies will be allowed for vacation or employment purposes (unless employment of a National Duty in nature).

The following is relevant in relation to your NTS due suspension or termination from the program of studies by your institution:

1. Suspension/Academic Exclusion- your NTS also gets suspended by TSLS without notice to you. During the period of suspension, you cannot change your program/major/minor or institution nor can you apply for TELS. However, if the suspension exceeds one year, then your NTS will be terminated by TSLS.
2. Termination- termination by institution will result in automatic termination of your NTS by TSLS without any notice. You cannot apply for change your program/major/minor or institution once your award is terminated. Upon termination, recoveries action by FRCS will commence. You cannot apply for TELS or any other Schemes administered by TSLS unless you have full paid off your debt under NTS and produce a bond clearance letter from FRCS.

TSLS does not encourage withdrawal from course after the allowances or tuition or both have been paid unless the request for withdrawal is on grounds accepted to TSLS. The accepted grounds include medical, National duties, death of an immediate family member, extensive losses due to natural disasters or a national epidemic or pandemic that restricts a student from attending classes or no alternative mode of teaching or learning is available.
 
Any request for withdrawal must be made using Form TSLS 04 available on www.tsls.com.fj
 
Should you intend to withdraw from the HEI or from a course after payment of tuition and/or allowances for the academic term, the award will be withdrawn and the awardee will be required to refund the payments already made before any approval is authorized by TSLS. Remember for late withdrawals, your tagging for the course(s)/unit(s) will be withdrawn by TSLS and you have to pay of these courses privately with any later withdrawal penalty.
The following requirements must be submitted by you to TSLS if you wish to withdraw from a course(s) after the normal withdrawal period (without any penalty by the HEI) of the HEI’s:

1. Letter from the Course Coordinator/HEI which clearly highlights the academic progress till the point of planned withdrawal. The letter must include the course work marks/grades;
2. Medical Report indicating that the awardee is not able to continue with the studies if the planned withdrawal is on medical grounds; and
3. Any additional documents which TSLS may request on a case-by-case basis.

 
No withdrawal on the grounds of poor academic progress will be approved by TSLS.

TSLS relies solely on the reports submitted by the respective institutions for the processing of tuition and allowances. As such errors and omissions in processing and payment of allowances may result from errors and omissions in the report submitted by the institutions.


Common errors and omissions noted in the past includes:

1. Changes in the number of courses/units in the enrolment report largely attributed to students either adding or dropping courses after the receipt on initial enrolment reports;
2. Incorrect classification of courses/units in the enrolment in terms of first attempt courses, eligible repeat courses, subsequent repeat courses etc.;
3. Incorrect courses being tagged by HEI’s in contradiction to TSLS’s terms and conditions of tagging;
4. Change in program/major/minor/institution by students or HEI’s without prior written approval from TSLS.

 
In case(s) where either wrong allowances or tuition has been tagged/paid by TSLS, the following recoveries action by will be taken:

1. For Tuition, the institution will immediately be asked un-tag the student from the ineligible course(s)/unit(s) and if any fees have already been paid to be reimbursed to TSLS and the student be billed privately for such course(s)/unit(s).
2. For allowances, instructions will be issued to the bank to put a hold to the allowances not yet withdrawn and only on TSLS’s instruction the funds to be released. Students will immediately be contacted to reimburse the excess allowance to TSLS by depositing the same in the official TSLS Scheme account. TSLS may also contact the institution and request that the students account be placed on TSLS hold.
3. Where the excess allowance payment cannot be recovered in a particular term, the recoveries will be initiated in the following academic term. That is any unrecovered excess allowances from the previous term will be deducted from the following term(s) allowances unless the full amount is recovered.
4. In case any excess payment cannot be recovered and the student has completed his/her studies, all excess payment will be converted as TELS and recovered under the normal TELS recoveries process and criteria.