Are there repercussions for dropping out of a PhD program mid way through?

[hibiscus]

Hi. Just wandering if there were financial repercussions etc. for leaving after the first second or third year for example ? 

Cheers.

[fuzzylogician]

No financial repercussions that I know of. There may be professional repercussions, though: It may make it harder for you to come back and try another program later in the future, and it may burn some bridges with faculty. 

[TakeruK]

There aren't usually any financial penalties for leaving early. By "penalties", I mean extra fees or fines you must pay for leaving.

But if you don't finish your semester/year/degree program, the source of your funding might require you to pay back money paid to you for that time period. This can vary a lot, but some situations my friends have gotten into:

- One person I know had a government award from their home country where if they did not graduate, they would have to repay the entire value of the award back to their funding agency (they didn't have to do this, but it was in their terms & conditions)

- One person I know left their program in the middle of a semester, let's say it was in February and the semester was Jan-Apr. They had to repay back all sources of funding paid to them from January onwards. This particular program pays all scholarships/fellowships upfront (i.e. paid in January for Jan-Apr) so it was a big repayment. In addition, leaving the program meant they were no longer a student, which meant they were no longer eligible to be an RA based on the terms of the contract. Therefore, they were found to be in breach of contract and had to repay wages paid to them for their January and February RA work that was already completed. Their TA work was protected because of a union where the eligibility is based on your status at the start of the semester, not at all times during the semester.

So, usually this means it is best to choose to leave at the end of a school year or semester if possible. And check the terms & conditions of your funding source very carefully.

[evanmarie]

Not that I know of and I left half way through a Ph.D program. It's probably easiest for all to leave at the end of a semester if you can make it, but most people don't even have these kind of repercussions. Be honest with faculty that you like/work with and it should be easy to avoid burning bridges- I had faculty writing me letters, etc.