I have finally spoken to my supervisor about desire to withdraw from a fully funded PhD scholarship. My reason is depression. I sneaked in a question if i will maade to pay back the stipend and tuition fees so far (120k). She said that for medical and health reasons, it will likely be possible to appeal for a full waiver. But since shes the chair of graduate education as well as my supervisor, she has her own interest as well. So she ttied to make me consider taking a semester leave of absence. Deep down i immediately did not want this as i have already made up my mind of quitting (im seriously done with this!) but to be polite i told her i will consider this.

On that day itself, i got a medical note from a general practitioner diagnosing me as depressed and i have made appointment to see a specialist doctor.

Today, my supervisor sent me an email asking how are things. So i dropped the ball and sent in the letter to request for withdrawal, along with doctor's memo. I also cc-ed the email to a professor that is of a higher appointment then her just in case she has her own interest.

My question is, can the school carry out plans to make sure that perhaps i take a leave of absence and then make a decision? I just want this part of my life to be over and done with. Any advise is much welcome!

No one can make you stay if you don want to. Pretty sure you have to fill in a form from Grad School. Do that and you should be done

Congrats Iwan. It takes courage to do stuff like this. Great that you were reassured that you shouldn't have to pay - was that verbal or in writing? All best.

Thanks tudor. It wqs in verbal when i talked to her about it the first time. Hope the appeal can be made and a full waiver is possible.