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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-06-12
Concept: Student Holds

Concept: Student Holds

You can use student holds to block processes within Workday, such as registering for classes or receiving financial aid. Workday doesn't package or disburse financial aid when a student has an outstanding hold.
Students can see hold reasons explaining why they received a hold and how they can resolve it. Once you remove the hold, the student can proceed with the blocked process.

Student Hold Contexts

When you select certain hold types, you can also specify how the hold should be applied. Types of hold contexts can include:
Hold Context
Description
Applies to All
Applies the hold to the student across all institutions and all records.
You can hide this option using the
Edit Tenant Setup - Student
task if you don’t want to enable holds to apply across your entire tenant.
Select an Institution
Applies the hold to the student at a specific institution.
Select an Academic Record
Applies the hold to the student on a specific active academic record.
Select a Federal School Code
Applies the hold based on the federal school code associated with the financial status of the student.
Award Year
Applies the hold to a specified financial aid award year.
Academic Period
Applies the hold to a specified academic period.
When students don't resolve their holds, they can't register for courses beyond the academic period in which they receive a hold. You can still help them register for courses. See Concept: Registration Restriction Overrides.
Award Item
Applies the hold to a specified award item so that the remainder of the financial aid package can disburse.

Setup Student Hold Service

We plan to begin the retirement process for this service in March 2025. We recommend that you use the
Apply Student Hold
step for more flexibility in applying student holds.
You can also configure certain Financial Aid business processes to delay packaging or disbursement. You can add the
Setup Student Hold
service step to business processes like
Federal Verification Event
or
Professional Judgment Event
. This step stops the hold process until the business process completes without the need for a
Remove Hold
service step.