Making Changes in Schedules

Frequently Asked Questions about Drops and Withdrawals

Instructor-Initiated Drops or Withdrawals

Students who have never attended, who cease to attend, or who do not submit required work in an enrolled course may be dropped or withdrawn upon recommendation of the instructor through the first six weeks of the semester. This policy is designed to help remind students of their academic commitments.

The recommendation must be made in writing to the registrar or the dean of the appropriate school when the instructor seriously questions the student's intent to pursue the course, or when disorderly conduct on the part of the student negatively affects the student, others, or the instructional environment. The registrar has the responsibility to approve or to deny instructor-initiated requests for drops or withdrawals. If the registrar approves such a request, the student will be notified of such action in writing.

If the instructor acts within the time allowed for drops the request would be treated as a request to drop a course. Dropped courses are deleted from the student’s schedule, will not appear on the transcript, and the student’s course load for that semester will be reduced by the appropriate number of credits.

If the instructor acts after the drop date, the request would be treated as a withdrawal. Instructor-initiated withdrawals after the sixth week of a semester (or sixth day of Interterm or twelfth day for the summer term) require a special petition on the part of the instructor. If the student is withdrawn from the course, a grade of W will be listed on the transcript. For more details on drops and withdrawals, see the appropriate sections above.

Students may appeal any instructor-initiated drop or withdrawal. Appeals for reinstatement into a class must be submitted in writing to the dean of the appropriate school within one week after the notification to drop or withdraw was sent to the student.

Administrative Drops and Withdrawals

Students are sometimes unable to initiate drops or withdrawals because of the following circumstances:

1. Extreme illness of the student or an immediate family member. The illness must be documented by a physician.
2. Death in the immediate family. The death must be documented through an obituary or other evidence.
3. Required call to active military duty. The call to active duty must be documented by a letter from a branch of the military.

In any of these cases, students or the agents acting on their behalf may request an administrative drop or withdrawal from some or all courses. This request must be submitted in writing and include appropriate documentation. This request should be submitted to the registrar.

Drops will be permitted in time frame allowed for drops depending on the length of the course. Withdrawals may be permitted after that period. Note that students receiving financial aid will have obligations to the government and/or lenders even if they attended only a single day of the term. Contact the Financial Aid Office for more information. See also the Catalog section entitled “Student Charges and Payment Information.”

Add, Drop, and Withdraw Dates for Classes of Varying Lengths

*Students adding a class by petition will be charged $25 for each change.

Adding Courses

During fall and spring semesters, students are permitted to add a course during the first five days of the term without either the instructor’s permission or a fee. Those missing the initial add deadline have five additional days¹ to add a class if they successfully petition to do so and pay a $25 fee for each change. A late add petition must be signed by the chair of the department, the student’s advisor, and the faculty member teaching the class. Petition forms are available in the Records Offices.

After the tenth day of the term, students will not be allowed to add a course unless a student generated petition is approved¹. Only under exceptional circumstances such as prolonged illness or death in the family would a petition to add a course after the tenth day of a semester be received favorably. Any student seeking exceptional consideration must complete the petition form and receive approval from the course instructor, the student’s advisor, and the School Dean. The $25 late add fee also applies to those student petitioning to add after the tenth day of the term. Petition forms are available in the Records Office.

For terms (or classes) shorter than a 15 week semester, please refer to the table above. Students taking an online course have five days to drop any course that is seven weeks or shorter in length.

¹Music ensembles, newspaper or yearbook production, practica, internships, and departmental honors research or thesis are exempt from this policy and may be added after the first ten days of classes with signatures of the instructor and advisor. Also exempt are schedule changes students are advised to make within a department to better align with the student’s readiness for a course like moving to a higher or lower level mathematics and/or elementary foreign language course.

Dropping or Withdrawing from Courses

Students who wish to be released from a course after a term has begun have two options, depending on the timing of their request. Dropping is permitted during the first ten class days in a fall or spring semester. Withdrawing is permitted from the eleventh day through the end of the tenth week of the fall or spring semester. After the tenth week of a semester students may not drop or withdraw, and must complete a course. If they do not complete the course, students will receive whatever grade the instructor deems appropriate; grades of W will not be automatically granted for students not completing a course after the withdrawal date in any term. The time period in which to drop and/or withdrawal from Interterm (3 weeks) and for the summer term (6 weeks) are noted in the table above. Students taking an online course have five days to complete the Online Learning Agreement or they may be administratively dropped from the course as a non-participant.

Students cannot withdraw from a course simply by informing an instructor of their plans or ceasing to attend class. Non-attendance will result in a failing grade for the course.

Exceptions to this policy will only be permitted in unusual circumstances such as prolonged illness or death in one’s immediate family. A student who wishes to be considered for an exceptional drop or withdrawal must complete a petition form available in the Records Office and receive approval from the appropriate School Dean.

Dropping or Withdrawing from all Courses

Students wanting to drop or withdraw all the courses from which they are enrolled must, unless they qualify for an administrative withdrawal (see next section), personally drop or withdraw from their courses in writing. Students cannot drop or withdraw simply by informing an instructor of their plans or ceasing to attend class. The procedures for this are described in the earlier sections on “To Drop a Course” and “To Withdraw from a Course.”

Students who act early enough to drop all courses, no courses for that term will be recorded on the student’s transcript. If the student acts after the end of the drop period but before the end of the withdrawal period all courses will be recorded on the transcript with a grade of W. Students leaving school after the withdraw date but before the end of the term will receive the grades for the courses in which they were enrolled as the instructor deems appropriate; grades of W will not be automatically awarded.

Any student receiving financial aid that drops or withdrawals from all courses will have obligations to the government and/or lenders even if they attended only a single day of the term. Contact the Financial Aid Office for more information. See also the Catalog section entitled “Student Charges and Payment Information.”

Students withdrawing from all courses must complete an Exit Interview in the Student Success Office before they leave