How to Drop or Withdraw from Your Course

If you are experiencing an academic or personal challenge that impacts your ability to complete any courses over the course year please reach out to your Department Chair. Once you have spoken with your Department Chair, you may choose to request a drop or withdrawal by completing and returning a form provided by your Department Chair and the Doctoral Success Coach. At that point, you should also decide if you would like to “stop out” of your program through a Program Hold or disenroll from the program completely.

Students who need to pause their doctoral program for a year or more may request a Program Hold by communicating with the Doctoral Success Coach and completing the Program Hold Request form. Students may request one or more Program Hold during the program, as long as they complete the program within the approved timeframe of 7 years.

Your program deadline is not extended if you are on an approved Program Hold; you will have the same program deadline when you return from a Program Hold and may need to work with the Doctoral Success Coach on if your program deadline is nearing or expired upon your return.

Deciding Whether or not to drop or Withdraw from Your Course

Important Definitions

Course Drop: The removal of a course from your schedule prior to the end of the first week of class.
Course Withdrawal: The removal of a course from your schedule after the end of week one.
End of Week One: 11:59:59 pm Eastern Time of the first Sunday of the course.
Drop or Withdrawal Date: This is the date you submitted the online “Course Drop/Withdraw” Form, the date you contacted the Office of the Registrar with your official request by email, phone call or voicemail.
SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress): One measure used to determine eligibility for both federal student aid and for graduation. Withdrawals impact SAP, as they count against your maximum cap of 150% of courses attempted vs. courses successfully passed.

Consequences of a Course Drop

Grades: You will see a "DP" for the course when viewing grades inside the Records Menu area of the ecampus under My Academic Plan or My Academic Records under Grade Reports.
GPA (Grade Point Average): Your GPA is not impacted.
Transcript: If you have a transcript sent out, it will NOT show any record of the dropped course.
SAP: Classes you drop do not count as “attempted” in calculations used to determine eligibility for Federal Student Aid or for graduation eligibility.
Federal Student Aid: If you do not complete a course you were scheduled to attend, your aid may be subject to a Return of Title IV (R2T4) calculation.
Course Access: You will no longer have access to a course once you drop it.

Consequences of a Course Withdrawal

Grades: You will see a "W" for the course when viewing grades inside the Records Menu area of the e-campus under My Academic Plan or My Academic Records under Grade Reports.
GPA: Your GPA is not impacted.
Transcript: If you have a transcript sent out, it will show this course with a “W” grade.
SAP: Withdrawn courses do count as “attempted” in calculations used to determine eligibility for Federal Student Aid or for graduation eligibility.
Federal Student Aid: If you do not complete a course, your aid may be subject to a Return of Title IV (R2T4) calculation.
Course Access: You will no longer have access to a course once you withdraw from it.