Withdrawal Policy

Withdrawal Due to Personal Hardships 

In rare cases, students may experience a hardship beyond their control (e.g., extended illness, hospitalization, debilitating accident, death of an immediate family member) that impacts their academic performance. In such cases, the student may decide it is in their best interest to withdraw. 

If the hardship occurred before the withdrawal deadline and the student wishes to withdraw, the student should request to withdraw on SOAR before the deadline (see Drop a Class instructions).

If the hardship occurred after the withdrawal deadline or impacted the student’s ability to withdraw by the published deadline, the student may qualify for a late withdrawal as described below. The type of withdrawal request depends on when the hardship occurred and other circumstances:

• Requests to drop an individual class with a W after the deadline
  Petitions of this type will only be considered if you have some documentable, extreme circumstance beyond your control that interfered with your class performance and (1) happened after the deadline for a W or (2) directly prevented you from withdrawing before the deadline. Petitions can only be submitted for the current semester or immediately following the end of the term. If you wish to learn more, click the link for Petition to Drop a Class with a W After the Deadline.
  

• Requests to withdraw from all classes after the deadline
  Petitions of this type will only be considered if you have some documentable, extreme circumstance beyond your control that interfered with your class performance and (1) happened after the deadline for a W or (2) directly prevented you from withdrawing before the deadline. Petitions can only be submitted for the current semester or immediately following the end of the term.  If you wish to learn more, click the link for Petition to Withdraw from the University After the Deadline.

• Requests to withdraw from a past semester due to hardship (Administrative Withdrawal)
  If you experienced a single semester of poor grades due to extenuating, documentable circumstances beyond your control, which may have occurred either before or after the deadline to withdraw, and you have since earned at least one full semester of good grades, you may be eligible to apply for an Administrative Withdrawal from that prior semester. Your grades prior to and following the term in question must be satisfactory to be considered. If you wish to learn more, click the link for Petition for an Administrative Withdrawal.
  

If you think you qualify for a withdrawal due to personal hardship after reviewing the appropriate form, policy, and documentation requirements, you should consult the Office of Student Outreach and Support with your documentation and ask any questions you may have.

Please note that even if a withdrawal is approved, students will need to allow time for petitions to be reviewed, adjudicated, and processed by the Office of the Registrar. Any changes to grades may not be reflected in a student’s records for at least several weeks after approval.