Course Withdrawal Procedure

Standard Operating Procedure

Procedure Details

Procedure Title: Course Withdrawal Procedure
Procedure #: RO.017
Revision #: 002

Unit Responsible: Academic Records and Registration
Individual Responsible: Registrar’s Office

Effective Date: 02/03/2023
Initial Approval Date: 08/23/2018
Last Review/Update Date: 02/03/2023
Next Review Date: 02/01/2026

*Does this procedure support a Board Policy? No
If yes, identify: N/A

Board policies can be found at: LCC Board of Trustees Policy Page

*Does this procedure support HLC criteria and/or Assumed Practices? Yes
If yes, identify: 2B, 4A

HLC Criteria can be found at: HLC Accreditation Criteria
HCL Assumed Practices can be found at: HLC Assumed Practices

*Does this procedure support a State or Federal Regulation? No
If yes, identify: N/A

*Note: Standard Operating Procedures should be in furtherance of some LCC policy and/or accreditation criteria, even if the relationship is not direct. Assistance in determining this information can be obtained from the Academic Procedure Advisory Committee (APAC) and/or the Accreditation Liaison Officer.

Course Withdrawal Procedure

1. Purpose

Although the College is committed to helping students be successful in their courses and remain on track to complete their educational goals, on occasion it might be in the best interest of the student and/or the College community that a student withdraw from or be withdrawn from a course or from courses prior to the end of the course(s).

2. Scope

This procedure applies to students, Registrar’s Office, and other College personnel authorized to withdraw students from courses.

3. Prerequisites

Subject to applicable procedures, the student may initiate a withdrawal for any reason and the College may initiate a withdrawal for one or more of the following reasons:

Student-Initiated Withdrawal:

Student may withdraw from a course(s) for any reason through the last day of the fourteenth week of the semester or other equivalent dates as specified for variable length courses.
Drop and Withdraw Information

College-Initiated (Administrative) Withdrawal:

The student lacks the appropriate prerequisite(s) for the course.
The student has engaged in behavior that interferes with the instructional process as determined by the Office of Student Compliance.
The student is not in good financial standing with the college.
The student has extenuating circumstances such as illness, accident, bereavement, or any other circumstance beyond the student’s control.
As per the Enrollment Verification and Student Attendance Standard Operating Procedure, the student has not participated in an academically related activity in the first two weeks of class or faculty determines that the student never participated in the course at the time of grading.
Programs with licensure/accreditation requirements that mandate taking attendance will drop students within 14 days of non-participation.

Guidelines of a Withdrawal:

If the withdrawal takes place within an established refund period for the semester, a student will receive the appropriate refund.
Students are responsible for payment of all charges.
If the withdrawal from a semester-length course occurs prior to the end of the second week of the semester (or other equivalent dates as specified for variable-length courses), a final grade will not be issued, and the withdrawn course will not be recorded on the student’s academic record.
If the withdrawal from a semester-length course occurs between the first day of the third week of the semester and the last day of the fourteenth week of the semester (or other equivalent dates as specified for variable-length courses), the student will receive a grade of “W” for the course.
The college will retain a record of all withdrawals according to the Record Retention requirements.
Students dropped due to non-participation from a program that has licensure/accreditation requirements will receive a “W” on the transcript at the time of grading for the course.
Active military students wishing to withdraw from a course due to deployment or extended training orders must provide documentation in order to receive a 100% refund of tuition and course fees. A final grade will not be issued, and the withdrawn course will not be recorded on the student’s academic record.
Students receiving financial aid who do not complete any courses for a semester (0.0F, 0.0U, ZF, ZU, I, and/or W) or who are not actively enrolled are subject to Return of Title IV Funds and the institution must determine if the student earned all of the financial aid received for the semester.
Any student, who disputes an administrative withdrawal, may submit a Student Dispute of Administrative Withdrawal from Class(es) request.

Definition of Academically Related Activity:

Academic engagement is defined as active participation by a student in an instructional activity related to the student’s course that includes, but is not limited to:

Attending a synchronous class, lecture, recitation, or field or laboratory activity, physically or online, where there is an opportunity for interaction between the faculty and students;
Submitting an academic assignment;
Taking an assessment or an exam;
Participating in an interactive tutorial, webinar, or other interactive computer-assisted instruction;
Participating in a study group, group project, or an online discussion that is assigned by the school; or
Interacting with faculty about academic matters.

Academic engagement does not include:

Logging into an online class or tutorial without any further participation; or
Participating in academic counseling or advising.

For licensure/accreditation requirements:

For programs which require attendance due to 3rd-party accreditation, faculty responsible for those courses will take attendance in accordance with the accreditor's requirements.

The following academically relate activities constitute participation for purposes of determining whether a student started an LCC face-to-face or hybrid course, which consists of both classroom attendance and activities in the Desire to Learn (D2L) system:

Physically attending a class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and students;
Submitting an academic assignment;
Taking an exam, completing an interactive tutorial, or participating in computer-assisted instruction;
Attending a study group that is assigned by the instructor;
Participating in an online course discussion about academic matters (logging into an online course without active participation is not acceptable); and
Initiating contact with a course instructor within the D2L system to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.

The following academically related activities constitute participation for purposes of determining whether a student started an LCC distance education course, which consists of activities within the D2L system:

Student submission of an academic assignment;
Student submission of an exam;
Documented student participation in an interactive tutorial or computer-assisted instruction;
A posting by the student showing the student’s participation in an online study group that is assigned by the instructor;
A posting by the student in a course discussion forum showing the student’s participation in an online discussion about academic matters; and
An email from the student or other documentation showing that the student initiated contact with the course instructor within the D2L system to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.

4. Responsibilities

The Registrar’s Office is the designated office responsible for preparing and overseeing the procedures as it relates to the course withdrawal criteria.

5. Procedure

Students are encouraged to discuss alternative options with their instructor or success coach before withdrawing from a course.
Students who are receiving financial aid should contact the Financial Aid Office before withdrawing to determine the impact on their financial aid eligibility.
Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4)
Students who are receiving veteran benefits should contact the Center for Veteran and Family Support before withdrawing from a course.
To withdraw from a course, students must do the following:
1. Log into Banner;
2. Select Register;
3. Choose the semester from the list and Continue. A list of registered courses with a dropdown action next to each course will be shown;
4. Choose the Drop option next to the course(s) to be dropped and then select Submit.

Note: Students with a hold on their account cannot withdraw themselves from a course in Banner Self Service. Instead, the student should contact the Registrar’s Office for instructions on how to withdraw from the course.

6. Reference

7. Definitions

N/A