Withdraw or take the F? What is the best option for a student failing a class?

According to Michelle Vaccaro, academic counselor, first and foremost, a student in that situation should meet with an advisor. Every student’s individual situation is different, and can call for a different plan of action. Many factors contribute to the decision of dropping a class.

One factor has to do with a student’s GPA; it may or may not be able to take it if an F was received.

There is also an incompletion rate that goes with dropping classes.

If a student is on Financial Aid, their grades and completion rates are held to a different standard. In order to keep Financial Aid, GPA must be at a cumulative of 2.0 or higher, and completion rate must be at 67% or higher.

This means that of the classes the student has enrolled in, they have completed 67% of them.

If either of these falls below the required rate, the student could be put on Financial Aid warning, or complete cancellation of Financial Aid altogether.

Another factor to consider is that if a class is failed, and then retaken, the original grade is erased and replaced with the new one.

Withdrawals cannot be erased; a class dropped is dropped whether or not it is retaken.

The last date to drop for a full term class is March 31st. According to Vaccaro, “There is still time to make a good decision.” That is why midterm grades are sent out over spring break, to help students decide where to go from there if their grades are not what they expected.

Classes that only last half of the term have a different drop date. Any additional information can be found on the school website, under the Registration Page, the add/drop withdraw section. Building 1 will also be open over Spring Break from 7:30 a.m. to ­4 p.m., so there is still the option of meeting with counselors.

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