Don’t fail or withdraw until you read this (by PROF)

Disclaimer : Before you make any decision to drop, withdraw of fail a class, talk to your professor, financial aid office, advisor, or any other related office at your college to make sure you understand the implications from your decision. Every students’ circumstances may be different, and colleges/universities/countries have their own policies so don’t rely on this information alone to make a decision. This is intended to be informational and educational content only.

Welcome to my complete guide where I help students learn the pros and cons of dropping or withdrawing from a course.

As a former professor, I’ve witnessed hundreds of students in this exact situation and I am giving you the same information that I gave them.

You are probably in a situation where you are failing a class and contemplating withdrawing from the course.

There are so many things to consider before you make the decision to drop a class.

I am going to talk about those consequences today, but I will also share some of the benefits with you.

I go over some frequently asked questions first, but read the entire guide because there is a lot more information you need to KNOW before you make any final decisions.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• If you withdraw from a class and re-take it, does it replace the W?

  The W will likely remain on your transcript despite taking the course again and earning a course grade. Some colleges may allow you to replace the W if you retake the course, but this is not guaranteed and you may have to petition to have the W removed and replaced. Each university can have their own policies.

• Will dropping or withdrawing from a course effect my financial aid eligibility?

  Yes. It is very likely that dropping or withdrawing from a course will effect your financial aid eligibility. If you are required to be enrolled a minimum number of hours, you could be ineligible for aid. If you already received aid, you could have to pay it back. I have more information about some financial consequences in the guide below.

• If I drop a course, do I get a refund?

  If you drop a course from your schedule before the first day of class, you will likely get a 100% refund. If you drop a class after the term begins, you will likely get a partial refund. And eventually you will not be eligible for a refund at all if you drop too late in the term. You almost always need to drop before the college’s census date to get any refund.

• Will my withdraw effect my G.P.A.?

  No. In most circumstances, a W on your transcript will not effect your G.P.A.

• Will a withdraw show up on my transcript?

  Yes. A withdraw will likely show up on your transcript as a W.

• What's the difference between a drop and a withdraw?

  A dropped course is usually a course dropped before the census date and won’t appear on your transcript. But a withdrawn course is a course that was dropped after the census date and will show up as a W on your transcript.

• Is it better to fail or withdraw from a course?

  In most situations, it is better to withdraw from a course rather than fail the course. However, if you will be ineligible for aid after you withdraw from a course, or are a student athlete and need to be enrolled in a minimum number of hours to be eligible to play, it might be better to fail a course. Also there are some limits to how many courses a student can withdraw from. Lastly, failing a course could lead to academic probation or suspension.

  Read the guide to learn more.

• Are there deadlines to withdraw?

  Yes there is a deadline. Colleges should publish this deadline in the syllabus and academic catalog, as well as in their academic calendar. Students must withdraw before this date and if they miss the deadline, they cannot withdraw unless there are extenuating circumstances like a medical emergency.

Fail, drop or withdraw guide for college students

I have a complete guide for college students that are considering dropping or failing a college class.

I will teach you exactly how to weigh the pros and cons of dropping vs withdrawing from a class and define what this even means. Because if you fail too many classes, you could get kicked out of college.

I was a professor for 15 years in the United States and I can help you understand more about the significant decision of dropping or withdrawing from a class vs failing a class.

Don’t do it until you read this.

And if you do end up failing your class, I have an article to help you figure out what to do next.

But there are a couple of things I need to mention first.

Is it better to fail or withdraw?

Each student’s circumstances are going to be different and your answers to these questions will impact your decision.

These are some questions you need to answer first. I talk about these later in the guide.

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST

• Do you have any financial aid or scholarships that are impacted from these actions?

• Will you get suspended or placed on academic probation for a low G.P.A. if you fail a course?

• Are you an athlete, international student or veteran?

• When exactly are you dropping a course during the term (beginning, middle, end)?

• Do you want a 'F’ on your transcript?

• How many times have you taken the course?

• Are you going to fall below full-time status?

What is a census date at college?

There is something called a census date or official reporting date for most institutions. This is usually about two weeks into a long semester (16 weeks). And the college is required to officially report who is still registered in a course.

I’ll explain more about why this matters later in the guide.

What is a drop/add period at a college?

A lot of colleges will allow students to drop and/or add any courses during the first week of a long semester. And there aren’t any consequences unless you have to pay more in tuition. But students can usually do this freely without any problems.

But please understand that colleges have their own policies and it may differ than the one described above. I have seen some colleges only give partial refunds for any drop after the start of the term so be careful.

But dropping a class in the very beginning of the semester usually doesn’t show up on your transcript.

What is the difference between attempted vs earned hours?

When you take a course, you are either going to have attempted hours or earned hours on your transcript and official records.

If you complete the course and earn a grade, you will see that as earned hours. But if you withdraw from a course (after census), it will show up as attempted hours.

If you dropped before census, it won’t show up at all.

This matters for financial aid and repeat purposes explained later.

What is the difference between withdrawing or dropping a course?

I usually hear most institutions use these terms interchangeable.

But if you wanted to get really technical, dropping a class would mean getting out of the class before the census date. This usually has the fewest consequences. And won’t show up on your transcript.

And withdrawing from the class could mean dropping the class after the census date. And this would have more consequences. And would be counted as attempted hours and would show up on your transcript.

What does a withdrawn course mean on your transcript?

Oftentimes a withdraw (W) on your course transcript is simply for record keeping. The colleges need to record how many courses you withdraw from because there are usually some limits on the total number of courses you can withdraw from within your undergraduate career.

I talk about this more later in this guide.

It is also a useful tool for employers, graduate programs and any other entity that wants to review your transcripts. They can see the number of withdrawn courses and it can be helpful to understand more about you as a student.

What does it mean to drop a course?

Dropping before the start of the term

If you know that you want to change your schedule, you can start dropping or adding classes before the official start date for that semester. And most colleges will give you a 100% refund, no questions asked.

So, this is the ideal time to make those changes. Just check you college’s policies and know if you need to be enrolled in a minimum number of hours before you drop.

Also, keep in mind that some programs offer classes in a sequential order for their programs and you need to know if this impacts your future schedule.

You wouldn’t want to drop a course that won’t be offered again for another year when you need that class as a prerequisite for a course the next term. It could throw your whole graduation date off.

Dropping before census date

A lot of universities use a census date for record keeping and financial aid purposes. And if you are taking a class, and know you need to drop before this date (around two weeks into the long semester), you can usually do that without any repercussions except maybe losing all or some of your tuition money.

This totally depends on the college’s refund policy.

So, make sure you get out of the class as quick as possible because once this date passes, lots of things may be impacted.

Most colleges will have reduced refunds based upon the length of the term and how many days into the term you dropped the course.

Eventually refunds stop altogether. So if you dropped the course 10 days after classes began, maybe you only get a 75% refund. And if you waited until the 20th day of class, you might only get a 25% refund.

I need to mention that most colleges won’t have any record of the drop from a course BEFORE the census date on your transcript. So it will be like it never even happened.

But you could still have some financial aid or scholarships consequences.

Dropping after the census date

If you find yourself in a situation where the census date or the official reporting date has passed, and you need to withdraw from the course, you will typically have some financial aid and/or personal consequences.

And it will show up as a ‘W’ on your transcript. And it won’t be counted towards your G.P.A. but it will be counted as attempted hours.

Another thing to consider is if there are any scholarships or aid that you received that said that you had to be a full-time student. If you have some stipulation that says you need to be a full-time student to keep funding, you could be hit hard by dropping the course.

I’ve heard from some college students that they would rather fail the class than have to pay back any financial aid they received because they dropped below full-time status after withdrawing from a course, which is usually 12 credit hours for undergraduate programs.

But even if you remain enrolled for that semester, and were eligible to play because you were still enrolled in the minimum number of credit hours, you might be ineligible the next term because of your low G.P.A. from the ‘F’ you earned after you failed the course or courses. So, it might eventually impact you in the long run.

I will explain how attempted hours can impact you later in this guide.

Dropping classes due to an emergency

If you have a medical or family emergency of some sorts, your college may have some special committee that could review this, and you might be able to drop your courses, and get more reimbursement after some deadlines have passed.

This probably won’t help much regarding your attempted hours, but at least you might get some of your money back. There are definitely some time limits you need to learn about first. So, check with your college and see if they offer anything like this.

So, this might help with getting some refunds back, but it will show up on your transcript as a dropped course if you do this after the census date.

Consequences of dropping or failing a course

Three-peat rule

Some states and colleges have a three-peat rule or something similar. This means that you cannot repeat a certain course too many times.

And withdrawing or failing a class can impact you if you want to repeat the same course. There are financial consequences. You might have to pay higher tuition if you take a course for the third time.

What I see most often is that you can drop a course before census date, and it won’t count towards this three-peat rule. But if you drop a course after the census date (official reporting date) it will count as attempted hours.

And this rule counts withdrawn courses and failed courses towards this limit. So it won’t matter if you withdraw or fail a course for this rule to kick in.

There are some rare exceptions here though so make sure you know your college’s policies for your specific circumstances.

30/45 hour rule

You probably don’t know this, but there is a 30 and 45 hour rule that applies to college credits at some universities.

Some states have legislation that says you need to complete your degree plan without exceeding a certain number of hours. And some colleges may also have other rules too. These rules are meant to help students complete degree plans as quickly as possible to minimize debt and time.

Not every university or state may have the same rules so check with your college to see what their rules are for credit hours beyond your degree plan.

The reason why this is important to consider is because if you withdraw from classes, it is likely going to count towards your hours taken. So these hours are going to be calculated as attempted hours. This means that if you withdraw from 5 courses (15 credit hours), that these 15 hours are counted towards your attempted hours.

And if you get too many hours, either attempted, earned, or repeated, you might end of violating the 30/45 hour rules.

Why does this matter?

Because hours taken beyond these rules usually result in higher tuition costs for you. So, pay special attention to these rules at your university or college, and make sure you know exactly how many hours you have taken.

But keep in mind that failed and withdrawn courses are usually going to count towards these rules so it won’t impact your decision on dropping or failing a class.

Withdraw course limit

You might have a maximum number of courses you can withdraw from at your college.

For example, in Texas, you can only withdraw from six courses the entire time you are an undergraduate.

Unless you are withdrawing from every course during a semester. And some courses won’t count towards this rule anyway.

And it is possible that the college could give you some sort of exception, but it’s not guaranteed.

Make sure you aren’t just withdrawing from your courses left and right.

And remember, this is counting classes that are going to show up as attempted hours on your transcript and not dropped courses before the census date.

So, if you are about to exceed this limit for your college or state on withdrawn courses, it could be better to fail the course instead.

But you could still have limits on how many times you can repeat a course so pay close attention to all the rules for your college.

And when you fail a course instead, your G.P.A. is impacted and other aid could be lost. Think about all the implications before making a decision.

How will a dropped or failed course effect my G.P.A.?

If you drop a course, it likely won’t count towards your G.P.A., but if you fail a course, it will.

This matters because it could have financial aid consequences, and your college could place you on academic probation or kick you out for a semester or even altogether.

The safest bet to protect your G.P.A. is to withdraw from a course rather than failing it.

Withdraw deadline

If you are going to drop a class, you need to know any withdraw deadlines. Usually it is about a month or two into the long semester. Each college may have a different drop deadline.

And there may be some exceptions like medical emergencies that could give you some leeway here.

Dropping classes as an athlete, international student or veteran

If you are an athlete, international student or veteran, there can be some repercussions for dropping a course. You may no longer be eligible to participate in the college sport if you drop classes.

Let’s say that you are currently eligible to play a sport because you are enrolled full-time, but you drop a course and that puts you at part-time status, then you could lose eligibility immediately.

But as explained here, you might hurt your G.P.A. the following semester, if you fail, and you lose eligibility later because your G.P.A dropped too low.

If you are an international student, your international student visa may no longer be valid.

And if you are a veteran, you might have some financial consequences too. This can vary based upon the type of financial aid you received, if any.

So, please check with your advisor, financial aid department and/or athletic director to learn more.

It’s so important to know how dropping or failing a class is going to impact your specifically.

How to avoid withdrawing or failing a class?

Ask for an incomplete

If you are contemplating dropping or failing a class, you need to think about getting an incomplete for a course instead.

These don’t happen often, and in my 15 years, I only did this once for a student. But it might be possible for you.

This usually happens when a student has some personal circumstances that prevents them from completing all the coursework. And the professor and the college can issue an incomplete for the course.

This means that a student will have additional time (after the semester officially ends) to complete the coursework.

This probably won’t help if you are failing a course though.

Talk to your professor first

If you think you are going to fail a class, talk with your professor first (read my article).

They might tell you that you are overreacting and that you will have a good chance to pass the class.

So don’t make any drastic decisions until you talk to them.

As a former professor, I can tell you that it can definitely make an impact if you just talk to your professor about your bad grades.

Your professor most likely doesn’t want you to fail and will try and give you the support you need, if it is not too late.

But if your professor doesn’t think you can pass, don’t take it too personal because it might just not be mathematically possible at this point.

But you won’t know unless you ask them for help.

Recover from bad grade

If you are about to fail, and you discovered that withdrawing is a bad idea, you can focus on improving and bouncing back from your bad grade.

It is possible to do and don’t discount your academic ability just yet.

While I don’t talk about how to recover from a bad grade in this article, I have covered it extensively here.

Look, I have seen plenty of students come back from failing my classes so don’t think you can’t do it too.

Can you remove a failed college class from your transcript?

Most students who ask this question want to know if they can somehow erase the bad grade from their transcript. Usually students can re-take the class and earn a better grade to replace the failing grade.

So, the failing grade in no longer used to calculate your G.P.A.

Make sure you check with your college to find out if you need to complete any course duplication form to officially replace the failing grade with the better grade for your G.P.A. calculation.

However, the failing grade will usually stay on your transcript but the higher grade will be used to calculate your G.P.A.

Some colleges may remove the F from your transcript after you re-take it and earn a better grade, but this isn’t guaranteed.

Key takeaways

I have to say that most students would rather drop/withdraw from a class rather than fail a course.

But if you would have some serious financial or personal consequences, like having to pay back the financial aid you received or being ineligible to play a sport or participate in a program, some people might recommend you stay enrolled and receive a failing grade instead.

However, then there are some G.P.A. implications when you fail so this advice won’t work for everyone.

Be very careful making this decision and talk to as many people at your college as possible to make the best decision for your circumstances.


While I was a professor, I am not your professor. And your college or university rules may be different than the ones discussed here. Please work with your college to understand the consequences of dropping, withdrawing, or failing a course and seek appropriate professional advice. See our terms and conditions and disclaimers for more information.

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