Course Withdrawal
office of student conduct and care
Considering Withdrawing from a Course?
There may come a time during your enrollment when you have a need to withdraw from one or more courses or even from PFW altogether. First, if you’re considering withdrawing from a course, please get advice before deciding. Talk to the following people or offices to get information:
- Your professor can help you understand your grade and see if it is feasible to pass the course or work with them on an incomplete for that class. An incomplete will allow you to extend the deadline for the class and complete the work after the semester has ended.
- Your academic advisor can assist you in understanding how the withdrawal will impact your degree plan.
- The Office of Financial Aid can help you know how the withdrawal will impact your financial aid, including scholarships and other grants.
- The Office of the Bursar will assist you in knowing if you owe (or will owe) any money to the university.
Second, it is important to know the deadlines for course drop and withdrawal. All students are subjected to the deadlines specified in the PFW Master Detail Calendar and the published Fee Refund Schedule. Additionally, you should ensure that you do not have any holds on your account.
Last Day to Request a Course Withdrawal for Spring 2025:
-Full–Term Classes: Friday, March 21st
-First Half–Term Classes: Friday, February 14th
-Second Half–Term Classes: Friday, April 18th
Student’s Responsibility: It is the student's responsibility to fully understand the information presented in the current Purdue University Fort Wayne Catalog and to know and observe all University policies and procedures. Regulations may not be waived, nor are exceptions granted because a student pleads ignorance of policies or procedures. Students should be aware of all published University Registration and Withdrawal deadlines. While academic advisors and other staff will assist students in every way possible, the responsibility for following all policies and meeting all requirements and deadlines rests with the student.
University Responsibility: The university is obligated to ensure the integrity of the academic transcript as an accurate historical document. Therefore, in order for the academic transcript to reflect the actual history of a student’s experience at the university, an exception to university policy is warranted only in cases involving documented unusual or extenuating circumstances.
The following information is for Regular 16-week courses. Deadlines for 8-week or other courses of various lengths are found on the PFW Master Detail Calendar.
Adding or Dropping a Course during the 100 Percent Refund Period: After your initial registration and before appropriate deadlines, you may revise your schedule by processing a class addition or drop from a class:
- Go to goPFW portal
- Click on the Registration Tab.
- Find and click “Registration - Add/Drop Classes”.
Instructor and advisor approval are not required to add or drop a class during the 100 percent refund period. For information related to the 100 percent refund period, please refer to the Course Fee Refund Schedule.
Dropping a Class: If you choose to have the Office of the Registrar handle your drop during the 100 percent refund period, requests must be sent to [email protected]. Requests must come from your university email address and include the CRN of the course(s). Instructor and advisor approval is not required to drop a course during the 100 percent refund period. For information related to the 100 percent refund period, please refer to the Course Fee Refund Schedule.
Petition for Late Drop Process
This process allows students to petition for a late drop due to extenuating circumstances.
A student must meet the following criteria to be eligible for a late drop petition:
- The completed form must be submitted within 30 days of the census deadline for that term.
- Petitions will only be considered if university errors or extenuating circumstances prevented the student from dropping the course(s) before the deadline.
- The student will be required to provide documentation addressing their inability to drop their course(s) by the established and published deadline.
If withdrawing from a course during Weeks 2-9, the course will show as a ‘W’ on your transcript and will not impact your GPA. Please refer to the Fee Refund Schedule for refund information. To withdraw from a course during Weeks 2-9:
- Go to goPFW portal
- Click on the Registration Card.
- Find and click “Withdraw Form (after add/drop, until deadline)".
- Fill out the withdraw form with all the correct information. If any information is incorrect or incomplete, your request will not be processed.
- You will receive an email confirmation upon completion if you check the box at the bottom of the form.
If you simply stop attending, you are not withdrawn. It is your responsibility to withdraw from any class you do not intend to take or complete within the published deadlines. Please contact the Office of the Registrar at [email protected] with any questions.
The withdrawal deadline applies to all students! Yet, PFW recognizes that some students may have serious and compelling reasons for not being able to submit a withdrawal request by the stated deadline. A Request for an Exception to the Withdrawal Deadline is only considered if it meets ALL the following criteria:
- Non-academic, extenuating circumstance beyond the student’s control that...
- Prevented the student from withdrawing by the deadline and...
- Is supported by appropriate documentation.
A student’s petition should explain the nature of the request and what extenuating circumstances prevented them from submitting a withdrawal before the official withdrawal deadline for the course(s). If a student is making a selective request, they must clearly explain how their circumstances affected one or some of their courses and not all.
Supporting Documentation is required and must be included in all petitions. This must speak to the extenuating circumstances presented in the statement. If the student is providing medical documentation, a letter from a medical professional on letterhead attesting to the student's inability to withdraw by the deadline is required.
Please be aware that approval of this request for an exception does not waive the charges for the approved courses. If a student has an unpaid balance or wishes to verify that their account is in good order, please contact the Bursar’s Office at 260-481-6824 or via email at [email protected]. They will work with each student and provide available options for resolving balances and financial holds. Courses must be in withdrawn status before beginning the petition to the refund policy through the Bursar's Office.
**This was formerly called the Late Withdrawal Process and has been renamed to Request for an Exception to the Withdrawal Deadline.