Skip to main content

MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Withdrawal Deadlines


If you are teaching a course with an unusual start or end date (affectionately called "varied length" courses), it can sometimes be difficult to remember the deadline for students to drop or withdraw from the course.  We can all probably recite the deadlines for full length courses, but those varied length deadlines do get lost.

We have posted these courses on the MCC web page.  You can go to the A-Z index, and choose W for Withdrawal.  The link to this helpful list is located in the middle of the page under the heading 'When To Withdraw.'  Choose the link entitled, 'For late start or variable length classes, CLICK HERE.' 

Once clicked, a listing of all varied length courses will be displayed.  Both important dates --- drop and withdrawal deadlines --- will be noted here.  Please share this information with your students.  The withdrawal deadlines will be especially important this term because the Registration & Records Office will not provide any extensions to the withdrawal deadline. 

As you can imagine, we have many students come to our office the week after the withdrawal deadline asking for an extension.  They would all like to explain their personal story as to why they missed the deadline.  About 10 years ago, we began handing out forms to allow students to request a one-time withdrawal extension with their instructor's permission.  Students could talk to their instructor and get their signature showing the teacher approved the late withdrawal.  The form would come to R&R for processing.  Students could only do this once in a career at MCC.  About 200 forms were distributed to students each term.  (Yes, this means 200 people with dead relatives, broken cars, students claiming instructors never told them they were failing until after the deadline … all waiting to talk to someone in R&R for permission to withdraw beyond the official deadline)  Approximately 50 were actually returned with signatures for processing each term.  It was not a perfect system, but it did organize the chaos surrounding late withdrawal requests in that we provided students with direction on how to pursue a W grade beyond the deadline. 

Some would argue that we simply sent the student back to the instructor for the decision and the paperwork we provided may have encouraged some instructors to sign the form even if they were not in agreement.  (Remember, late withdrawals were never processed without the instructor's permission.)  Others would say that students didn't know where to turn to discuss their individual situation.  Students regularly wanted to speak with someone higher in authority than the clerical staffer working the R&R window. 

Our motives were good.  But we needed a better answer to this ongoing issue.
 
So, we are making a clean break this term.  Students will need to withdraw by the deadline.  When students come to R&R after the deadline, we will remind them of their responsibilities in the withdrawal process.  We will listen to the reasons for the mistakes.  We will try our very best to help them understand.  However, we may send them back to their instructors if they refuse to take the negative answer from R&R.  We'll act as partners in this process and if we both strictly follow the rules, we may find changes in our student behaviors in future terms.

We'd like to remind faculty that they should issue all W grades by the withdrawal deadline also.  Banner does technically allow faculty to enter the W grade beyond the deadline or at the end of the term --- but you should not do this.  All W grades (either student or faculty initiated) should be completed by the withdrawal deadline.  All faculty initiated withdrawals issued beyond the deadline are reported as potential problems in our audits and need to be avoided. 

This will be a learning process for all of us this term.  We are confident that our results will be positive.  If you have comments or feedback on how we could improve this process, please let us know.

W DEADLINE FOR FULL LENGTH COURSES: 
Friday, November 21, 2008 (in person)
Saturday, November 22, 2008 (via web)
(Reminder:  If you are entering a W grade, please enter a last date of attendance at the same time)  

Betsy Ripton
Registration & Records
10/16/2008