Proper planning, academic advising and a refund policy work to help save K-State students time, frustration, and money when it comes to changing courses after the start of the semester.
“The university has a specifically defined refund policy. It’s basically if students drop a class within a certain period of the start of the semester, they can get a full refund back,” Larry Moeder, assistant vice president of student financial assistance, said.
The policy, which is designed to allow students room to adjust their schedule, offers three options. The first deadline in the semester is 21 calendar days after the first academic day of the semester. The second deadline, which is a 50 percent reimbursement, is through the 28th day of the semester. Students who withdraw after the second deadline, however, don’t receive any refund.
Moeder said though students drop classes for many reasons, it’s typically done to protect their GPA.
“I dropped a class, but it wasn’t late,” Emily Gassmann, freshman in business administration, said. “I had too many hours and got a promotion at work so I needed more time.”
Employment is also a defining factor in late enrollment or drops, Moeder said.
“Students tend to have to work more now,” Moeder said. “Unfortunately, it’s a lot more expensive to go to college nowadays, so students often have to get part-time jobs and that tends to interfere with their class schedule.”
While it is possible to drop classes, they work to help students enroll early and plan for the coming semester to avoid issues in the future, said Briana Boger, academic advisor in business administration.
“We’re definitely trying to help students get enrolled a lot sooner and help those numbers go down,” Boger said. “It seems like enrollment is happening sooner and sooner, and we do that so that students make long-range plans and think about enrollment sooner. In our office, we communicate with students as early as February.”
Despite encouragement from advisers to take initiative and be proactive, there are still students who find themselves in a situation where they have to make the decision of whether or not to drop a class. Boger said she would advise students against dropping a class late if it would interfere with their ability to remain a full time student- which requires 12 credit hours.
Sometimes, dropping a class can be the best option, Boger said.
“I would advise a student to drop if maybe they feel they’re doing really poorly in the class and have exhausted all of their other options as far as help,” Boger said
No drops
Some students said they are “pretty confident” in their schedules, and have been fortunate enough to not have to drop or enroll in a course after the deadlines.
“Luckily, I’ve never had to drop or enroll in a course after deadlines,” Taylor Showalter, senior in animal science and industry, said. “I don’t have any close friends who have had to do so either.”
Christa McKittrick, senior in accounting, credits her academic planning success to her advisor- Boger. She has never had to drop a class after the deadline, McKittrick said.
“I have an awesome adviser,” McKittrick said. “…she’s done an awesome job at helping me map out my four-year plan.”
