Home > Division of Student Affairs > Dean of Students > Hardship Withdrawal Process

hardship Withdrawal Process

A student who has a family or workplace emergency that prevents the completion of all classes for that semester may request a Hardship Withdrawal through the Dean of Students Office.  The Hardship Withdrawal process is outlined below. It should be noted that a Hardship Withdrawal can only be requested after midterm. A student wanting to withdraw before mid-term must follow the Withdrawal from Course Policy outlined in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs. Questions regarding this policy should be directed to the Office of the Registrar (333-5727). It is the student’s responsibility to withdraw officially in accordance with university regulations.

Hardship Withdrawal Process AFTER MIDTERM AND UNTIL THE LAST CLASS DAY OF THE SEMESTER (all paperwork as outlined below must be completed by the last day of the semester)

  • Students must contact the Dean of Students Office and give written permission allowing the Dean of Students Office to withdraw them from all of their current semester classes. The Dean of Students Office strongly encourages students to contact their professors/instructors by phone and/or email to notify them of their intentions to withdraw.
  • Students must provide hardship documentation, including a letter from the student explaining the circumstances along with supporting documentation such as the following: for a death in the immediate family, a verifiable obituary; for a serious illness in the immediate family, documentation recommending withdrawal from a physician on the physician’s letterhead signed by the physician (documentation on a prescription pad is unacceptable); for a workplace change, documentation from the employer on the company’s letterhead.
  • The Dean of Students Office will verify the authenticity of the documentation.
  • The hardship withdrawal process cannot begin until both the students’ written permission and the supporting documentation have been received and verified.
  • The Dean of Students Office will contact professors/instructors via email that the student is withdrawing from their class for hardship reasons. This email will include a request from the Dean of Students Office for permission to sign off on the hardship withdrawal form for the professor/instructor. Since this request comes after midterm, the Dean of Students Office will request whether the professor/instructor wishes to assign a grade of W or WF for the course. It is important that the professor/instructor respond to this request via email because this documentation supports the hardship withdrawal.
  • The Dean of Students Office will then contact the student’s Department Head of their major and the Office of Academic Affairs to request permission to sign off on the student’s hardship withdrawal form for them.
  • The Dean of Students Office will complete Sections A, B, C and D of the withdrawal form and will forward it to the Registrar’s Office without medical and supporting documentation. All supporting documentation will be on file in the Dean of Students Office under lock and key.
  • If the documentation proves to be untruthful, the University reserves the right not to grant the request or to revoke the withdrawal.

HARDSHIP WITHDRAWAL PROCESS AFTER THE LAST CLASS DAY OF THE SEMESTER

If students were unable to complete the hardship withdrawal process before the last day of the semester, they may submit hardship documentation to the Dean of Students Office requesting a withdrawal up to thirty working days after grades from the previous semester have been posted.  However, at that point, grades will already have been issued for classes, so the request for withdrawal will be sent to the dean of the student’s major for coordination with other appropriate deans and faculty members about a possible grade change.  Thirty working days after the conclusion of a semester, NO requests for hardship withdrawals will be accepted.