Withdrawals

Official Withdrawal

A student who wishes to leave Hartwick and has no plans to return must complete, sign and submit an official withdrawal form to the Office of the Registrar. Students may officially withdraw from the College up to the last day of classes for the term; however, to receive a course grade of “W”, a Course Add/Drop Form must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar by the regular term deadline for withdrawal with a “W.” Students who withdraw after the regular term deadline for course withdrawal with a “W” may be subject to course grades of “F” for the term in which the withdrawal is being submitted. Students who officially withdraw will have the notation of Official Withdrawal on their record. Students who leave the College without submitting a completed official withdrawal form will be considered to have unofficially withdrawn and will have such a notation posted on their academic record. See the policy on Unofficial Withdrawal for more information. If a student officially withdraws and later wishes to resume study, an Application for Readmission must be made to the Office of the Registrar.

Unofficial Withdrawal

Students are considered unofficial withdrawals by the college if (1) they have not registered for classes by the end of the add/drop period of Fall, January and Spring terms, (2) they have not returned to the College when the approved period of a leave of absence has expired, (3) they have not returned at the time specified after academic or social conduct suspension, (4) they have left the campus while a term is in session with no intention of returning and not filed appropriate leave or withdrawal paperwork, (5) they have not completed all degree requirements by their stated graduation date. Note that outstanding Incomplete (“I”) grades are converted to “F” when a student is unofficially withdrawn. If a student is unofficially withdrawn and later wishes to resume study, an Application for Readmission must be made to the Office of the Registrar. Notice of unofficial withdrawal is posted on a student’s academic record. The posted date of an unofficial withdrawal is at the discretion of the College and usually reflects the last date of attendance.

Hartwick College uses the following procedures to determine if students never attend class and/or withdraw unofficially, and to determine repayments due back to aid programs.

Beginning of each term:

1. Faculty members are reminded by the Office of Academic Affairs that they are required to check class rosters at the end of each add/drop period (for full term, first and second half courses). Faculty report changes to their class rosters to the Office of Academic Affairs, including students who have never attended class to the early alert system for additional follow-up.
2. For students enrolled in classes, financial aid is held, if not already released to the student, for students not attending class. Students are notified that financial aid is on hold until class attendance can be verified. Students who claim they are attending class(es) may have aid reinstated ONLY if their professor(s) confirm attendance by directly contacting the Financial Aid Office (e-mail required). The student’s claim to have attended class, absent positive confirmation from the faculty member, does not constitute confirmation of class attendance.
3. After all faculty members have reported to the Office of Academic Affairs, federal aid awards are recalculated for students not attending class(es). Federal awards are adjusted to pay only for classes the student is attending. This adjustment could result in the reduction of aid awarded and/or the loss of grant, scholarship or loan funds. If attendance rosters indicate the student never attended any classes, all federal financial aid is cancelled and an unofficial withdrawal is issued by the Registrar’s Office.

This process is repeated for 4 week, 7 week and final grading periods for which faculty are required to submit grades for all students on their rosters. For students receiving failing grades at each of these grading periods, faculty also are required to indicate a last day of attendance. If a failing grade is issued, then the Office of Academic Affairs will follow-up to verify last day of attendance.

The College returns aid to the financial aid programs and bills the student for funds received for classes never attended. Repayment may be required with funds other than financial aid. If this occurs and the bill remains unpaid for more than 120 days, a third party collection agency will be used and the debtor will also become liable for any additional collection costs associated with the collection of any amount not paid. Students are ineligible for future aid until debt repaid in full.

At the end of each term (Fall, J-Term, Spring):

1. The Registrar creates an exception report of all students with “F”, “W” and/or “N” grades for all classes, and notifies the Financial Aid Office as well as the Office of Academic Affairs.
2. The Center for Student Success conducts an LDA search on each student to verify if a student had completed the course with a failing grade or stopped attending. If a student stopped attending, then an LDA will be established and Academic Affairs will notify Financial Aid and the Registrar so that the student(s) are unofficially withdrawn.
3. If no last date of attendance is known, then it is assumed to be the 50% point of the term (as allowed by federal regulations). Exception: students reported on the non-attending list are dropped at 100% from those classes.
4. Once the withdrawal date is determined, the Financial Aid Office calculates the amount that must be returned to aid programs by the College and the student, in accordance with federal regulations and College policy. For details, see the Return of Title IV Funds policy which follows.