Long have been the days of paper drop forms and chasing professors around for their signature.
At the Jan. 8 Deans Council meeting, the Registrar Paige Bussell demonstrated a process for dropping a face-to-face class online. The service will be made available Jan. 31.
According to Judy Vergara, University associate registrar, the process will be much easier for both students and faculty.
“What we have for the student to drop a course is a different change in the process from what they’ve done before. It’s going to be very easy for them,” Vergara said. “When they go in through their myLeo, there’s going to be a link to drop a course. Explicit instructions will be provided on the face of the myLeo screen.”
As soon as the student clicks the link, a form will appear with all the courses the student is currently enrolled in. Next to the course and its description will be a select button to click to drop the course.
That page will link students to another asking them to indicate the reason for the drop. If the student chooses “other,” then they will be asked to provide a confidential explanation. Also on this page are explanations of the “six drop rule” and the “45 hour rule.”
According to the 2007-2008 University course catalog, the six drop rule means “an institution of higher education may not permit a student to drop more than six courses, including any course a transfer student has dropped at another institution of higher education.”
The 45 hour rule states, “a resident undergraduate whose attempted hours exceeds, by at least 45 semester hours, the number of hours required for completion of the degree program may be charged tuition at a higher rate. The higher rate will not exceed the rate charged to non-resident undergraduate students.”
After a student has dropped a course through this online process, the professor will receive an e-mail requesting approval for the drop. The professor can choose to accept or deny the drop with the click of a button. The registrar’s office will then receive the information via e-mail. The student will then receive a confirmation e-mail from the registrar’s office.
The only reason a student may not be permitted use the new process is if they have an advising hold or if it is their last class. If a student wants to drop their last class, they must withdraw.
“That’s a great idea, it saves a lot of time – especially for a busy college student. I wish they would have had this before my senior year,” undergraduate Jessica Rowlett said.
Faculty members seem happy about the new change as well.
“In maintaining the six sections of Speech 111 and the four sections of Speech 245 – and the more than 200 students registered in those sections – it will be much easier for the students to drop those classes online rather than trying to find me during the semester,” Dr. R. John Ballotti Jr., director of speech communication, said.
For the first time in a while, the faculty and students are sharing a sigh of relief.