Drop/Withdrawal and Leave

Drop / Withdrawal From Courses

There are two mechanisms for students to drop courses: Change of Program (Drop) and Official Withdrawal. During the Change of Program period students must access the registration system, CUNYfirst to view all registered courses. Click DROP next to the desired course to drop. The course will not appear on the student’s transcript. You may be responsible for part of the tuition cost.

If you need to withdraw from the College or from one or more courses after the Change of Program period has ended you must also access the registration system using CUNYfirst and use the option DROP. If you withdraw during the official withdrawal period, you will receive a “W” as a grade and will be responsible for all tuition charges. If you need assistance with either DROP or WITHDRAW, please go to C107.

The following students may not withdraw online: College Discovery students, or high school students. They must file an official withdrawal form, which can be obtained in C107. College Discovery students must obtain a counselor’s signature in order to withdraw from a class and return the signed form to C107 by the deadline. High school students taking college courses must obtain a signature from their High School Guidance Counselor in order to withdraw from a course and return the signed form to C107 by the deadline. WITHDRAWAL FORMS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE OFFICIAL WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE.

If you do not use the above procedures to withdraw officially from a course in which you have been excessively absent, you will be assigned a failing grade of “WU” by the course instructor.

Change of Major

Students may request to change their major by submitting a Change of Major Form available in C107. Due to New York State financial regulations, Change of Major Forms submitted after the last day to Change Major in Session-I (12 week) published in the LaGuardia academic calendar will NOT go into effect until the following semester.

Medical Leave of Absence

Students may be permitted to take a Medical Withdrawal or Leave of Absence. Students may initiate this process by completing the Medical Leave Request form and submitting medical documentation through the Office of the Registrar. The form and documentation may be submitted by a party authorized by the student if the student is unable to submit in person. Medical Leave Requests and documentation may be submitted at any time. In most cases, a Withdrawal grade will appear on the student’s transcript; in limited cases, at the discretion of the College’s Chief Student Affairs Officer, an incomplete notation may be used. The withdrawal date of record ordinarily is the date on which the student initiates the formal Medical Withdrawal process.

The College may also initiate a medical withdrawal/leave of absence, per CUNY Policy and the Student Handbook. In these cases, the College’s Chief Student Affairs Officer is responsible for informing the Office of the Registrar. In these cases, the same grade recording is used as in the student-initiated cases. The withdrawal

date of record is either the date that the student signs a voluntary withdrawal agreement, or the date that a Health review Panel orders involuntary medical withdrawal, whichever is applicable.

For both types of medical withdrawals, appropriate College officials may consider if any refund of tuition is warranted and if a retroactive date for withdrawal is appropriate; these requests will not be granted routinely and are subject to further College review.

Federal Regulations

A Medical Withdrawal/Leave of Absence affects students’ financial aid. When the MLA is approved by the Office of the Registrar, a last day of attendance is determined, and the student’s financial aid awards are recalculated in accordance with state and federal regulations. In accordance with state and federal regulations, all attempted credits (including W grades) are counted towards Satisfactory Academic Progress eligibility for both state and federal programs.

Federal regulations stipulate that the Medical Withdrawal/Leave of Absence is not to exceed 180 days within a 12-month period. In the event that the leave exceeds this time period, it is considered a withdrawal and the return of all Title IV (Pell) funds apply.

Bursar

As noted, in most cases, any refund is determined by the effective date of Withdrawal. If your Medical Leave of Absence is effective after the first day of classes but within the tuition refund period, you will be charged a tuition liability. The term tuition liability refers to the percentage of tuition and fees a student owes based on original tuition charges.

Please note: If you are entitled to a refund, the amount received is based on attendance verification. If the effective date on the Medical Leave of Absence is after the last day of the refund period, and/or if the attendance verification record indicates that you attended classes after the last day of the refund period, you may be held liable for all tuition and fees.

Conditions Regarding Academic Liability

Once a Medical Leave of Absence form is fully approved, you will likely receive a grade of “W” for all of your courses, regardless of the effective date of the Medical Leave. Exceptions for incomplete indicators are at the discretion of the College’s Chief Student Affairs Officer.

Readmission to The College

All students who have not registered for classes for two or more semesters must apply for readmission. This includes those students who have been on a Medical Leave of Absence.

Readmission forms are available in C107, and must be completed and returned by a deadline (approximately one week prior to the semester in which they would like to return.) Call the Student Information Center, (718) 482-5935, for exact deadlines. There is a non-refundable $20 readmission processing fee payable to the Bursar.

Students returning to the College within one year (two semesters) generally will be readmitted to the College under the same curriculum (major) requirements which were in effect at the time the student was admitted to the College. However, students returning after one year will be readmitted under the curriculum requirements in effect at the time of their readmission. In exceptional cases, where the new requirements create an unnecessary hardship (such as graduating with an excess of 72 credits), students will be eligible to petition the requirements and seek possible exception to this policy to the Academic Standing Committee. The decision of the committee is final.

Note: Readmission is allowed for the six-week sessions; however, the student is not able to use financial aid for that session.

Academic Forgiveness Policy

Students who have been dismissed from, or have not been in attendance at, the College for a period of at least five years and whose GPA is below 2.0 are able to be reinstated under the Academic Forgiveness Policy. For students reinstated under this policy, past grades of F, FIN or WU will remain on their transcripts but will not be calculated in their grade point averages. This policy gives students a second chance to complete their studies.

Your eligibility for Financial Aid is determined by Student Financial Services in accordance with Federal and State Financial Aid regulations. The Academic Forgiveness Policy does not override financial aid regulations. Please speak to a Financial Aid Specialist regarding your eligibility for aid.

Note: Admission or readmission into the “Clinical Phase” of Allied Health Programs is not guaranteed under the Academic Forgiveness Policy, regardless of the student’s prior status in that program. Students must contact individual program offices for specific readmission policies.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York and is punishable by penalties ranging from a grade of “F” on a given test, research paper or assignment, to an “F” in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the College. Academic Dishonesty includes:

CHEATING — the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise. Examples: Copying from a student during an examination, unauthorized collaboration on take home assignments, submitting someone else’s work as your own, allowing another student to take an examination for you, or unauthorized use of notes, electronic devices or other materials during an examination.

PLAGIARISM — the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writings as your own. Examples: Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and/or footnotes, failure to acknowledge a source when using information that is not common knowledge or failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework or laboratory assignments.

INTERNET PLAGIARISM — plagiarism that includes the submitting of downloaded term papers or parts of term papers as a student’s own work, paraphrasing or copying information from the internet without citing the source, as well as other forms of “cutting and pasting.”

OBTAINING UNFAIR ADVANTAGE — any activity that intentionally or unintentionally gives a student an unfair academic advantage over other students. Examples: Stealing, circulating or otherwise gaining access to unauthorized examination materials, intentionally obstructing or interfering with another student’s work, depriving other students of access to needed class or library materials by stealing, destroying or defacing them, retaining or circulating examination materials that clearly should have been returned at the end of the exam.

FALSIFICATION OF RECORDS AND OFFICIAL

DOCUMENTS — Examples: Forging signatures or authorization, falsifying information on academic records, falsifying official documents such as grade reports, drop/add forms, ID cards or other college documents.

MISCONDUCT ON INTERNSHIPS — Behavior inappropriate to a professional setting or in violation of the rules established by either the College or the internship site. Noncompliance with local, state and federal laws while on internship is also included.

Above adapted from The CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity, June 2004.