Fall/Winter 2012-13 Voluntary Withdrawal Dates:

Fall Term - November 14, 2012

Winter Term and Fall/Winter (spanned courses) - March 20, 2013

NOTE: Some faculties have courses with irregular withdrawal dates; see your faculty's general office for more information. 

A Voluntarily Withdrawal (VW) is when a student decides to officially discontinue their studies in a class after the official start date of the academic term. By voluntarily withdrawing from a course you are no longer registered for the course and will not be assigned a grade or awarded credit hours for this course.

You may decide to VW for a variety of reasons but it should never be your first option to resolving concerns about your performance or completion of a course. Common situations that students may consider as a need to VW from a course include:

• The course subject matter was not the same as originally expected
• Your overall course load is too demanding - withdrawing from one class will leave more time for others
• Your faculty focus has changed and the course is no longer required
• Your mid-term grades were not satisfactory and you are concerned about your final grade in the course

In each of these situations as well as in others, there are resources and assistance available to help you before you need to withdraw from a course.

Before you make a decision to VW, you should do the following:

• Talk with your course instructor about your concerns and see if there are strategies for improvement before the end of term

Perhaps there is some additional information or advice to help you understand the course material differently. Your professors devote time weekly to offering office hours for the purpose of spending time with their students outside of the classroom. Office hours are a great opportunity to ask questions one-to-one with your professors.

• Use the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) to develop additional study skills and insights into the best practices for successfully completing your courses.

The ALC offers handouts, workshops and individual appointments to provide you with the tools you need to succeed.

• Meet with a University 1 Academic Advisor to talk about your course load, study strategies, options for possibly repeating the course later and the impact VWs have on your overall degree plans.
• Refer to the U1 Start Book or the UM Calendar to make sure you know where that course fits into your intended or current program

Check to see if the course is required as a prerequisite for upper-level courses within your program and look at the next term's schedule to see if the course is offered again.

• Be aware of course load requirements and implications of VWs—if you have a government student loan, are a sponsored student, a Bison athlete or are in any other type of situation that requires a minimum course load.

Other Information

Withdrawals made within the Registration Revision Period will not be recorded on official transcripts and a 100% tuition refund will be credited to your student account.

Voluntary Withdrawals after the Revision Period are recorded as a "VW" on your transcript.

If you are On Hold for outstanding tuition, library books, parking fines, etc. you will not be able to access the Registration function in Aurora to VW a course.

If you are On Hold and plan to VW, you must either first clear your Hold so that you can access the Registration functions in Aurora, or you must contact the University 1 First Year Centre for assistance in dropping the course.