D. Dropping Courses

i. Students may drop term or full-year courses up to the second Friday following the commencement of classes in those courses and those courses will be deleted from the student's record.

ii. Students may withdraw from term or full-year courses after the second Friday of classes in accordance with the regulations set out below. 

a. Students are entitled to make decisions to withdraw from courses after the second Friday of classes on an informed basis. An informed basis means that the students shall have a reasonable opportunity to assess their progress in each course and to receive feedback on their performance in each course before making a decision. Students have the responsibility to seek information on which to make their decisions to withdraw. 

b.  In courses where the final grade is based in part on term work such as, but not limited to, essays, reports, assignments, projects including group work, problem solving, tests including mid-term examinations, seminar presentation and/or participation, attendance, students are entitled to receive feedback on the portion of this work completed prior to the deadline for withdrawal from courses without academic penalty. Such feedback normally will include, but is not limited to, the instructor’s evaluation of the students’ work. Students also are entitled to consult with the course instructor and/or their advisor to obtain feedback on their performance in a course and are encouraged to do so before withdrawing from a course after the second Friday of classes.

iii. After the second Friday of classes, students may withdraw from courses without academic penalty at any time up to and including the deadlines as set out in the Undergraduate Calendar of Academic Dates approved annually by the Senates. Students remain subject to Regulation VIII (Academic Offences) for course work submitted by the student prior to their request to withdraw.

iv. The last date to withdraw without academic penalty from courses of duration shorter or longer than the usual one term or full-year period is the point where approximately two-thirds of the course time has elapsed. 

v. Withdrawal from courses after the second Friday of classes and no later than the deadlines indicated in iv above will carry no academic penalty and will be shown as “W” on the transcript.

vi.  Withdrawal from courses after the deadlines indicated in iv above will be recorded as “WF” on the transcript and a grade of zero (0) will be carried into the calculation of the GPA.

vii. a. Notwithstanding the above, a student may petition the Chair, or in the case of Faculties without departments, the Dean or Dean’s designate, of the Department/Faculty which offers the course, to withdraw from a course without academic penalty after the applicable deadline in iv and before the last date of classes for that course. No petition regarding withdrawal shall be considered after the submission of the final grade for the course.

b. The grounds for this petition are restricted to:

i. the student made reasonable efforts to obtain feedback on their performance in the course prior to the deadline for withdrawal in iv, but was unable to do so;

ii. compassionate, health-related or extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the student demonstrably had a direct impact on the academic performance of the student in the course.

c. The student shall submit the petition in writing no later than the last date of classes in the course, explaining the grounds on which the petition is based. It is the student’s responsibility to provide documentation in support of the petition which demonstrates the grounds cited. The Chair, Dean or Dean’s designate, as the case may be, has the option, but is not required, to meet with the student. It is expected that a decision on the petition will be made expeditiously.

d. The Chair, Dean or Dean’s designate, as the case may be, shall have the sole and only discretion to grant the petition, and, where satisfied that the student has established either grounds as set out in b), normally will grant the petition.

e. Where the decision of the Chair, Dean or Dean’s designate is to grant the petition, the course in question will be shown as “W” on the transcript.

f. The decision of the Chair, Dean or Dean’s designate on the petition is final and not subject to appeal. However, students may have recourse to appeal to the relevant appeals committee on related matters as set out elsewhere in these regulations (see for example the section headed “Right of Appeal”).