Petition to drop courses taken during pandemic extended

Caitlyn Dieckmann 

[email protected] 

     UCCS’ Registrar’s office is now offering students the opportunity to petition to drop courses from previous semesters impacted by COVID-19 with a “W” on their transcripts. 

     Senior Executive Director for Enrollment Management Mathew Cox explained that this opportunity stems from the UCCS Retention and Graduation Subcommittee, which has worked for several years to enact initiatives that support student success.  

     Cox said, “Given the challenges of the pandemic, the Subcommittee saw an opportunity to continue its work by initiating the idea of extended drops. Ultimately, that idea [led] to collaboration with key areas around campus such as the academic colleges, academic advising and the Registrar’s office to give students additional academic support in this way.”  

     This opportunity includes courses taken as far back as the spring 2020 semester, through the summer 2021 semester, according to Cox. These semesters were those impacted by COVID-19 which may have posed challenges for students that were reflected in their academic performance. 

     Cox said, “Typically, courses must be dropped in accordance with established deadlines throughout the semester in question. This current opportunity allows students who may have missed such drop deadlines to petition to have a grade replaced retroactively with a ‘W’ even though the semester and associated deadlines have passed.” 

     He also explained that replacing a low grade that resulted from the challenging semester with a “W” can have a positive impact on a student’s GPA. 

     Approval of the petition should a student choose to act on this opportunity will ultimately be decided based on specific requirements that each college or school at UCCS has in place, according to Cox. 

     He said, “Specific requirements can vary from college to college, so students are highly encouraged to review the general campus and specific college requirements.”  

     These requirements can be found at the Registrar’s website, which contains more information related to the extended course drop. Students can find the “extended drop form” located on this website as well.  

     There are also specific campus-wide requirements that must be viewed before making the decision to drop a course. This includes the petition only being available to students who have yet to complete their undergraduate degree, and on a per-course basis.  

     There is an additional opportunity in which students can request a full-semester retroactive withdraw, although no refunds will be issued for any course or semester withdrawn from, retroactively or otherwise.  

     The Registrar’s website gives the following warning: “[It is] strongly recommended that students check with Academic Advising, Financial Aid, International Affairs, and Office of Veteran and Military Affairs to understand any impacts of requesting the extended drop(s).” 

     Cox added, “Students enrolled for fall ’21 should adhere to standard drop dates and procedures since those dates have not yet passed, whereas the extended drop process is for past semesters with deadlines that have obviously already passed.” 

     All information related to specific semester course deadlines for the fall semester and their associated dates is available here

Campus during the Fall 2021 semester. Photo by Lexi Petri.